Jade Fire Gold(54)

“Liar!” I pull myself up. “I’m leaving the palace right now. Get out of my way. Don’t make me use my magic on you.”

“An empty threat. I know you, Ahn. You’ve always been soft inside, like your mother. You will not attack me.”

I raise my arms. He doesn’t budge. “I said, get out of my—”

My father’s open palm hits my chest. I fly across the room and smash into the heavy wooden table.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you leave. You’re our only hope. I must keep you safe,” he says, too gently. The look on his face turns my blood cold.

“I won’t help you. I will never find the sword for you,” I say, gasping in pain.

My father walks over, flames hovering above his hands, looming like a lit shroud over me. His mangled lips twist further into a screaming smile.

A smile that tells me I am wrong. That I will not have a choice but to help him.





19


Altan


I sprint back to the Lotus Sect safe house, reeling from my chance meeting with Tai Shun. Once there, I climb up to the roof. I need to think. And I’m not in the mood to face Tang Wei and Shīfù and whatever questions they might have for me.

Eventually, the capital quiets below me, dim with an eerie red tint from the lanterns that line the streets. I toss my dagger up in the air. It spins and falls back in my hands neatly. I do it again and again, slowly settling into a calming rhythm.

Will Tai Shun remember who he saw tonight when he wakes? He seemed drunk out of his mind. But it feels like he’s the least of my concerns.

The girl holds court in my mind.

Ahn.

I whisper her name into the wind, letting the shape of it rest on my tongue.

Now that I know she is the Life Stealer, something feels different. Changed, somehow. But I can’t back down or waver. The alliance with the King of Nandah will stand. I will have my crown and revenge, regardless of who the Life Stealer is.

My thoughts circle back to her grandmother. The logical thing to do would be to remove that prized chess piece from the board, even if Shīfù disapproves. I must avenge my family, and I can’t leave my country in the hands of warmongering traitors or murderers of Tiensai children. But at what point will my actions make me no better than the priests?

Father would protect both Ahn and her grandmother. Then again, Father is dead because of his belief in the inherent goodness of people. And Mother? I try not to think of her, though she haunts my dreams at night like a specter. Sometimes, those dreams are pleasant, my only comfort.

My sister would—

I turn my head. Someone else is here.

A shape in black perches on one of the gables at the far end. He wears a theatrical mask with bold black stripes around the eyes and swirls of white and blue across the forehead and cheeks. A spy? Or a priest.

The masked man raises his hand.

I flick my wrist without a second thought. A terra-cotta tile dislodges itself from the roof and shoots out, but the man stops it in midair. He doesn’t use it to attack. Instead, he lays it back on the roof.

Interesting.

My palms burst open. Several more tiles break off and catapult into the air. He stops all of them noiselessly. Lays them down. The Diyeh priests don’t behave like that. They strike back. And they don’t wear masks. As supposed holy men and the emperor’s elite guard, they can operate with barefaced impunity.

“Enough,” he says.

I draw my sabers. “Scared?”

“We’re not children anymore and I don’t have time for your games, Jin.” He removes his mask to reveal another face from my past.

“It’s been a while,” I say, surprised by the steadiness of my voice. It doesn’t match the frantic beating in my chest. “How did you know I was here?”

“You, of all people, should remember how fast rumor travels in the palace. But don’t worry, no one will believe our drunk little prince. You’re still as good as dead to everyone.”

His expression seems to say, dead to everyone but me. His gaze rests on my face—where my eye was. An unasked question hangs in the silence.

“I removed it myself,” I tell him. “You know why.”

“Impulsive as always.”

He grins so fondly it catches me off guard. I don’t have full details of what he has been up to these days. But from what I know, I don’t think we are on the same side. Yet, I can’t bring myself to feel any animosity toward him.

I lower my sabers. “I’ll forget you said that.”

“On the account of our past?”

I’m not able to hide my smile. “On the account that it’s good to see you again. Besides, I’m not here to kill you.”

“Oh?” He turns serious. “I can’t let you kill her.”

I narrow my eyes. “Who said anything about a her?”

“Forget about that and hear me out. Many things have happened tonight.”

“Tell me about it,” I mutter under my breath, thinking of that shocked look on Tai Shun’s face. Thinking of Ahn. He raises an eyebrow. “None of your business,” I say. “Give me a reason why I should listen to you.”

“You want your revenge, you want the priests gone, and you want your throne. Our goals are aligned, my friend.”