Jade Fire Gold(64)

“Your eyes are so . . . beautiful.”

I walk out of the cave into the night, wondering how delirious he must be, wondering who he thinks he is talking to. Wondering why that ache in my chest is turning sharp.





24


Altan


I jerk awake.

Everything is hot and cold at once. My head throbs, my arm aches, my body is stiff and sore. Jewels glitter above me. Flashes of brilliant light pulsating. Am I back in the Wudin Mountains again?

I rub my eye and look again. This is a different cave, and the glittering is sunlight reflecting off minerals in the walls.

Bit by bit, it comes back to me. The men in black . . . the fight . . . the silvery glint that looped back and killed one of my attackers. A recurved dagger. I couldn’t see where it came from. But one thing is for sure, I owe someone a blood debt, and eventually, such debts come calling.

The image of the man who held Ahn hostage appears next. That strange green light that leaked from him, how he clawed at his throat, how he writhed in pain. . . . How she stood over him, energy radiating out. In that moment, she was frighteningly beautiful.

Like a goddess of death.

I felt it. That aberrant magic. Fleeting but terrifying. Something was pulled out of me. Something deep, like the essence of who I was. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t fight back. It was like being lost in the suffocating sand all over again.

I inhale and exhale deeply, letting the images fade as I look around the cave. Scattered weapons, shirt, and outer robes in a rumpled heap. I make a flustered grab at my amulet. Still there.

A sound at the cave’s entrance. A figure in blue enters. Ahn. A weapon in her hand—my knife. My muscles tense. I’m injured. How much danger am I in with the Life Stealer so close to me? But her magic didn’t kill me, which means the immunity from the Phoenix worked. Somehow, I don’t feel better knowing that.

“You’re alive.” She smiles and holds up a dead hare. “Look what I found. I’ll return your knife after I gut it.”

“How long was I out?”

“Only a day. You slept through the night.”

I manage a half smirk. “Told you I wouldn’t die on you.”

Her mouth downturns for some reason. “I’m glad.”

I test my arm gingerly, a hiss escaping before I can stop it.

“Are you all right?” Ahn exclaims, dashing over.

“I’m fine.”

She looks away. “Good. Put your clothes back on then.”

“But I’m hot.” I feel my forehead and neck. “I have a fever.” I’m not sure if it means the poison is purging or spreading.

“I know.” She shifts her weight from one foot to the other, staring at the cave wall behind me as if it is the most interesting thing in the world. The tips of her ears are turning pink. “Just . . . put your clothes on.”

I grab my robes, not bothering to argue. I have more important things on my mind. I want to check on the bodies. One body to be specific. I want to see the consequences of her life-stealing affinity.

Pain radiates across my shoulders as I pull on my tunic, but I’m careful not to make a sound. I don’t want to look weak or defenseless in front of the Life Stealer. Just in case.

“What are you doing?” she says as I try to stand.

“Going back. I want to survey the area.”

She drops the hare and the knife. I swoop down to catch my weapon before it hits the rock-hard ground blade first, grimacing as another shot of pain bursts up my arm.

“Do you remember what I did to you?” she says in a small voice.

“I do, but it wasn’t your fault. You were defending yourself against someone else, and I was in the wrong place. Even a cornered rabbit will bite.” Let alone a tiger. The words roll off my tongue easily, though I’m not sure I believe them.

“I’m not a rabbit,” she says crossly. But she looks scared.

My tone softens. “You don’t have to come with me.”

“I will,” she says quickly. “You’ll need my help to get there.”

I nod, surprised by her concern. Cautious of her true intentions.

My body rages with fire, but I can’t rest until I know. Until I see what the Life Stealer did. Vultures circle the air some distance ahead of us. We must be getting near.

Expressionless, Ahn looks straight ahead as she walks. Shoulders tensed, she keeps clenching and unclenching her hands. I should say something reassuring to her, but no words come to mind.

“There was someone else with us yesterday,” she says suddenly. “Someone in a theatrical mask, like the kind actors wear on stage for an opera. I think they might have thrown the dagger that killed that bandit.”

“What colors were painted on the mask?”

Her brows furrow as she shuts her eyes for a moment. “Red, black, some blue? Maybe white?”

Leiye? I glance at the countless nooks and crannies in the canyons around us that he could be hiding in. Dammit. I don’t want to owe him my life.

“Do you think those men were sent by my father?”

“I don’t know. Wouldn’t the premier send a whole contingent of soldiers to get his daughter back?”

We didn’t encounter any trouble before the canyon. Odd, now that I think of it. We may have deviated from my original plan to head straight to the port town, but Zhao Yang should be trying harder to find Ahn. The priests should be trying harder to hunt us down. But no one seems to have picked up our trail. Perhaps Leiye managed to stall them. But if he’s here on our tail, it also means he knows I’m no longer following his plan.