Page 73 of The Nightblood Prince

In the stables, the music quieted to a hum. I took Beifeng from his stall. Siwang would miss his favorite steed, but Beifeng would enjoy a life running free in the southern fields.

One last act of defiance. And something to remember him by.

The prince trapped behind palace walls, groomed to become the emperor of all emperors. And me, bound to the borders by the treaty of my choosing.

Maybe this was the best ending for both of us. Maybe the two of us were never meant to be.

I’d always love him. And I hoped that when his harem was filled with beautiful faces from across the land, he would remember the girl he’d once promised to make not his empress, but his wife.

Maybe in another life, another story, one where my hands weren’t tied by my stubborn will and he wasn’t drunk on ambition and greed.

“Are you stealing my horse?” His sudden voice from the entrance startled a gasp from me. “Are you going to leave without saying goodbye, again?”

I swallowed. “I am.”

He knew.

I knew.

There was no point in lying.

“Because of what I did to Changchun?”

“Because of what you did and how you tried to justify it.” My voice grew harder with each word, anger straining.

I felt his warmth coming up behind me. His hand grazed my arm, and I should have pushed him away….

I didn’t.

“You have the right to be angry,” he said.

“I’m not angry. I’m furious. And I’m disappointed in you.”

Gently, he turned me to face him. In the moonlight, his face was flushed and beautiful, his lips lush like petals. My pulse quickened as I remembered how they had caressed my skin all those months ago in his tent.

Our single night together.

“The Siwang you knew as a child is not who I am today,” he murmured.

“No matter how much we both wish otherwise. Maybe that Siwang died the day you left the capital.” A soft flutter of a laugh.

“After you left, winning the war became my only purpose. I didn’t want to disappoint my father, or the ministers always looking for a reason to criticize me, taunt my father with how I shouldn’t have been chosen as heir.

They wanted to bring some of my older half brothers back to the palace.

They wanted my father to reconsider. And for a second there, I thought they swayed my father.

This is why I couldn’t sign that treaty, Fei. I had to prove I was worthy.”

I stiffened. “Worthy of what? Of being a tyrant?”

He flinched. “My teachers said that in life and war, victories come with sacrifices. I thought Changchun…” He paused and looked down. For the first time in years, he looked more like the boy I’d once known than the man he’d become.

“I still have nightmares. I hear their screams, smell the stench of their burning flesh in the wind. I should have listened to you, Fei. I’m sorry.”

Words I had rarely heard from Siwang. If this had been about anything else, it would have been enough to make me forgivehim.

“It’s not my forgiveness you should be seeking, Siwang.” Beifeng’s reins in hand, I turned to leave.

“Wait.” He stepped into my path, and when he looked at me, his eyes were red with tears. “I…I’ll find a way to break your promise to Lan Yexue. You don’t have to stay at the border for long.”

And that was when I knew. The man Siwang had become…had no idea what I wanted.

I offered Siwang a small smile. “I heard Changchun is beautiful in the summer. When they finish rebuilding the city, I’m sure that will be true once more.”