His black feathered arrow had indeed struck down my attacker, yet it did nothing to appease my rage. “How could you? Do you know the hell we went through there?”
He inhaled a ragged breath. “I ordered Lady Hualing not to harm you. She agreed—but you, Xingyin, have a knack of evoking strong emotions in those you meet. To both your benefit and detriment.”
I flinched from the intimate way he spoke to me. “An honorable plan,” I congratulated him with blazing scorn. “Abducting an innocent girl and manipulating the pain of an embittered immortal, getting her to do your bidding without staining your hands. Have you no shame?”
His face tightened at my taunt. “My decades of service, gaining access to the innermost circle of power in the Celestial Kingdom, had not yielded the key to the dragons. My father was impatient, so I decided to return and deliver him a gift in lieu of them.”
“Liwei.” A pang struck me at the thought of him. Had he made his way back to the Celestial Kingdom? Was he wondering where I was?
Wenzhi sighed. “Either would have sufficed: the Crown Prince’s lifeforce or the collapse of the alliance with the Phoenix Kingdom. It was a pity you destroyed Lady Hualing’s ring. My father was most displeased at its loss.”
Something in me shattered at his lack of remorse, the last of . . . whatever scrap of hope I still clung to that this was not him, that this was not real. Everything I had done since leaving my mother, everything I had accomplished seemed to be tainted by his wickedness.
Bile rose in my throat—hot, bitter, acrid. I fought for calm, failing miserably as my rage erupted. I swung my palm into his cheek with every bit of strength I could muster. He did not flinch or block me as his head snapped to one side with a resounding crack. My hand stung like fire, though the red imprint left on his skin gave me a fierce satisfaction.
“Xingyin, I know you’re angry. But don’t hit me again.”
“Angry? There’s no word to describe how I feel right now. How much I despise you.”
He leaned closer to me, his voice dropping to a sinuous whisper. “It was your choice to make. You took the pearls from the dragons. Don’t deny that you wanted their power, too.”
I flinched from the undeniable truth he spoke, but he was wrong about me. Yes, I wanted their power. But not for the reasons he craved. Yet my chest caved then at a sudden realization. “Did you pretend to care for me because you knew the Jade Dragon Bow’s heritage? Because you suspected I could control it . . . and through it, the dragons?”
“No.” He spoke without hesitation. “I can’t deny I was intrigued by your connection with the bow. And what I learned in the Eastern Sea gave me a reason to keep you close. At first as an ally, and then—” A dull flush spread across his face. “What exists between us began before that. The first time I watched you shoot was when you moved something in me. I did not expect to feel what I did. It was partly why I decided to give up on the pearls and return home. I wanted no more lies between us.”
Even now, a part of me ached at his confession, but I would not let it show. He would never know how much he had hurt me.
He continued, “I almost wish the emperor had not given you this task. I never wanted to set myself against you. Yet as fate would have it, during your audience with the emperor, he revealed the one thing for which I had been waiting all these years. A fortuitous coincidence which I could not ignore.”
“Not so fortuitous for me.” I searched his face, but there was no sign that doing this to me had hurt him, too. “You knew I needed the pearls to save my mother. You knew what I went through to get them, and still you took them from me.” I fought to steady myself, to make one last appeal. “If you care for me as you say you do, give me the pearls and let me go.”
With one step he closed the distance between us, dragging me into his arms. Against my burning skin, his hands were like ice. “The pearls are essential for my people’s future, so we can throw off the perpetual threat of the Celestial Kingdom. With the dragons at our command, we’ll defeat them easily. Once that happens, I swear I’ll find a way to release your mother. We will have everything we ever wanted, that we never dreamed possible. Family, power, and each other. All you need to do is trust me.”
I wrenched free of his hold. My skin crawled from his touch when just a day ago I had yearned for him. His vision of our future . . . how it repelled me. “I gave the dragons my word. My promise means something to me, even if yours means nothing to you.” I could have said more. I could have raged, yelled, and cursed at him, but an aching weariness gripped me now, a sickness of the heart. I turned from him, wanting him to leave, unable to bear his presence a moment longer.