Chapter 12 · Survival Menu - Chapter 12: The Purge List

The recipe book sat between us like a third person in the ice cellar. My hand still tingled where Yan had covered my mouth. His palm had been warm. The rest of me was cold.

He flipped to the first page again. Don't trust the Third Prince.

Mom's handwriting. I'd know it anywhere.

"She wrote that before she met me," Yan said. He didn't look up. "Or maybe after. Hard to tell with your mother. She had opinions about everyone."

I pulled the book toward me. Turned past the warning to the next page. A list of names in neat columns. Some crossed out. Some circled. One had a red mark beside it that looked like it'd been done in a hurry.

Yan leaned closer. His shoulder brushed mine. "That's the kitchen roster from fifteen years ago."

I knew. I recognized half the names. Nanny Liu was there, young and uncircled. Master Feng, the old poison taster, crossed out with a single line. And at the bottom, circled three times: Bai Wen.

The dowager's personal maid.

"Your mother kept track," Yan said quietly. "Everyone who worked the night the empress died. Everyone who had access to the soup.