A strange hissing sound outside jerked me from my reverie.
At first I wondered if it was just the wind. But then the hissing sound came again, even closer, and through the veil I saw the black flashing shadow of something thin and sharp. My body seemed to understand what it was before my mind did. My heart slammed against my ribs. I straightened in my seat, one hand braced against the door.
We were under attack.
“Zhengdan,” I whispered, shaking her awake. “Zhengdan.”
She opened one bleary eye, rubbing at her face. “What?” Her voice was still groggy. “Are we almost there? That was faster than I—”
Up ahead, the horses let out a whinny that was almost a shriek, stamping their hooves madly. The entire carriage shook with themotion. My stomach flipped. I stifled a gasp, grabbing blindly for the sides of the seat to steady myself.
Zhengdan’s eyes widened, fully awake now. “What’s going on?”
I shook my head, unable to speak. More arrows swished through the air, raining down like lightning. There had to be dozens. This was no random attack; it was coordinated. I couldn’t help it. My throat tight, I brushed the veil aside an inch and squinted into the falling purple darkness. We were in the middle of some kind of forest path, surrounded by patches of overgrown trees. Fanli had already leaped to the ground, sword at the ready. Both he and Luyi were cutting down the arrows as they fell, severing them in mid-flight. I had no idea how they were doing it; the arrows moved so fast you could barely track them with the human eye, their lethal points glinting in the moonlight. I strained to find the attackers, but they were hiding somewhere behind the trees—
The carriage door flew open.
I felt the rush of cold night air against my back, and something else. Something that made all the hairs on my neck stand up.
Zhengdan screamed.
Gloved hands gripped my arm, yanked me out backward as if I weighed no more than a doll. I thrashed, but it was useless. Another pair of rough hands grabbed my hair and pulled; my eyes stung with the sudden, tearing pain. Zhengdan moved to unsheathe her sword, but there were too many of them, at least six attackers, all dressed in black. I could not see any faces, only the darkness, and the silver storm of arrows shooting through the air.Distractions, I realized too late. They were designed to keep Fanli and Luyi preoccupied, while they took us and—
My bleak imagination ran wild with the possibilities, my heart thudding so hard it hurt my chest. I kicked out again, gasping. In response the hands around me tightened into burning bands around my wrists. Though I had eaten nothing all day, my stomach heaved. I was remembering the horror stories I had heard, what happened to pretty girls, young girls, girls who dared walk alone in the dark. Was this what I would become? Just another story, a warning mothers whispered to their daughters at night, for fear they would venture too far from home?
Then I looked ahead, and all the air left my lungs.
An archer stood between the trees. Their bow was raised, their knee slightly bent, the string pulled taut. The arrow aimed directly at Fanli’s back.
No.
There was no way he could anticipate it. He was already fending off countless arrows at once, his sword slashing through the air in a frenzied blur. I could not move against these strangers’ iron grips, could not even run forward to warn him. So I did the only thing I could: I cried out.
Just as the archer released the arrow.
He had flinched at the very last second, startled by the sudden sound. Instead of flying forward, in a perfect curve, the arrow flew askew. And shot straight toward me.
I did not have time to react. One second I was watching the arrow being expelled into the air, and the next I felt an explosion of pain in my left shoulder, white-hot and instant. Brutal. I jerked backward, agony tearing through my body. I couldfeelit, the place where cold metal sank into flesh, the unnatural object piercing through skin. And then—and then—everything happened in a blur. There was Fanli, racing toward me, fast as a shadow, like a figure from the fables. My sight had started to fade already, black spots swimming before me, and so perhaps I only thought I saw the wild, raw emotion ablaze on his face, a wretched look I’d never witnessed before, like the world was crumbling around him. There was the slice of his sword, its cold light streaking through my vision. A horrible gurgling sound came from the man closest tome. Warm blood sprayed my cheeks, the sickening, coppery taste filling my tongue. His hands slackened, and he fell limp to the ground, alongside an oddthud. Something rolled off to the side. At first I assumed it was a stone, but a cloud moved over the moon, and a slant of light illuminated the tangled hair, the glazed-over eyes, the severed neck, blood still gushing freely from it. My heart slammed so hard against my chest I was afraid I would throw up. It was a head.
Amid the chaos, there came a moment of pure, eerie silence.
Nothingness. Like the earth had frozen over.
Then somebody yelled out, and everyone jolted into action once more. Fanli swung his sword to the side, one great, vicious slash, more fat droplets of blood splashing across the leaves. And he was holding me, lifting me into his arms, even as he held on to his weapon, cut through anyone who stood in our way. My lashes fluttered. The searing pain had started to dull into a persistent throbbing, and I could no longer tell if the blood soaking through my robes was my own, or someone else’s. All I knew was that I was tired, so tired. My body felt heavy as stone. It was a wonder Fanli could carry my weight at all and move as fast as he was.
“Xishi.” His voice, hoarse and rough in my ear. A whisper. “Xishi, hold on. We’re almost there.”
Almost where?I had lost control over my senses. My head spun. Dimly, in Fanli’s arms, I could see the clouds floating up above, their edges lined with pearlescent light, and the black branches of the trees rushing past us on both sides. Were we leaving the forest? Going deeper in? More arrows sailed overhead, their metal ends whispering through the leaves, yet miraculously, none of them touched me.
“Be careful,” I panted. It cost me to speak; my chest rattled and heaved, and the arrow in my shoulder seemed to drive deeper, splitting through flesh. I bit back a scream. “It’s—dangerous.”
“You’re safe with me.”
Funny how that felt like the truth, even when everything about our current situation suggested otherwise. The soft, steady fall of his steps, the slight sway of his arms as he carried me, the warmth of his robes against my cheek, pressed so close I could hear his strong, thudding heartbeat—I could have curled up like this forever. I could have fallen asleep. It would be so easy; my eyelids were already heavy. I needed only close them, and then maybe the terrible pain would stop, maybe I could rest—
“Don’t close your eyes.” The sharpness of Fanli’s tone split through my thoughts. His steps sounded faster; his arms tightened around me. “Focus on me, Xishi.”
I didn’t want to listen to him. Sleep was much more tempting. But there was a part of me, a shameful, burning, inextinguishable part, that always wanted to please him. So I made myself look up. My eyes tracked the knife-sharp cut of his jaw, the gentle curve of his lips. A small cut ran down his cheekbone, still wet with his blood. My heart seized. I wanted to lift my fingers to touch him, make it all better, but my arms were dead wood, falling uselessly at my sides.
