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Liwei nodded, the tension easing from his bearing. “Are you sure? It will be years. Decades, perhaps.”

“I repay my debts,” I said. “As long as there is another elixir, I will wait.” Perhaps I had finally learned the art of patience, after all.

“You will have it, I promise.” A solemn vow before his court, though I did not need it from him.

My gaze met Liwei’s, a warmth spreading through me at the understanding I found there. A single thought consumed my mind: Wenzhi was alive, and it was Liwei who would restore him to me. My world had been turned inside out, and yet it had never been more perfect.

Liwei rose and strode toward me, his power coiling around us to form a shield of privacy. No one could hear what he spoke next. “There is something else I want to say. I wish I had not let you go the first time, for even when you came back to me your heart was no longer mine alone. Later, when you left, I should have gone with you. I should have helped you heal.”

“I did not expect you to come. You have your obligations,” I said.

He shook his head. “You should have come first, above all else. You should not have needed to ask. I knew you were hurting, that life here would not make you happy. I believed—selfishly—that if we were together, that would be enough.”

“It would have been enough, more than enough—but I have changed, as have you. Life has shaped us in different ways.” My voice was thick with emotion. “I will always be grateful that you took pity on a girl who had nothing and shared your life with her.”

He inclined his head. “As I am forever grateful for you, Xingyin.”

My fingers reached into my sleeve, closing around something I carried with me always. The lacquered hairpin, his promise of a future that was no longer ours. I handed it to him, feeling like a knife was sliding between my ribs—or was it being pulled out?

“I don’t deserve this.” I did not mean to be cruel, but it was the truth. I did not deserve his love because I could not offer him mine.

His eyes were ink and shadow. “Keep it, as a gift of friendship. It belongs to no one else. Go to him. Be happy.” His hand reached out to graze mine, his remembered touch sending a sliver of pain through me.

Except it was the good type, where healing lay on the other side.