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Her magic flashed, streaking toward me. Taken aback, I swung aside—too slow—as it struck the side of my neck, blisters erupting over the skin with stinging pain. Tao wrenched himself free and darted away, cowering behind the woman. As Liwei pressed his palm to my wound, channeling his power across it, the pain eased at once. My breathing came labored, shock mingling with anger at her unprovoked attack—along with a dawning realization.

I pointed at Tao. “You’re here for him.”

She opened her mouth, but then her head snapped to one side. I sensed it, too, the swell of auras beyond the courtyard. The woman bolted outside, pulling Tao after her, Liwei and I racing after them. As a large cloud swooped down, summoned by Liwei, we sprang upon it. Celestial soldiers called out, gesturing at us—a few already climbing upon their clouds to give chase. My energy flowed forth as I wove an invisibility enchantment, shielding us from sight as we soared toward the eastern gate. Turning around, I hurled eight bolts of flame into the shells across the palace, burning them to cinders and ash. I would not draw the emperor’s wrath to Master Bingwen and the Southern Sea.

Liwei’s power merged with mine, channeling a gale that sped us onward. As we neared the eastern gate, I braced for battle, for the guards there to try to stop us—yet it was strangely abandoned, no one rushing forth in pursuit as we shot into the skies. If this was the empress’s doing, I was glad for her foresight.

Only after the Celestial Kingdom’s borders were far behind us did I allow myself to relax. My heart was beating much too quickly as my gaze met Liwei’s. Without speaking, he closed the distance between us and pulled me into his arms. I softened against him, inhaling his scent. A lightness spilled through me, the relief of being with him again, though it was speared by dread of what would come.

I pushed away from him, ignoring the sharp pang in my chest—my vow to the empress ringing through my mind. I dared not allow myself even this indulgence. Liwei dropped his arms and stepped away, his eyes shadowed with hurt. Reluctant to answer his unspoken question—to lie—I turned to Tao, only to find a cloud sweeping beside ours as the woman leapt upon it, Tao’s hand clasped in hers.

I lunged forth, seizing Tao’s other wrist. “Who are you? What do you want?” I demanded of her.

“It’s none of your concern.”

“It is, when he stole from me,” I shot back.

“You must be angry at me,” Tao began.

“Angry does not capture it when I have been lied to, cheated, and left with the blame.” I rounded upon him. “Why did you do it?”

“I didn’t intend to! I believed there were two elixirs, not one,” he stammered.

As I recalled his strange reaction when he opened the box, a little of my anger dissipated. “Where is the elixir?”

“I … I no longer have it.”

I breathed deeply, fighting for calm. I had earned the elixir, bled for it as he had. Perhaps, if he had not tried to cheat me … it was no use thinking of that; the only thing that mattered was retrieving the elixir, if it was not too late. “Tell me where it is.”

Tao’s tongue flicked over his lips as his eyes darted toward the woman. I swung to her. “He gave it to you. Is that why you’re helping him?”

“Release him, before I make you regret it.” Menace coiled in her voice as she raised her hand, a wave of glittering magic rushing through the air.

I sprang back to evade it, letting go of Tao. At once the woman pulled him over to her cloud. As they soared away, I whipped the Jade Dragon Bow free, training it upon the fleeing pair, a beam of light pulsing between my fingers—

“No.” Liwei moved in front of me.

“What are you doing? They’re getting away!” I cried out in frustration.

“Xingyin, I know her.” An unfamiliar eagerness pulsed in his voice as his magic surged forth, ropes of flame lashing around the woman’s cloud and dragging it back to ours.

As her face contorted in fury, she raised her hand to attack us again—just as Liwei called out, “Sister Zhiyi, it is good to see you again.”

Sister?” I repeated in disbelief, examining the woman more closely.

After Liwei’s greeting, she had frozen, eyes widening as she stared at him. Something nagged at me just as before, an elusive twinge of recognition—a memory surfacing in my mind like the chords of a forgotten song.

“Liwei, is she the woman in your painting? Your childhood friend who moved away?” I had wondered about the scroll by his desk, when I first came to the Courtyard of Eternal Tranquility.

“Yes.” He smiled with such joy, despite the strain of the night, my spirits lightened. “I did not see her clearly at first, and it has been many years since we last met.”

The woman—Zhiyi—strode onto our cloud, searching Liwei’s face. “Liwei?” His name came out tentatively yet with undeniable tenderness. “There was only one person who called me ‘Sister.’ It has been so long … you were a child when I left.”

I lowered my bow, the arrow vanishing. Whoever she was, she was dear to him and no enemy of mine. “Is she truly your sister?” I asked Liwei.

“We are not really siblings. I was a child when I knew her. It seemed impolite to call her by name, as she was my elder, yet ‘Aunt’ did not seem to fit.”

Zhiyi shuddered. “Definitely not ‘Aunt.’ Now you are grown-up, just my name is fine.” Her gaze slid to the ground. “How are your parents? Your father, His Celestial Majesty?”