Page 26

Save him. Just…

Save him.

Siwang.

His name was the first thing I thought of when consciousness realigned with my body.

I opened my eyes. A blurred, distorted scene slowly came into focus. I was back in my tent, Fangyun kneeling at my bedside, her head resting beside my hip, her hand holding mine even as she slept. There were tearstains around the blanket under her face. An imperial physician napped in the corner, and a fire crackled at the center of the room.

“Siwang…Where is Siwang?” I rasped out.

“You are awake?” Fangyun jerked to alertness at the sound of my voice.

“How are you feeling, Lady Lifeng?” The physician bolted to his feet, hurrying over to check my pulse. “You’ve been unconscious for almost three days.”

I blinked. “Three days?”

“You were running a fever when you got back. You also showed signs of blood loss, though we couldn’t find a wound. We were afraid it was some sort of internal bleeding. Thank the gods that you are okay. Your father and Prince Siwang are incredibly worried.”

I sat up straighter at the mention of his name. “Siwang is alive?”

“The prince is very much alive and well. He’s lost a lot of blood, too, but he’s strong. By the time the head physician finished treating his wound, the prince was lucid and asking for you.”

Tears stung the back of my eyes.Thank the gods.“When can I seehim?”

“I recommend that you stay here and avoid exerting yourself until we have made further observations. The prince is up and on his feet; he can come to you.”

“He’s come to see you every night,” Fangyun quickly added. “The physicians had to drag him back to his tent because he refused to leave your side.”

“I’ll send word to let him know you’re awake.” With that, the physician exited the room and Fangyun perched herself at the edge of mybed.

Her hands grabbed mine. “What happened?” she whispered, head dipped low, close to my ear.

“It’s a long story.”

“Then you’d better be quick, because Siwang is going to be here any minute now. Did you kill the tiger? I heard you were with the Prince of Lan when they found you. There are rumors that you ran away with him. That’s not true, right? He kidnapped you, didn’t he? He tried to use you as a hostage and leveraged your life against Siwang, and that’s how Siwang got injured, right?” My sister spoke not with curiosity but conviction. Her eyes were misty and pleading.

An alibi, and a lie. A version of events that was safe to retell. I frowned. “Siwang told you what happened?”

“The two of you need to get your stories to match before the emperor questions you.”

I smiled. “No need. I’m going to tell the emperor the truth. And the truth is that nothing happened between me and Lan Yexue.”

“Really?” Fangyun visibly let go of a held breath. “Thank the gods.”

With as few words as possible and carefully avoiding any detailsof Lan Yexue’s secret, I retold everything to my sister in a voice barely louder than a whisper. I was halfway through when Siwang burst into the tent, scarcely dressed, with a mismatched blue sash hastily tied around the waist of his black-and-red robes.

“Your Highness! You will catch a cold!” An army of guards and physicians ran in after him with fur coats in hand.

Cheeks flushed, breath labored, the Crown Prince of Rong looked like he was about to cry. Siwang pushed the servant aside when he tried to touch him.

I tried to get up and go to him, to touch his face and feel his warmth so that I knew this wasn’t a dream, that he really was alive. But my legs crumbled under me.

“The doctor told you not to move.” Fangyun pushed me back onto the bed.

I saw that Siwang’s feet were bare and wet with melting snow. He had run across camp barefoot, through all the freezing ice and sleet…for me. Something inside ached again. I hated it when Siwang did things like this. I hated it when he made it difficult to hate him.

“Fei.” He whispered my name like a prayer. His tears threatened to spill when he stumbled toward me, lips twitching like there was something gravely important he wanted to say.