Page 9 of The Nightblood Prince

The stables were dark and cold. I contemplated taking Beifeng, the fastest horse in the empire and Siwang’s favorite.

But someone would notice if the crown prince’s prized stallion was missing, just as someone would notice if my horse went missing—though not as quickly as they would notice Siwang’s missing steed.

In the end, I climbed onto a thick-coated stallion at the far end of the stables, reserved for the guards and trained to withstand these wintry terrains.

In the distance, the camp was aglow with flickering fires and loud with voices. As the night deepened into drunken flushes, people began to sing and dance, and the music swelled. Which made this the perfect opportunity to sneak away.

I kicked the stallion into motion and adjusted the cloak over my head.

Yes, sneaking out before the hunt officially began counted as cheating, however the emperor never said we had to kill the tiger during the hunt.

To hell with principles; I couldn’t afford to lose.

Over the past few months I’d raided the libraries for every piece of information I could find on these legendary tigers.

One thing stood out: they were nocturnal animals that hunted exclusively at night.

So my best chance of encountering one was under the grace of moonlight—also the most dangerous time to venture into the mountains.

As a child, I had begged Siwang to let me learn combat and archery with him not because I was interested, but because these were unladylike skills.

And the more interest I feigned, the angrier it made the nannies and the high-ranked palace ladies who spent hours and hours teaching me etiquette and archaic rules.

I wanted their rage, and I wanted to fail every test they put me up to. I’d thought if I proved myself an unworthy empress, they would let me go home.

I never got to go home, though I hoped those lessons would pay off tonight.

As my stallion ascended the mountains, I tried to focus and prayed for Fate to grant me a single glimpse of the future, for I could use every advantage I could get. It did not work.

These visions were not mine to control. They were gifts from the gods, and mortals could not force the will of the gods.

While I hated the nightmares, I held each vision close to my chest. For they were the only power I had in this world. And perhaps the only thing that was mine.

As a child, the visions and the dreams were mere flashes of color and sounds, then became more vivid as I grew. Some nights, I still tried to convince myself that perhaps they were just detailed dreams, fueled by my overactive imagination in the boring monotony of the palace.

“Please.” I murmured a prayer to my ancestors as I rode over sleet-covered trails into the snow-crowned forest. “Let my foolish plan work. Let me end the suffering of this continent, and let me be free for the first time in my life.” Then, to the stars and the gods, I wanted to say, You’d better help me survive the night.

If I’m dead, there will be no prophecy, no emperor of all emperors!

But all that came was “Please…don’t abandon me tonight. ”

The mountains were so much louder in the night than during the day. Wild with nocturnal animals braver under the cover of darkness than in the light. I hadn’t brought a torch, because I didn’t want to be seen. The deeper I ventured, the more I regretted this.

I waited for Fate to guide me, but nothing happened.

No spark, no light. Just the chill of the winter air against my heaviest fur coat, and the sound of fresh snow crunching under my stallion’s hooves.

“If those nightmares are punishment for what Rong is doing under my name, shouldn’t you help me change my fate?” I grumbled into the darkness.

The darkness did not answer.

I searched the forest for a flash of white and black-blue stripes, which was impossible among the snow and brambles. If a Beiying tiger lurked among these trees, it could easily creep close and kill me before I had the slightest inkling.

Eventually, slender pines became ancient moss-covered trees with trunks thicker than my waist. Some of these trees had to be hundreds of years old.

Majestic beings who had guarded these mountains long before Rong flew its banners over the land, and would continue to stand guard hundreds of years after Rong had fallen.

After every creature who lived in this moment was dead, our bones yellowed and buried, replaced by another generation of empires and dynasties that vied to feed with violence their insatiable hunger for more power, more wealth, more excess of every kind.

In a hundred years, would there be another me, another prophecy? Another girl who hungers for choice, control, freedom? To live a life that was more than bearing heirs and waiting for the warmth of a husband?

By the time the forest thinned and I broke into a hidden valley of quiet streaming water, the moon was high and ten thousand stars dazzled in the silken indigo sky above.

I gazed up at the white cliffs and the precariously steep paths carved out by the local hunters. High clifftops were usually where Beiying tigers nested, peaceful places far from the lesser creatures that also frequented these woods.

However, all mortal creatures need to eat, and these tigers still had to hunt.

I took out the dagger Fangyun had given me. Legend had it that Beiying tigers could smell fresh blood from a mile away.

Wildlife is scarce this year. The tigers will be extra hungry. General Xu’s passing words from when we first arrived at camp.

I unsheathed Fangyun’s blade and pressed its edge against my forearm.

How much blood was enough to lure one to me? And how much blood could I spare? They didn’t teach these sorts of things in my classes, and I couldn’t find answers in the hunters’ handbooks I’d browsed.

I dismounted from the stallion and surveyed the terrain.

For a trap to work, the location had to be perfect. I needed a space unobstructed by trees and hills so I could see my prey at the same time it saw me. Somewhere I could use to my advantage—

A twitch of midnight blue. A rustle in the bushes, the barely audible sound of labored breathing.

The vision of a thrown knife, slicing open my throat.

I barely had the time to dodge before a knife whizzed past and snipped off a strand of hair, missing my jugular by mere inches.

An enemy, though not a tiger.

Did the emperor’s men realize I had snuck out?

No, they couldn’t have caught up this quickly. And they certainly wouldn’t dare throw a knife at me.

In one swift movement, I plucked an arrow from my quiver and was about to let it loose when a familiar voice made me pause.

“Stop!” A male voice.

Arrow still nocked and ready, I remained where I was. “Show yourself.”

“I—”

“Show yourself!”

More rustling.

My breath hitched when the shrubs parted to reveal the last person I expected to see in these woods. There, among the snow-laced branches and pines, half crouched, was the Prince of Lan: Yexue.

Was he here to hunt the tiger as well?

I saw the reason he was half crouched. His hands were pressed against a crimson spot on his right leg, where an arrow was lodged.

White feather, black shaft, the arrow of the imperial guards, and it had gone straight through his thigh. Not a shot intended to kill, just to keep him from running.

A hostage was a hostage, regardless of their status or the polite titles the court gave them.

I lowered my weapon. “Rong’s arrows have a code to them.

These black-shafted ones contain a slow-releasing poison and a numbing agent that will make you lose feeling around the infected area.

The two of them are relatively harmless by themselves, but mixed together?

If someone doesn’t clean that wound and apply an antidote soon, the circulation will stop, the flesh and nerves will begin to die, and you will lose that leg.

If the poison spreads to the bloodstream, you will die a slow death. ”

“You think I don’t know that?” Lan Yexue pulled another blade from his robes, teeth bared like a wolf ready to fight.

“Skies, how many knives do you have?”

“Come any closer, and I’ll make you regret the day you were born.” His voice was deep and raspy and would have been irritatingly pleasant if he hadn’t been threatening my life.

I should have heeded his warning, jumped back onto my horse, and gotten on with what I had come here to do. 不要多管闲事 was an underrated mantra that more people should follow. Don’t meddle in the affairs of others, and mind your own business.

But…He and I were both outcasts on the run, albeit in different ways. If I were the one wounded, I would want someone to help me.

I held his gaze with my chin tilted high. Siwang had taught me never to look away from a predator, never to let them know my fear. “May I ask what the Prince of Lan is doing so deep in these woods?”

“I could ask the same of the future Empress of Rong.”

I deepened my smile, glaring daggers to match the one in his hand. “Sharp words from a man bleeding to death.”

The prince’s lips curled. “If you know what’s good for you, you will cease your bragging, turn around, and run as fast as you can before I decide to kill you. My hands have been soiled enough tonight. What’s one more to the tally?”

His words were an angry rumble of thunder against the dark night, yet his paling lips and sweat-beaded forehead told me there was no lightning behind those empty threats.

He was just an injured wolf baring his fangs, trying to chase me away because he was scared I might kill him before he killed me.