Page 93 of The Scarlet Alchemist

“They’d probably attack him.”

The prince grimaced, petting Durian and setting him down on the bed. “We’ll wait until you’re bigger,” he whispered.

As the hour drew nearer, we decided to take a walk around the palace and loop back around to the kitchens, neither of us wanting to stay in his chamber any longer.

The prince took my hand the moment we left his room. I didn’t think it was a necessary pretense—most of the court also took tea around this time, or was relaxing in their quarters before their evening meal—but I didn’t pull away, even as we strode through the empty courtyard.

The prince came to a stop before a shallow pond, turning his face up to the setting sun, the gold flecks in his skin sparkling.

“I’ve been thinking about what I want to do when I’m the Emperor,” he said quietly, in Guangzhou dialect.

I tensed, nearly yanking my hand away out of surprise, but the prince held tight.

“Is it that bad?” he said, turning toward me, mouth sliding into a frown. “I hired a tutor to help me.”

It wasn’t bad at all, but I was too stunned to answer him. I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry. “Your mother told me I wasn’t allowed to speak that dialect,” I said, in Chang’an dialect.

“I know,” the prince said, grimacing. “I hated that she did that. Which is why I wanted to learn. I think your dialect is beautiful.”

I cast my gaze down to the lake, my hand too warm in the prince’s palm. I hadn’t expected the prince to remember his mother’s offhand comment.

“I’m still learning,” he said, his grip on my hand loosening. “I know it’s not very good yet but—”

“No, it’s good,” I said in my dialect, holding his hand tighter, not letting him pull away. “Tell me what you’ll do when you’re the Emperor.”

He smiled, taking my other hand, pulling me a breath closer. “Well, the monster problem seems to be the most pressing.”

“Agreed.”

“But once that’s sorted out, I think we need to scale back on gold production. The inflation is getting out of hand.”

“And you need to pay more for infrastructure in the south.”

“Yes, that too,” he said. “We can bring the rest of your family here if you want, but I hope economic conditions in the south will improve so that they’ll have a choice. I hope everything will be better. No, actually, I don’thope. Iknow. I’ll make sure it happens.”

I had never seen the prince’s eyes like this before—they always contained whispers of gold, but they’d never before appeared so bright and endless, sharper than the sun’s rays reflecting off the pond beside us, exquisitely painful to look at. He leaned forward and I couldn’t breathe at all, positive he could hear my heartbeat crashing against my ribs. I’d never felt so unbalanced in a way that had nothing at all to do with alchemy—it was like when I’d first set off for Chang’an and saw a whole new world unfold across the horizon in front of me.

This is pretend, I reminded myself, loosening my grip on his hand.When he becomes the Emperor, he’ll need a wife from a noble family. He can’t marry thehùnxiedaughter of a mìngqí merchant. Will you really stay here as his concubine when he marries someone else?

I turned toward the pond. “It’s about time,” I said, the words stiff in Chang’an dialect.

He nodded. “Right,” he said quietly, slipping back into his own dialect. “Zilan, I—”

“Let’s go,” I said, looking away before I could see his face, before I could forget who I was born as, who I would die as.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

The afternoon sun fell lower in the sky, and no one emerged from the kitchens.

“Maybe they’re running late?” the prince said, peering down the hallway before I yanked him back by the sleeve.

“Stop looking so suspicious,” I whispered.

“Or maybewe’retoo late?” the prince said, eyes wide. “What if she took her tea early?”

I tried to keep my expression neutral, but the prince’s panic was contagious.

“Maybe we should check,” I said. “You go toward your mother’s quarters while I check the kitchens.”

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