When she turned to me, I saw that her irises had gone white.
“My children!” she screamed. “Where are my children?”
With sinking dread, I recalled how young her children had been. “How did you end up here?”
Her unseeing eyes finally landed on me. “You—” she said. “Youbrought me here.Youstole everything from me.”
She rushed at me, but her limbs moved like those of a puppet, jerky and awkward, as if she lacked full control of her body. I sidestepped her, a knot of unease tightening in my throat.
“Ruihua,” I began.
“Who?” she giggled, her eyes slowly turning from white to yellow. “I don’t recognize that name—” Her mouth opened and closed, and I could feel the woman she’d once been, fighting it. Fighting her new master.
“You know what?” she announced, still giggling. “I will go back. Her children can be next. Her qi is delightfully strong. I have no doubt her children will—”
She struck her head so violently against the tree, a cascade of petals broke from their branches. “No!” Her mouth contorted in a soundless scream.
I stood frozen, not knowing what to do. I watched as Ruihua grabbed a fistful of petals, then, implausibly, stuffed them into her mouth. She choked, gagging, struggling to speak. Then she ran at me, so fast I could hardly defend myself, but I was not her target. Rushing past me, she ran straight for the edge of the mountain, and then, without hesitation, dove off the cliff.
I stared in shock at the empty cliffside where she had stood just moments ago. The wind stirred, sending more cherry blossoms fluttering from the trees, gathering in soft pink mounds along the forest floor. From where I stood, they resembled the shape of a corpse.
“Meilin,” said Kuro, startling me. “Let’s keep going. There’s nothing you can do for her.”
“But…”
“She’s gone,” he said.
I knew he was right, but the choky feeling in my throat wouldn’t subside. I was responsible for her demotion, for her madness, and now for her death. Her children would grow up never knowing their mother, who’d become another casualty of war. Once, I’d believed Prince Yuchen had no reason to hate me. But now I understood that he did.
“Meilin?”
I nodded, swallowing the ache in my chest. “Let’s keep looking.”
“She’s near,” said Kuro unexpectedly. “I can sense her.”
This time, I let him guide our path. He led us across the Red Mountains, into Leyuan. From there we went north, toward the Runong Desert, where even spirits slept under the hot sun.
“Jinya?” called Kuro softly, the hope in his voice almost too painful to bear. “Jinya, it’s me. I’m here. I said I’d find you.” He ventured farther into the sand. “I said I’d always find you.”
But there was nothing alive here. I couldn’t sense any spark of qi, of human vitality. “But don’t you know?” a line from a lixia text came to mind. “Mortality is what makes the taste of life so sweet. That is why all spirits crave the taste of human blood.”
Blood.Sinister foreboding slid down my spine as a speck of red drew my eye. I followed the trail of crimson, scattered like freckles against the sand.
“Kuro,” I said, as he continued to circle the same place. I crouched and pressed my finger against the red sand, which was wet, then sniffed my finger. Blood.
His gaze followed mine, before his expression contorted with terror. He began to dig, sheer desperation lending him an inhuman strength. The ground slid out from under us as we tunneled deeper and deeper into the earth. Only once the sky was blotted out, and the air stale and unmoving, did we hear a sound.
A soft whimper, like a hungry dog. Kuro went still. “Jinya?” he whispered.
The sound ceased.
“Jinya?” he shouted, and his voice echoed through the earth.Jinya, Jinya, Jinya.
But I could sense her too now—a thin, dimming light.
Kuro stumbled through the half dark, his hands outstretched. I followed behind him, my heart pounding in my throat.You did this, the voice in my head whispered.You started this.
I watched the rebel leader fall to his knees, a sound of devastation tearing from his throat. Beside him, a small creature lay prone, convulsing on the ground.
