"What do you mean?" I locked eyes with Tengger in the doorway, my face set like stone under stormlight.

Behind him, a black-robed man settled his hand on his hilt and came at me, his voice like frost on iron. "Yes. Faint, but he carries a royal aura."

"Huh?" The word buzzed like a fly. Another lunatic?

"Mr. Ostol, now you’ll join whether you want to or not." Tengger smiled, sly as a fox in reeds.

I frowned, the word royal hanging like incense in the room.

I wasn’t royalty, and Liqianyu—that mad girl from the Far East—had nothing to do with this Mit, like wind crossing water without a ripple.

So… Shiri, the kid?

The swordsman slid his left foot like a snake and cut in a blink. I snapped back; his blade hissed past my waist like rain. I shot Tengger a glare, but he looked just as baffled, face blank as a slate.

From under the brim, his voice fell like midwinter snow. "The prince has been missing for days. You are a prime suspect."

He blurred and struck, not at me, but at Edlyn by my side, a shadow diving like a hawk.

Ice slid through me. I hauled Edlyn behind me and raised my arm to block, breath tight as a bowstring. His blade halted a hair from my skin, hanging like a cold needle.

The black-robed man slid his sword back with a soft whisper, voice still frost. "You’re not cold-blooded."

Heat flared in me like wildfire licking dry grass.

Who did he think he was? If I’d missed a beat, what happens when that edge carves Edlyn? With her small frame, could she bear a killing blade like a winter gale?

I kept Edlyn sheltered, and spread my hands. Two pale-gold sigils spun on my palms like twin suns, humming like bees. I needed to make sure this lunatic didn’t snap again.

Seeing me set, the black-robed man neither spoke nor struck; he ebbed back to Tengger’s side like a retreating tide.

Tengger coughed twice, trying to smooth the waters like a broom over sand.

Edlyn stared at the man, curious and steady, spine like spring bamboo. Back then, when the Hero laid a blade to her throat, she didn’t flinch an inch.

Yet he felt wrong to her—familiar with a thin thorn of refusal, like a known path overgrown with briars.

Could he be...

"Don’t get heated. Let’s finish talking, cleanly, shall we?" Tengger stepped between us like a wall, blocking my line of sight like brick.

Just then, Liqianyu came out with Shiri and Angela, the door sighing open and light spilling like water.

My gaze drifted to that certain Li. Liqianyu flashed me a smug smile, bright as a cat at cream, then shrugged, shoulders rolling like playful waves.

Seeing Shiri, the black-robed man hurried forward and dropped to one knee, shadow folding like cloth. "Your Highness, are you unharmed?"

Shiri gave me an awkward glance that skipped like a pebble on a pond, then nodded to the man.

Liqianyu led Angela to my side, eyes throwing sparks at the black-robed man like flint. I leaned to her ear. "They didn’t force their way in?"

Liqianyu grinned, all mischief, teeth bright as a crescent. "Nah. The one in black rushed in. I kicked him out in one go." She arched a brow, the look fluttering like a flag—I'm amazing, praise me.

I gave the tough girl a helpless look, a sigh drifting between us like a thin wind.

I let her antics pass like clouds and looked at Shiri. "Well then, Your Highness, your people are here. Nothing you’d like to say to your lifesaver?" My words rose like tea steam.

He glanced at me, awkward as a cat in rain. "Mr. Ostol, name your terms. I’ll do it."

I shrugged, a small motion like a leaf. "You could try being proactive—gold, silver, you know, toss me eighty or a hundred thousand." The idea flickered like a small flame.

Shiri raked his lovely golden hair, fingers combing sunlight, clearly lost for words.

I shrugged again and looked at Tengger. "Sorry. Since he’s found his people, can we go?" The thought opened like a road after rain.

Tengger shot a troubled look at the black-robed man, eyes knotting like gathered clouds.

Of course, I was just joking, the line drifting like a leaf on water.

Still, I was more than a little annoyed, grit in the boot of my mood.

Thinking on it, I was curious. Tengger had just been sipping tea with me, steam curling like mist. Fifteen minutes later, he’d sent men ahead to the inn to pin Liqianyu and the others, orders flying like hawks. How did he pull that off?

His news ran swift as a river. I couldn’t parse it, so I shelved it as Shiri having a contact I didn’t know, a thread hidden in the loom.

I hadn’t kidnapped him; he could find officials anytime, like knocking on a public gate. With that thought, I looked at Shiri—only to see him step to five paces before me and kneel, a sapling bending in wind. "Mr. Eli, please help me."

Uh—what? The shock sprang like a struck spark.