Page 48 of The Scarlet Alchemist

We stood still as the screams fell quiet, the body a blackened pile of embers and bones. Some women and children finally began to leave, so we slipped away with them and headed back to our room.

Yufei and Wenshu both went to sleep not long after, but I stayed up staring at the ceiling, the taste of burnt flesh tacky in my mouth. And when they stopped breathing and the room fell silent, I could hear nothing but my own traitorous heartbeat, could see nothing but the moon casting its dim light across my open palms, like I was holding up handfuls of shimmering pearls.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

I woke to someone knocking at our door.

Yufei was already sitting up, holding one of her shoes like a weapon. Wenshu laid dead asleep until Yufei shoved him halfway onto the floor and he woke with a strangled shout.

Moonlight still poured through the open window. It was far too late for this to be anything good. I grabbed the satchel from beside my pillow and pulled out three pieces of iron, clenching them in my right hand.

“Zilan!” someone called from the other side of the door. “Zilan, please let me in!”

My cousins turned to me, Yufei lowering her shoe.

“Who the hell is trying to visit you this late?” Wenshu said, rubbing his eyes.

I groaned, raking my hair out of my face and rising to my feet. I recognized the voice, though I was still half-asleep and couldn’t comprehend what on earth he wanted at this hour.

“You can drop the shoe,” I said to Yufei, then slid the door open.

The prince stood in the hallway, his pale silk sleeping robes shimmering like moonlight cast over a pond. Yufei gasped, then clapped her hands over her mouth. Wenshu made a startled noise before throwing himself to the floor in a bow.

I rolled my eyes, tugging the prince in by the sleeve and slamming the door.

“Did you actually walk here in pajamas?” I said. “What if someone saw you? And how did you even find me?”

“Zilan!” Wenshu said, rising onto his palms and yanking Yufei down into a bow. “You can’t talk to the Crown Prince like that!”

“It’s fine,” the prince said. “I’m sorry for waking you all, but I need Zilan urgently, so I checked the local register for your address.”

“You need her?” Yufei said, raising an eyebrow and sitting up. “In what way?”

“Yufei!” Wenshu said, voice tight.

“In an alchemy way, I’m assuming,” I said, stifling a yawn. “I already told you I’m not helping you.”

The prince’s eyes watered, then, to my horror, he knelt and pressed his face to the floor in a deep bow. Wenshu and Yufei gasped, backing up against the wall.

My skin burned, my bones locked in place. Royalty did not bow to merchants from Guangzhou. The royal family thought they were descendants of gods—they didn’t humble themselves for anyone.

“I’m sorry about the bread,” he said. “You’re right, I never would have given something like that to someone of my status. I understand why you were insulted and I’m sorry.”

“S-stand up,” I said, still flustered at how the fuckingCrown Prince of Daicurrently had his face on my floor.

He looked up, still kneeling pitifully. “I thought about what I would have given to a princess, but I didn’t think you’d want an elephant or a servant.”

“What?No, no I definitely wouldn’t,” I said, gaze darting between Wenshu and Yufei, who were watching with thinly veiled shock. “Please tell me you didn’t get me either of those things.”

He shook his head. “You didn’t want a gold tooth, so I assumed you didn’t want gold jewelry.”

I shook my head. “I don’t want anything from you. I—”

“You can eat one of my ducks,” he said.

Yufei snorted, clapping her hands over her mouth again.

“Is that a euphemism?” Wenshu whispered.

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