“You risked your life for him, but will he do the same for you?” Her tone reeked with scorn.
“Let her go. I will not fight you,” Liwei said, without a moment’s hesitation.
A fierce joy sang in my veins. Even as I dreaded what would come after, that his declaration would only infuriate her more.
Her mouth stretched into a mirthless smile. “Let’s have some entertainment tonight. A fight. To the death. Between you two. If you win, First Archer—you’ll walk free. I’ll even let you keep your bow.” The sweetness of her tone jarred with the abhorrent meaning of her words.
I could not have heard her right. She did not mean it; she could not. For Liwei and me . . . to kill the other to save ourselves? Was this some twisted jest to frighten us? But as I stared at her face—so lovely and pitiless—a shiver rippled along the length of my spine.
This was no game.
26
Liwei’s eyes blazed. “I will not fight you, Xingyin. Please . . . go.”
I shook my head. I would not abandon him to certain death, not even to save myself.
Lady Hualing sighed. “Refuse to fight and you’ll both be killed. A most romantic end, upholding all your honorable principles, though a reckless waste.”
A hopeless despair settled over me as I met Liwei’s grim yet resolute gaze. Our hands remained slack by our sides in defiance of her command. We would not be her pawns in this sick game. Nor would I go quietly; I would fight until my energy was drained, until our final breaths were spent. Only then, could she tear her bloodied victory from us.
Her tongue clacked against the roof of her mouth. “How disappointing. I had hoped for more spirited entertainment. However, there are ways to ensure your cooperation.” Her shield gleamed as she stepped closer to Liwei, seizing his chin between her fingers, her nails cutting into his skin.
He recoiled, horror dawning over his face. Yet she held him fast, her soldiers gripping his arms tighter behind his back.
“Liwei!” I lunged toward him, trying to shove my way through the guards who grabbed me and flung me back.
Lady Hualing’s pupils glinted as shards of topaz. A recollection emerged, something Liwei had told me once of the Mind Talents: Their eyes, which glitter like cut stones.
Fear plunged through me, trailed by doubt. I refused to believe it, I dared not. Lady Hualing was of the Celestial Kingdom, not the Demon Realm, the Cloud Wall or wherever that place was. Once, the Flower Immortal, her Talent had to be of the Earth, not the Mind. I had seen it myself with the creeping moss and those monstrous vines. Impossible, that she should know the forbidden arts. And even if she did, surely the emperor would have sealed them from her. But what if the emperor did not know? What if she had disappeared before such magic was banned?
Beads of sweat gleamed on Liwei’s skin. Still, Lady Hualing did not release her hold. I could not help recalling that she was one of the most powerful immortals in the realm. And even if Liwei’s magic was not bound, he had been weakened by the battle, and the amethyst ring. If she was trying to compel him, she would fail, I tried to assure myself. Liwei was strong, too. He would not surrender, he would fight—
But when Lady Hualing and her guards released him, I no longer knew him. Something vital in him had been lost. My insides shriveled as I stared into his eyes—worse than a stranger’s, they were as cold as his father’s. His face was blank as he stood unmoving, even when a guard shoved a sword into his hand. Someone passed me another, my fingers closing reflexively around its hilt.
As Lady Hualing leaned toward me, I gagged as the smell of decaying flowers crowded my nostrils. “Do you regret spurning my offer? A final warning: don’t be so foolish as to throw your life away for him. He will not appreciate it; the men of his family have hearts of stone.”
I did not hesitate, leaping forward to thrust my sword at her. As it crashed against her shield, pain coursed through my arm. I raised it again—better to go down fighting this way—but the soldiers shoved me aside, another kicking the back of my knees as I slumped to the ground.
Lady Hualing crouched down as she brushed an icy knuckle down my cheek. I flinched, rearing away. “Don’t forget, you still have your powers.” She spoke in an intimate whisper. “If you let him kill you . . . well, his life is forfeit regardless. But if he dies, you live.”
Something splintered inside me. An impossible choice, whether to die in a futile sacrifice or to kill Liwei to save myself. More than just wanting Liwei dead, she wanted me to kill him. Did she take a sadistic pleasure in tormenting her enemy’s child? Did she relish the thought of me living in misery and regret, as she had done? Or was this to prove me wrong? That despite my claim, she and I were not so different after all—that the same viciousness in her heart lurked in mine.