A false lead. I have nothing. I am running out of time.
I have discovered a way to trick the dragon in his own domain. There is a way he cannot perceive me in the spirit realm, but it requires mastery of technique and time.
Who was creating the spirit gates? And if it was Qinglong, how in the skies was he managing it?
I was still no closer to solving this riddle.
Just as I was about to leave, certain I had read all there was to read, I took one last look at the waterlogged remains of the last few pages. These entries were blotted out by large ink splotches and water stains, and yet, if I held the pages up to the candlelight just so, I could decipher a few characters here and there. Slowly, filling in missing words from context, I deciphered the final entry in my mother’s diary:
My hands shake as I write this. The Ruan seer at last agreed to meet me. She told me her great-grandmother once visited the spring, and that it is real. Journey to the summit of the Red Mountains, she said, and within the clouds, you will see every peak covered in snow. Look for the one covered in green—and there you will find what you are searching for. But, she told me, you cannot go in winter, or you will die from cold. It is winter now. I think I will die from impatience.
Tears leaked from my eyes. For my mother had died in winter. Whatever she had been looking for, she had never found.
As night fell, I armedmyself to the teeth and donned black robes that would obscure any trace of blood. To mask my identity, I tied a silk cloth over my nose and cheekbones, concealing the lower half of my face. Then, pulling up my hood, I climbed over the balcony railing, now familiar with what to expect from this route.
But I had not come to expect company on the palace rooftops. As I scaled the low-hanging eaves, a shadow detached from the roof gable, rising from his crouch with all the lethal grace of a jungle cat.
I immediately drew my sword.
“You do not recognize a friend?” He pulled back his hood to reveal bright amber eyes. Cao Ming Lei.
My heart in my throat, I did not sheathe my sword, but I did not raise it either. “Are you a friend?” I hissed.
“Certainly,” he said, his smile a flash of white against the dark. “Unless you’re looking for something more?”
I scowled, grateful the darkness hid my flush.
“Why are you here?” I demanded.
“A little birdie told me you’d be up to trouble tonight,” he remarked. “You know me—I have such an incurable fondness for trouble.”
“Winter told you?” I asked, astonished.
“No.” He raised a brow. “You just did.”
I bit back a curse, hating him for making me fall for the oldest trick in the book. Lei had a way of doing that—throwing you off-balance, drawing out the words you least wished to say.
I sheathed my sword, then hesitated. My natural inclination was to go about this alone. And yet, although I doubted his allegiance to me, I doubted his allegiance to Prince Yuchen even more. For tonight at least, I trusted he would not sabotage me.
“Don’t get in my way,” I said, before taking a running start and leaping from the eaves. I did not look back, but I could hear Lei behind me, then beside me, matching my pace with ease.
After so long confined to the palace, it felt good to race in the dark. We leapt from roof to roof, avoiding the palace guards by staying close to the shadows. When I lost my way, Lei took the lead, somehow knowing precisely where the Security Commissioner’s residence was located.
Getting past Lord Xu’s personal guard proved more challenging. Although his home lay outside the Forbidden City, it was heavily fortified, with guards stationed in even the most unexpected places. I swore as a guard patrolling the roofs caught sight of us, bringinga whistle to his lips mere moments before Lei threw a knife at his chest. The man dropped, and I hastily leapt across the distance to stop his body from rolling off the roof.
“Lord Xu does have a reputation for being cautious,” said Lei, extracting his knife from the corpse. “Some might even call him paranoid.”
“For good reason,” I said, “if he’s plotting treason against the throne.”
“And is that why you are here tonight?” Lei asked, cleaning his blade on the guard’s tunic. “To protect the Imperial Commander’s reign?”
I shrugged mockingly. “I am but a humble vassal,” I said, and Lei smirked, before suddenly seizing my shoulder and shoving me down.
“What—”
He crushed his hand over my mouth and I nearly bit him before catching sight of a second guard scanning the rooftops.
We pressed ourselves flat against the roof gable, breathing hard under the cover of night. I had forgotten the distinctive scent of him, like cedar and jasmine. Was he seriously wearing fragrance even tonight—on a reconnaissance mission?
