“I’ll take them to the Sòng courtyard house,” she said. “I’ve been thinking of a shelter, and I realized it was there in front of me all along. The Elantians would have long abandoned it.” She swallowed. “It’s where everything began, so it’s fitting for me to return when everything is to end.”
Her childhood home. He regretted that he would not see it with her. “ ‘The beginning and the ending,’ ” Zen murmured.
“I’ll use some of the Silver Dragon’s power to open a Gate Seal leading there,” Lan continued, and then her fingers tightened on his wrists. “Come with us. Bring the older disciplesthere. We can form a battle plan together, and…” She trailed off at his look.
“I cannot,” Zen said gently. “There is no time. My army lies in the Mansorian palace in the Northern Steppes. I will summon them and make for King Alessandertown before nightfall. Remember: I will aim to destroy the Royal Magicians and their army base, but I believe Erascius may show up with the Azure Tiger sooner. We must defeat him and release the Azure Tiger first. That will be the fatal blow to the Elantian government.” His jaw clenched; he drew her hands into his and held them tightly. “Whatever you do,do notfight him. Leave that to me. I cannot have you lose yourself to your Demon God, Lan, when you hold the key to ending this all.”
Her gaze had not shifted from his face. “I know what I must do.”
Zen’s gaze softened. From his sleeve, he retrieved the silver amulet with the red cord. He had thought of this long after she had fallen asleep by his side last night. “There is a Seal on this that recognizes my qì; it will warm whenever I am near.” He lifted it over her head and fastened it. “In this way, I will be close to you. Always.”
Instead of answering, Lan stepped forward and threw her arms around him. Zen’s breath hissed out, and a sharp pain bloomed in his chest. He dropped his cheek to the top of her head and held her, feeling her heart beat against his.
The pulse of demonic qì was retreating from the sky, growing fainter and farther with each second that passed. They were out of time.
“You must find Hóng’yì after,” he said softly into her hair, closing his eyes so he could remember the scent of her, the shape of her, the feeling of her in his arms at last. “Forgive me that I cannot be there by your side to finish it.”
Her face was pressed to the crook of his neck. He felt hernod against it, felt her shuddering breaths against his skin, the tickle of her hair against his chin, the warmth of tears soaking into the collar of his páo.
Gently, Zen stroked the back of her head. “I promised you we would meet after all this, in our next lifetime.” He continued to speak, knowing that the moment he finished would be their last together. “There, we will have everything we didn’t in this life. We will meet at a school bookhouse, perhaps—the courtyard outside a classroom, where you will be eating pork buns and I will be studying beneath a great cypress tree. We will wed, with a big ceremony full of family and friends and masters, and we will have children and teach them everything there is to know about this world. And there, I will love you every moment of every day that was owed to us in this life.”
“You forgot one thing,” she whispered against him. “When we meet, I will smash a teacup in your face.”
He smiled against the sharp pain in his heart and spoke the words that came with every single memory of her. “How could I forget.”
A breeze blew in, stirring their páos. It was time to go.
Zen drew back. He pressed his palms flat against her cheeks and held her tenderly as he kissed her one last time.
Then he turned and, without another glance back, stepped into the Gate Seal he had conjured.
—
His boot cracked against ice. A cold wind rammed into him, robbing him of breath as he struggled to adjust from the temperate desert climate. It should have tired him to draw the Gate Seal over such a long distance—no, it should have been nearly impossible, given the amount of qì it took—but Zen barely felt anything. Before, he might have berated himself fordrawing upon the Black Tortoise’s energies so liberally, but now he accepted it with resigned calm.
The end was near. He was a burning star across the night sky, his fire nearly gone.
Zen felt a thickening in the air as he passed the Boundary and Illusion Seals he had cast around Where the Flame Rises and the Stars Fall, and then he was back. Before him, the palace of his ancestors rose, frozen in winter’s snow beneath the mourning moon.
He sensed the shadows shift before their owner stepped out in front of him.
“Something has changed” was all the Nameless Master of Assassins said. His face was as inscrutable as ever, but his eyes seemed to bore straight into Zen’s thoughts.
“The Azure Tiger has been bound,” Zen confirmed. “And the Godslayer is found. All will end soon.”
The Nameless Master blinked once but gave no response.
Zen started up the steps to the palace gates. He felt, rather than heard, the master follow.
“It is no longer safe here,” Zen continued as they entered. The hall was empty but for the flicker of Flame Seals draped over the sconces. Zen was glad the disciples had found a way to keep themselves warm in his absence. “Wake everyone. You must leave.”
“Where to?”
Zen slowed. There was no point in hiding it anymore. He turned to face the master. “Sòng Lián, Yeshin Noro Dilaya, and Chó Tài are organizing a rebellion in the west. They will have safe shelter for the children.”
The Nameless Master accepted all this without a change of expression. “What of you?”
“You ask too many questions.” Zen kept his tone neutral, cold. The last thing he needed was for any more fuss, anythingto delay him from what he had to do. “Wake everyone and gather them here. My Gate Seal will bring you to safety.”
