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He cocked his head. There was that half smile again. “To impress the emperor?”

“Are you interrogating me?” I asked.

“Just trying to get to know the girl who’s saved my life.”

Knowledge and secrets were the most valuable currency. There was a reason they said the most powerful person in every room was not the richest, or the person who held the highest status, but the person who knew the most secrets. “From now on, if you want to ask a question, you will have to answer one of mine first.”

“Ask away,” he replied. “It’s the least I can do to repay your mercy.”

My fingers paused, surprised that he’d agreed so easily. “When did you escape?”

If the answer was in the last couple of hours, then the guards couldn’t be far behind him. I should get on my way before we were both caught.

Sneaking out to hunt before the hunt officially began was something Siwang could defend by shrugging it off as me being competitive and childish.

Being seen with another man in the middle of the night?

That was another thing altogether. Memories of Lijian were still fresh. I didn’t want that to happen to Yexue, because Siwang might not be satisfied with a simple exile this time.

“I left a little after we returned from the hunt, so almost three hoursago.”

Long enough for the sentry to notice.

“My turn to ask questions. I assume you’re here to hunt Beiying tigers to win the emperor’s wish. What could the future Empress of Rong, the girl who has everything, want and not have?” His eyes were curious yet sharp, carefully observing me.

I bit the inside of my lip and ripped off another piece of his robe as a bandage. I had to make it tight, apply as much pressure as possible to stop the bleeding, which seemed to be slowing—there wasn’t half as much blood seeping through the bandage as I’d expected.

I wasn’t sure if it was a trick of the light, but I swore color was already returning to Yexue’s sharp face.

“I’m waiting,” he pressed.

“Freedom,” I replied curtly. A half-truth.

“What do you mean?”

“My turn,” I said quickly. “How far away are the imperial guards? Do you know?”

“Far,” he told me.

“You sound sure of that.”

“I am.”

“How?”

The corners of his lips twitched the same way they had this morning. The almost-smile of someone who knew something I didn’t. “Aquestion for a question, Lady Lifeng. You aren’t very good at following your own rules, are you?” he taunted, dark eyes glistening in the moonlight. “Since you are so kindly tending to my wounds, I’ll answer this question for free. I am sure because those men are all dead now.”

I jerked up, eyeing his immaculate white robe, not a stain of blood in sight except for the crimson patch at his leg. His sleeves, the part of clothing that got soiled first in a fight, were pristine.

“You can’t have killed them.”

“Why not?”

“Because.” I gestured at his clothes. “If you had, you would be covered in blood.”

“Maybe I’m just very good at killing people without getting my hands dirty,” the prince replied, his dark eyes fixed on me.

A coldness slithered between my shoulder blades, something primal, urging me to run.