Page 55 of The Nightblood Prince

While a mountain of lush bamboo and trickling streams sat east of the manor, a city sat at its west. Built at the mountain’s base, it was a gleam of terra-cotta and bronze.

Houses made of stone, wood, and glazed bamboo stretched out into bustling streets.

Teahouses and winehouses were vibrant with music and voices, with fluttering banners and red lanterns dancing in the breeze.

At the main market, merchants peddled their goods while children begged their parents for sugarcoated treats.

“Welcome to Longyan,” Yexue announced as we wandered through the streets that reminded me me of Yong’An.

In this lively and beautiful city, joy shone bright on its people’s faces. A far cry from the way I’d imagined life under Lan’s rule.

However, hand in hand with splendor, the city was also laden with memories of violence. Along each street lingered the devastation of war, with crumbled buildings and flame-scorched walls peppering the city like festering mold.

Fire. The very thing Yexue’s monstrous creations were scared of.

“Siwang did this?”

“Like I’ve said, each time I try to end this war, he takes it as a chance to reclaim the land that he perceives as his.”

I grimaced. It always came back to this. Men and their pride and their self-righteous explanations as to why they had a better claim to a piece of land than other men, always forgetting that there were already people who called these lands home.

The seed of every conflict was never ancestral rights or justice; it was always greed.

I don’t believe you, I wanted to tell him. I had grown up beside Siwang and knew him like the back of my hand. He was a good leader, and he would not let his people die when peace was an option…. Right?

I said nothing, and as we walked, I noticed a pleased smile tugged at Yexue’s lips, the pride gleaming in his eyes.

The citizens of this city smiled when Yexue passed and tilted their heads in greeting like sprouts reaching for the warm spring sun.

Shopkeepers called to us and offered samples of dumplings and cakes and pieces of smoked meat.

Children giggled and gasped when they saw him; the admiration in their eyes was not something that could be faked.

“Prince Yexue! Buy a red string for the pretty girl and the two of you will find each other in every lifetime!” an elderly lady hollered from her stand.

I was surprised she had the nerve to summon the prince regent like this, and was even more surprised when Yexue did as she asked and pulled me toward the little cart of braided red strings.

“One for the pretty girl and one for the handsome boy.” She beamed as she handed each of us a red string. “That will be five coins each.”

I gasped. Five coins? In times like these? It was enough to feed a whole family for three days.

Yexue laughed and handed her the money, then offered me his hand. “Tie it for me.”

An order.

“You don’t strike me as someone so superstitious,” I grumbled, but did as he asked.

“I believe what I want to believe in.” Once I was done, Yexue took the red string from my hand. “May I?”

I held my hand out, expecting him to tie it around my wrist like I had done for him.

Instead, he tied one end to the third finger of my left hand and the other to his finger.

“Those from beyond the western seas say this finger holds a vein that is linked directly to our hearts,” he said casually.

Then he grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him. “Caughtyou.”

Blood rushed to my cheeks; I was suddenly too aware of his imposing stature and broad shoulders, the cold of his touch and the hardness of his body. “People are watching.”

“Let them.” He gripped my hand tighter and continued to guide me through the city as the people all but knelt for him like he was some kind of god.

“I’m not the man you see on the battlefield,” he continued as we ascended the stone steps that led up the city walls.

“I’m good to my people. I offer every city the chance to surrender, and I don’t abandon them in ruins in favor of the next conquest. I take the time to mend the infrastructure of every city I capture.

I want every person who lives under my rule to be happy, their bellies full and their homes warm. ”

From atop the city walls, I looked out at the bustling streets and jubilant citizens, then at the soldiers stationed on the streets at regular intervals, still on alert.

Yexue’s eyes followed my mine. “These people look happy, don’t they? They will thrive under my reign; I’ll make sure of it.”

“And if they don’t want to be ruled by you?” From the buzzing streets, it appeared that many had knelt for Yexue and surrendered in the name of peace. But did they really have a choice?

Yexue could rebuild on the ashes of these claimed lands all he wanted, but the damage was already done. Each conquered city was a shredded painting: no matter how hard he tried to piece it back together, it would never be whole again.

“When I was a child, my father told me that good emperors are the good men who rule by respect, not fear. But if the end result is the same, does it matter how we got there?”

I whirled to him. “In other words, your main objective is still more land, more resources, more power.”

He shrugged. “In history, no kind man has ever amassed the sort of power and respect it takes to build an empire, regardless of how hard they pretend. A dragon will die without a head, and society will crumble without a leader who upholds law and order. I want to be a good emperor, but a good emperor does not necessarily mean a kind emperor.”

“Every emperor is a tyrant, deep down,” I grumbled, and Yexue chuckled. He watched me with that same amusement and curiosity he had a year ago in the northern mountains.

“Do you include your beloved Prince of Rong in that list of tyrants?”

I straightened. Yes, I do, was the answer I kept to myself. However, I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of being compared with Siwang.

“Do you know that he sent men into my cities disguised as refugees, fire powder hidden in their clothes?” he added after a beat of silence.

“With cries for Rong, they threw firebombs at children before setting themselves alight. That is the real reason we are still tangled in this gods-forsaken conflict. Not because of my greed, but because of Rong Siwang’s pride. ”

“You are lying,” I said without thinking. I refused to believe we were talking about the same righteous Siwang I had known my whole life. But my eyes drifted down to the scorched streets below us. “Your soldiers are monsters. How do you explain that?”

“Is that what your prince has told you?”

Not my prince. “I’ve seen them with my own eyes. I watched them raid a village and—”

“Not everything that appears monstrous is monstrous, my goddess. Yes, while some of my soldiers are humans, some are… not. But neither am I, technically. And neither are you.”

I stilled. On the horizon, the sun was beginning to set, painting the skies in brilliant hues. Below us, children’s laughter could be heard as parents herded them home. “Say what you mean, Lan Yexue.”

Yexue leaned against the wall, watching me admire his city. “Have you ever wondered why I risked my life to heal you when I knew Siwang would have an ambush ready?”

The prophecy was my first thought. But if that was the reason, he would have taken me that night instead of telling me to run.

Yexue’s fingertips grazed mine. He watched me with bated breath, waiting to see how I would react.

I didn’t pull away. When he had touched me a year ago in that cave, his skin had been warm. Now it was so cold that it sent shivers up my body.

“We are the same, Fei,” he said. “Born with magic in our veins, and prophecies marking our fates.”

“Prophecies?” Plural.

“You didn’t think you were the only one whose fate was written in the stars, did you?

” His smile faltered, the light in those eyes dimmed, just a little.

“The empress of all empresses. Your prophecy was echoed by many across the continent, not just by those who worshipped different gods but also those who worshipped the land and the sky.”

“It’s all nonsense,” I interjected.

“If you truly thought it nonsense, you wouldn’t have spent the past year searching for the stargazer who first uttered your prophecy.”

My eyes shot up to meet his. “You were stalking me?”

Yexue smirked. “You think too highly of yourself, Fei. I have eyes everywhere, and you simply happen to constantly fall within my line of sight.”

My hands balled into fists. “If your men aren’t the monsters people say they are, then why did you attack that village where the stargazer’s mother was hiding?”

He raised an eyebrow. “I never attacked Duhuan. When my men found out someone had murdered the stargazer’s mother, they rounded the villagers up to find out what had happened. That was it.”

“Really?”

“Swear on my cold, cold heart.”

“Did you find anything?”

“Nothing of use. Even if I did, do you expect me to just hand it over? Knowledge is power. Do you think I will go soft and just tellyou?”

I glared at him. “Don’t think I don’t know how much you love to gloat. If you knew something, you wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret longer than a few hours before you start taunting me.”

Yexue laughed at this, his head tilted back, eyes gleaming—the kind of laugh that lit up his whole face. Not for the first time, his beauty sparked something inside me.

But the light left his eyes as quickly as it had come.

When he spoke again, his voice was quiet, fragile like I had never heard it.

“While your prophecy foresaw such greatness that burdened you with men who wish to possess you, mine was something crueler. Something that befits not a man or a prince, but the sort of monstrosity that would make our continent shudder. Thankfully, my mother slit the throat of the prophet as soon as they uttered it.”

My breath snared on something sharp.