Page 76 of The Scarlet Alchemist

The moment it touched my mouth, spices sizzled across my tongue and warmth spread through me, like I’d taken a bite of sunlight. Before I could help it, I’d shoveled down another spoonful. I couldn’t eat fast enough, and soon the bowl was empty, half of it spilled down my neck. Before I could even pause to mourn how quickly it had gone, a servant took my bowl and replaced it with a full one.

“Do you like it, Scarlet?” the Empress said, sucking gold from her finger.

Something about her tone made me hesitate, my spoon hovering over the second bowl. Her words had an odd edge to them that I couldn’t quite decipher. My stomach felt tight, my lips scorched.

“We have all sorts of exotic foods here,” she said, popping another gold nugget in her mouth. “Foods you’ve probably never dreamed of trying.”

I had the sudden urge to vomit across the table. The spoon fell from my lips and I grabbed my teacup, draining it in a single gulp. The haze of smoke had swallowed the ground beneath my ankles, like nothing existed in the whole world except for the three of us and the table piled with gold.

The Empress wiped her lips, then leaned closer. “Did you come to Chang’an alone, Scarlet?” she asked, her voice low, all pretense of politeness stripped from her tone. This wasn’t a question, but an order.

The words spilled from my lips all at once, like the Empress had jammed her hand down my throat and yanked them out.

“I came with my brother and sister,” I said. “They’re still in a western ward.”

The Empress hummed, drumming her fingers on the table. “Why did you really come here?” she said.

“To make money,” I replied, my tongue heavy in my mouth. It was hard to shape words, but they surged forward anyway.

“Is that your god, Scarlet?”

I shook my head, incense stinging my eyes, clouding my vision. “What?”

“Everyone worships something, whether they know it or not,” the Empress said. “The old gods are dying. I’m asking which new one you’ll choose.”

My throat clenched, the pain like being sick on an empty stomach, trying to force words up even though I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to say.

Something crashed against the door, straining against the wood with a gnarled scream—another one of the palace monsters? But the Empress didn’t even flinch, licking gold from the crevices of her hand as a sound like jagged claws raked across the door. The whole room rattled from the force, teacups trembling, my reflection shivering in my soup. Something hot and wet pooled under my feet, though I couldn’t see it through the mist of incense. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, nausea choking my throat. I closed my eyes and gripped the edge of the table, feeling like I was going to faint face-first into my food.

“Zilan?”

A hand rested on my leg, making me jolt. The prince had slid his chair closer to mine. His face and hands had been wiped clean of gold, but his skin still sparkled with its remnants.

“I want to leave,” I said. I really shouldn’t have been making demands to the prince in front of the Empress, but he nodded anyway.

“I’m finished,” he said to the guards.

“Already?” the Empress said, frowning.

“I ate earlier today, since your invitation came late,” the prince said, pulling out my chair before a servant could. He took my hand and all but yanked me to my feet, as if he didn’t want to give his mother the chance to object.

“Scarlet,” the Empress said.

The prince seemed inclined to keep dragging me out of the room, but I looked over my shoulder.

“I know it’s all a bit...overwhelming at first. I was not born into this court either. I understand.”

My iron grip on the prince’s hand loosened.

“But you don’t need to worry,” she said, picking up another gold nugget and holding it up to the light. “You won’t be here for long.”

The prince pulled me away through another set of doors that the servants held open for us. I greedily inhaled a breath of clean air as the incense floated away, stumbling over to a banister and holding tight.

He took one of my arms, fingers sliding down to the base of my wrist, feeling my racing pulse.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Mother sometimes asks for too many herbs in the soup.”

“Herbs?”I said, cuffing drool from my mouth. “Are you joking? She drugged me!”

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