“Please,” I tried to say. This was my breaking point. This was what I could no longer survive.
I had failed her; I had failed my family. Rouha and Plum would grow up without a mother, as I once had. With time they would forget the sound of her laugh, the neatness of her stitches, the resourcefulness she could conjure in any situation. They would never know how much she loved them, and how much she had tried to stay.
Qinglong showed no pity. Without delay he forced upon me his next vision—bringing us to the outskirts of First Crossing.
Lei’s forces were dwindling. Both hungry spirits and Ximing soldiers converged upon them, hemming them in from all sides. Itwas a trap, I wanted to tell him, but he already knew. Perhaps he’d known from the start. Still he’d walked straight into it, because he’d hoped to give me a fighting chance.
On the blood-soaked battlefield, his brother rode out to meet him. Zihuan had waited until Lei’s best men were dead, until Lei was exhausted and alone. Still Lei fought, the monster I’d witnessed at the Reed Flute Caves once again released, so that there was no feeling or emotion in his eyes.
Zihuan hung back, waiting, watching. Only when Lei flagged, taking a dagger to his side, did Zihuan come forward. And that was when I noticed his changed eyes—now the color of spun gold.
Zihuan had accepted a spirit bargain. That was how he’d survived the poisoning.
“So it’s come to this,” shouted Lei, breathing hard, one hand clutching his bleeding side. “I always knew it would be me and you.”
“Oh, I’m not interested in fighting you in combat,” said Zihuan, smirking. “I learned from you, Di.” Dismounting from his steed, he raised a hand in signal. “Two can play at this game.”
And the emotion returned to Lei’s face as Zihuan’s guard brought forth a thrashing woman bound in rope. With near theatrical flair, Zihuan removed the cloth bag from her head.
“It’s a little family reunion,” said Zihuan. “Hi, Rea. Miss me?”
Rea glared at the new warlord of Ximing, a brewing storm in her eyes. “Kill me,” she said, like it was a dare. “Kill me and my hungry ghost will haunt you for the rest of your days—and when you’re awake I’ll follow you, and when you’re asleep I’ll follow you, and when you eat I will curse every morsel of food that you touch, and when you drink—”
He slapped her, hard enough that her head snapped to one side. Lei looked murderous.
Zihuan patted Rea on the head, his attention fixed on her. “That’s enough, dear—”
Lei seized on his distraction and threw a knife at him, but Zihuan simply snapped his fingers and the blade crumbled into dust.
“Pity you could never accept a spirit bargain,” said Zihuan. “But I guess you can’t help your blood.”
He held his blade to his sister’s throat. “Surrender, or she dies.”
“Ge, no!” Rea shouted, fear sluicing through her eyes.
Lei did not hesitate; he dropped his sword.
“Kneel before me.”
Lei fell to his knees.
“Put your head to the ground.”
Lei kowtowed.
Zihuan began to laugh.
“Lei!” I screamed, but this was a memory Qinglong had shown me, and Lei was perhaps already dead. And yet would I not have felt our connection sever? How could he be dead when I still lived? How could Xiuying be gone when I still survived? How could this be my curse—to remain behind even as everyone I loved perished?
The vision disappeared. Now we were in Tzu Wan, in the castle on the cliff. The Black Sea roared beneath us, disturbed by the two moons in the sky. From the open-air balcony, Autumn turned and ran, sprinting down the corridor.
She’d cut her hair short since I’d last seen her, and now her braids slapped against her cheeks as she rounded the corner. Breathlessly, she threw open the door to the nursery room. But Rea was gone.
“It can’t be,” she breathed, scanning the empty room. Even her dogs had gone.
Rea’s husband appeared in the doorway, panting with exertion. “Where is she?” he asked, his voice cracking in fear. “How could he take her?”
He seized Autumn by the shoulders, shaking her. “How could he take his own sister?” he demanded. “How?”
