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She was strong. I had failed. And now, she was livid.

“How noble you are, loving him yet releasing him to another. Cherishing your past and forgiving the pain. Are you so self-sacrificing to risk yourself for a love that is no longer yours?” she jeered, making a mockery of my confession. “Let’s see how your principles fare when you’re truly tested.”

A guard grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet. Two others dragged Liwei to where I stood. Black metal bands still encircled his wrists, binding his powers—and how I cursed missing my earlier shot. Liwei’s gaze never left mine. Seemingly oblivious to our peril, they glowed with all the warmth and tenderness I remembered.

“You risked your life for him, but will he do the same for you?” Her tone reeked with scorn.

“Let her go. I will not fight you,” Liwei said, without a moment’s hesitation.

A fierce joy sang in my veins. Even as I dreaded what would come after, that his declaration would only infuriate her more.

Her mouth stretched into a mirthless smile. “Let’s have some entertainment tonight. A fight. To the death. Between you two. If you win, First Archer—you’ll walk free. I’ll even let you keep your bow.” The sweetness of her tone jarred with the abhorrent meaning of her words.

I could not have heard her right. She did not mean it; she could not. For Liwei and me . . . to kill the other to save ourselves? Was this some twisted jest to frighten us? But as I stared at her face—so lovely and pitiless—a shiver rippled along the length of my spine.

This was no game.

26

Liwei’s eyes blazed. “I will not fight you, Xingyin. Please . . . go.”

I shook my head. I would not abandon him to certain death, not even to save myself.

Lady Hualing sighed. “Refuse to fight and you’ll both be killed. A most romantic end, upholding all your honorable principles, though a reckless waste.”

A hopeless despair settled over me as I met Liwei’s grim yet resolute gaze. Our hands remained slack by our sides in defiance of her command. We would not be her pawns in this sick game. Nor would I go quietly; I would fight until my energy was drained, until our final breaths were spent. Only then, could she tear her bloodied victory from us.

Her tongue clacked against the roof of her mouth. “How disappointing. I had hoped for more spirited entertainment. However, there are ways to ensure your cooperation.” Her shield gleamed as she stepped closer to Liwei, seizing his chin between her fingers, her nails cutting into his skin.

He recoiled, horror dawning over his face. Yet she held him fast, her soldiers gripping his arms tighter behind his back.

“Liwei!” I lunged toward him, trying to shove my way through the guards who grabbed me and flung me back.

Lady Hualing’s pupils glinted as shards of topaz. A recollection emerged, something Liwei had told me once of the Mind Talents: Their eyes, which glitter like cut stones.

Fear plunged through me, trailed by doubt. I refused to believe it, I dared not. Lady Hualing was of the Celestial Kingdom, not the Demon Realm, the Cloud Wall or wherever that place was. Once, the Flower Immortal, her Talent had to be of the Earth, not the Mind. I had seen it myself with the creeping moss and those monstrous vines. Impossible, that she should know the forbidden arts. And even if she did, surely the emperor would have sealed them from her. But what if the emperor did not know? What if she had disappeared before such magic was banned?

Beads of sweat gleamed on Liwei’s skin. Still, Lady Hualing did not release her hold. I could not help recalling that she was one of the most powerful immortals in the realm. And even if Liwei’s magic was not bound, he had been weakened by the battle, and the amethyst ring. If she was trying to compel him, she would fail, I tried to assure myself. Liwei was strong, too. He would not surrender, he would fight—

But when Lady Hualing and her guards released him, I no longer knew him. Something vital in him had been lost. My insides shriveled as I stared into his eyes—worse than a stranger’s, they were as cold as his father’s. His face was blank as he stood unmoving, even when a guard shoved a sword into his hand. Someone passed me another, my fingers closing reflexively around its hilt.

As Lady Hualing leaned toward me, I gagged as the smell of decaying flowers crowded my nostrils. “Do you regret spurning my offer? A final warning: don’t be so foolish as to throw your life away for him. He will not appreciate it; the men of his family have hearts of stone.”

I did not hesitate, leaping forward to thrust my sword at her. As it crashed against her shield, pain coursed through my arm. I raised it again—better to go down fighting this way—but the soldiers shoved me aside, another kicking the back of my knees as I slumped to the ground.

Lady Hualing crouched down as she brushed an icy knuckle down my cheek. I flinched, rearing away. “Don’t forget, you still have your powers.” She spoke in an intimate whisper. “If you let him kill you . . . well, his life is forfeit regardless. But if he dies, you live.”

Something splintered inside me. An impossible choice, whether to die in a futile sacrifice or to kill Liwei to save myself. More than just wanting Liwei dead, she wanted me to kill him. Did she take a sadistic pleasure in tormenting her enemy’s child? Did she relish the thought of me living in misery and regret, as she had done? Or was this to prove me wrong? That despite my claim, she and I were not so different after all—that the same viciousness in her heart lurked in mine.

Oh, I had baited her too well and now, we both would pay.

Lady Hualing clapped, the hollow sound ringing in the cavern. As though it was a signal, Liwei’s body jerked, then he stalked toward me. With his sword in his hand, he circled me—in a cruel parody of the many times he had challenged me in play.

I could not move, unable to look away from his dead gaze. Even now, I did not believe he could harm me. Although I, myself, was almost compelled before in the Eastern Sea, and had seen what a sliver of such power could do.

He charged, swift as lightning. Stunned, I threw up my sword—a second too late as his blade slashed my cheek. Blood trickled from the stinging gash, yet it was nothing to the agony within. It was not that he looked at me with hatred, but with utter indifference.

Silver flashed, hard and bright. My body moved of its own volition, flinging my arm up, our blades clanging together. He bore down relentlessly as I staggered beneath the force of his blow, digging my heels into the ground. In a sudden feint, he whirled to the side. I reeled forward as he swept his sword across the scales of my armor, thrusting it deep into my shoulder. Cold iron sank through my flesh, scraping bone. With a smooth tug of his arm, his blade slid from me with a moist sucking sound. A gasp was torn from my lungs as I pressed my palm to the gaping wound, blood gushing between my fingers. Anger surged through me now—misplaced though it was—as I lunged at him, my sword piercing his armor, driving into his side. I yanked it out at once, before it went too deep, shame and remorse searing me . . . along with the horror that he did not even flinch.