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“Siwang would be a fool not to sign this. Is he the one turning the treaty down, or is his father?”

“Have you ever heard of a peace treaty being on the table? If Siwang had passed it to the Rong court, rumors would have spread. You know how these things work.”

I did. “Why would Siwang keep this to himself?”

“Ask him yourself.” Yexue glanced past me, at the narrow opening of the window. “I will send my best guards with you to Rong’s camp.”

“I don’t need them. Siwang wouldn’t hurt me. Besides, if I returned to camp with your men escorting me, Siwang wouldn’t trust me. War changes men; he is paranoid, and if—”

“The guards are mandatory. You might be foolish enough to believe you are safe with Siwang, but—”

I arched a brow. “What are you trying to say?”

“That maybe you don’t know that prince of yours as well as you think, and you—”

A spark at the edge of my vision.

A narrow valley, surrounded by trees on both sides.

Arrows, descending like rain around our metal carriage, piercing straight through the legs of a horse—

“Stop the carriage! We are going to be ambushed!” I screamed,moments before the cart came to a screeching halt and someone from outside cried, “Get down!”

Yexue immediately pushed me to the floor, closing the window as he covered me with his body.

This was why he had left in such haste, and why he had changed from horses to a metal carriage. He knew someone had been tracking us, planning an attack.

“Stay down.”

I closed my eyes, tried to will another vision into existence and do something,anything,to help.

“Don’t be scared,” Yexue whispered as the sound of clashing swords erupted outside. He brushed a thumb between my brows; he must have mistaken my concentration for fear.

I tried to push him off. “Give me your sword.”

Yexue smiled, handed me his dagger, then placed a hand on my shoulder before I could rush outside and join the fight. “My men are trained, Fei. You are just a green soldier with a few months of practice. That is nothing in a fight againstkillers.Frankly, it is ridiculous that Siwang even let you or any of the idiots you trained with get this close to the front lines.”

Siwang is desperate.My attention once again fell on the peace treaty. Could it be true? Could it—

Another spark.

A man, dressed in black, coming behind the youngest and smallest of Yexue’s guards.

The glint of a blade. Theswishas it sliced through air and found the young man’s throat.

I leaped out of the carriage. It took me a heartbeat to find the young man in the chaos. Just as the assassin came up behind him.

I threw my knife, letting Fate’s glimmer guide it, and it sliced through the assassin’s hand before he could sever the head of the young guard.

I smiled. I almost couldn’t believe it. I had saved someone’s life.

“Fei, be careful!” Yexue jumped out of the carriage, his hand grabbing mine, and I half expected him to pull me back inside. Thankfully, he did not.

I had spent my entire life hiding while men fought and bled to protect me.

No more. It was time I started protecting myself, perhaps even protecting those who—