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His placed his blade in my hand. “Pain is an old friend.”

“Good. Because I am no doctor. If you don’t want the imperial guards to find you, I’d suggest you keep quiet.” I snapped a piece of bark from the overhanging foliage. “Chew on this when you want to scream. If the imperial guards find us, we are both dead.”

“Are you going to remove this bleeding arrow or not?”

I sneered. After two years as a hostage, Lan Yexue still saw himself as the prince of a mighty empire, not the son of a crumbling dynasty that ruled over a handful of failing cities, barely enough to call itself a kingdom anymore.

The Empire of Lan used to rule over half the continent; however, it had been in decline for centuries. Its last era of stability was when Yexue’s great-grandfather reigned. And things had only gotten worse since his father fell sick and his uncle took over the duties of regent. If the rumors were true, Yexue’s ailing father was not long for this world.

Was this why he wanted to go home? To see his father one last time, or to stop his uncle from taking the last thing that was his?

“This is a good place to stage an escape attempt,” I said to fill the silence as I cautiously shaved off the arrowhead, careful not to leave any splinters. “If you make it deep enough into the mountains and find a cave to hide in, you might be able to wait out Rong’s hunters. When the hunt officially starts, these mountains will be swallowed by chaos. That will be your best shot at escaping. Too bad—with this injured leg, you are not going anywhere for a while.”

“Do you always talk this much?”

In one swift motion, I had him against the tree he was leaning on, with his own blade pressed against his throat. “If you want my help, you’d better show some gratitude. Otherwise, my face might just be the last face you’ll ever see.”

To my surprise, Prince Yexue didn’t flinch or cry or retort with something just as vicious. His lips twitched. He was…amused?

“I want to help you,” I told him. “But that doesn’t mean I am here to take your endless insults like I owe you something.”

“Very well, my lady.” His smile was beautiful, contagious. The sort that took up most of his face, like a flower that had finally bloomed. There was a single dimple on each side of his face.

“Try not to scream. I’m going to pull the arrow out now; this is the worst part.”

The Prince of Lan nodded. I put one hand on his thigh and the other on the arrow. I could feel the heat of his body burning through the fabric of his clothes, and my cheeks burned, too.

When I pulled, the arrow came away in one piece, and Yexue didn’t so much as wince. He watched me with interest the entire time, as if pain really was the old friend he’d so boldly claimed it to be.

I tried not to linger on this. I didn’t want to imagine what kind of trauma one would’ve had to experience to be so indifferent in the face of pain.

“Why are you helping me?” he asked again as I began applying the antidote to his wound, making sure to be careful with the dosage; this antidote was a poison itself, after all.

“???????,” I replied after I was done.We are both outcasts on the run.“If I don’t help you, who will?” I got up and retrieved the small bottle of bloodroot ointment that I’d originally prepared for myself in case of emergencies from my satchel. “A physician with proper medicine and training would have done a better job. However, the closest doctors all work for the Rong emperor and would rat you out if you sought their help. I’m the best option you have right now. Wherever you intend to go, take this with you.”

He took the bottle, and a strong herbal smell burned my nostrils as he opened it. “Good stuff.”

“Try not to die on your way home. If the Prince of Lan died under our supervision, it would only spark more conflict between our borders. I don’t know about you, but I have seen enough bloodshed to last a lifetime.”

Yexue arched a brow. “You are Prince Siwang’s betrothed—when would a girl like you ever see bloodshed and war?”

I smiled. “When would a girl like me ever see bloodshed and war, indeed.”

“May I ask, why is the future Empress of Rong on the run?”

“I’m notonthe run. I’m just…running.” I ripped a piece of fabric from his robe. It wasn’t a proper bandage, however, it would do.

“You don’t have to do that,” he protested when I tore another piece off his robe. “The leg will heal by itself.”

“That will take weeks. Wounds don’t just magically heal by themselves overnight. If I don’t bandage this for you, it will become infected and you might still die.”

His lips parted, then closed, as if he wanted to say something then decided against it. “Are we running from the same people?”

“I guess.”

The prince eyed the arrows strapped across my back. “Do you know how dangerous these mountains are at night? Have you not heard of the Beiying tigers?”

I laughed. “Why do you think I’m here?”