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He shoved me aside and fell to his knees, choking. I took my time gathering up my stones before casting a couple waterstones to the ground, turning the ring of fire into a thin sheet of smoke. Another alchemist rushed forward, striking Zheng Sili between the shoulder blades until the pearl popped out.

“Are you actually trying to kill me?” he said, panting. “We’re sparring, not culling each other! There are rules!”

“You were going to bite my fingers off,” I said, feeling oddly defensive as the other alchemists glared at me. No one had said there were rules. Everyone else seemed to fight dirty, so why couldn’t I?

“No, I wasn’t,” he said, another alchemist helping him to his feet. “If you don’t know what you’re doing, you could have just said so.”

As the wind washed away the smoke, the scowls of all the other alchemists fell into sharp clarity in the sunlight. Would it have been better if I’d lost? Or sacrificed my fingers for their approval?Don’t make friends, Yufei had said. It seemed like that wouldn’t be a problem.

I shoved past them, storming to the inner courtyard. Let them play their games. I had studying to do.

I finally found an unoccupied tree in the shade and threw my bag down, leaning against the trunk. My clothes still smelled of fire and my skin felt singed, but I unrolled my scrolls and started to read anyway, too angry to take in any of the words. I couldn’t help but think about Zheng Sili and what other thousands of alchemy tricks he might know that I didn’t.

I’d only been reading for a few minutes when a pair of silk shoes paused in front of me. I barely even glanced up from my scroll, catching a glimpse of jeweled bracelets probably worth my entire home back in Guangzhou. Was I really going to be a source of entertainment for all the other wealthy alchemists?

“I’m busy,” I said, rereading the last line of my scroll. “I’ll beat you up later, if you’re that desperate.”

“As tempting as that sounds, I was hoping we could continue our conversation from earlier.”

I slid my gaze up the lines of purple fabric, squinting past the sunlight at the face of the Crown Prince.

I tensed, feeling like a lost child who’d just been spotted by a tiger. He knew damn well how much power he had over me, especially here, in his palace. I didn’t want anything to do with someone like that.

He had a teacup in one hand and a scroll tucked under his arm, like he’d snuck away from a tutoring session. He looked more tired than when he’d addressed the other alchemists, and red scratches around his throat peeked out from under his collar.Probably an overzealous concubine, I thought, pursing my lips so I wouldn’t say something rude out loud.

“You spoke so freely in Guangzhou,” he said, when I spent a moment too long staring at him. “Why not now?”

I glanced around but didn’t see any guards or servants attending him. “I don’t think you want me to speak freely right now,Your Highness,” I said sourly.

He grimaced. “I’ve slipped away from my servants, so we’re alone right now,” he said. “You can say what you wish.”

I raised an eyebrow. Surely he was joking. “You won’t behead me for speaking out of turn?”

He laughed, shaking his head. “Even if I liked beheading people, the Empress wouldn’t allow it. She’s too fond of collecting alchemists.”

Collecting alchemists?I thought. But there were more pressing questions, and I didn’t know how many I could ask before a servant inevitably found us.

“You were wrong,” I said at last. “You seemed certain you’d be dead by now.”

He nodded, glancing around again. “When you wouldn’t come with me, I took a long path back to Chang’an to buy myself some time. I’ve only just returned, hoping I would find you here.”

“Me?”

He nodded. “You told me you would go to Chang’an to become a royal alchemist. I believed you.”

I blushed, dropping my gaze to the dirt. I hadn’t even fully believed it myself, but for some reason, he had.

“The people you’ve helped with your alchemy, they raved about you,” he said, sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of me. “They showed me their babies, children they thought were gone forever, who are just now learning to walk.”

I shook my head, drawing back against the tree. “That’s not...” I trailed off. He made me sound like a hero, when I knew full well it had only been a job and nothing more.

He smiled. “You’re so...”

I held my breath, praying his next words wouldn’t bekindorgenerousor something else that I wasn’t.

“...skilled,” he said at last.

My shoulders relaxed. No one had ever said that to me before. No one had ever really shown that much appreciation for anything I did. I knew it was because I’d always asked for money instead of thanks, but the prince’s words made me feel strangely warm.