Page 50 of The Scarlet Alchemist

“Of course,” the prince said, all the tightness melting from his posture now that I’d agreed.

“Zilan,” Wenshu said, “they wouldn’t want you to do this for them.”

“Then it’s a good thing they’ll never know,” I said, grabbing my dress and pulling it straight over my nightclothes. It was lumpy and too tight, but I couldn’t change in front of the prince.

My cousins still looked cross, but at least they’d stopped arguing. Even they knew it was too much money to walk away from. But more than that, I couldn’t help imagining Wenshu and Yufei in danger, and the lengths I would go to, the people I would beg to help them if it came down to that.

“I’m going with you,” Yufei said suddenly, reaching for her coat.

“No,” I said, stepping between her and the coat hook. “It’s already risky enough, you said so yourself. Sneaking around is harder with three people than two.”

She scowled. “You think I can’t take down a couple guards?”

“We can’ttake them down,” the prince said, wincing. “The shift changes too often. We’d have guards swarming us at the sight of a dead body. What we need is a distraction.”

“I can do it,” I said to Yufei. “Just wait for me here.”

Yufei crossed her arms and sat down on the floor. “If you’re not back by sunrise, I’m coming after you.”

I turned to Wenshu, who was worryingly silent. But he wasn’t looking at me. He was glaring at the prince.

Wenshu stood up and approached him, and I couldn’t help but remember how he’d skewered the magistrate with a fire poker when he’d tried to take me away. He stopped just short of the prince, a breath too close for a commoner to stand before royalty unless they were on their knees.

“You’ll bring her back safely,” Wenshu said.

The prince nodded quickly. “Of course I will.”

Wenshu’s gaze didn’t waver. He probably would have burned holes in the prince’s skin if I didn’t interfere.

“Okay, we’re leaving while it’s still dark,” I said, tossing the prince one of Wenshu’s coats. Wenshu shot me a dark look, but I rolled my eyes. “Walking around in silver pajamas isn’t exactly subtle,” I said.

The prince held the hem of his sleeve to slide his arm into the coat, revealing three long scratches stretching down from his collarbone and disappearing under his shirt. He must have caught me staring because he quickly readjusted his collar.

“Problems with your exotic pets?” I said.

The prince grimaced. “Not exactly,” he said, fastening the coat closed. “Let’s go.”

Our ward was mostly quiet at this time of night, and only a few men were still out smoking, the cool winds driving everyone else indoors. They glanced up as we passed, gazes lingering on the shimmering silk of the prince’s sleeping clothes, but they made no comment.

I wondered how we’d make it out of the ward, but the prince pulled out a key from his sleeve and quickly unlocked the gate for me.

“It’s a skeleton key,” he said at my confused expression. “The city belongs to my family, after all.”

I sighed. “Of course.”

In the darkness, the main street looked vast, an ocean of shadows yawning wider as we drew closer. The gaping mouths of the five gates seemed even larger at night, as if breathing us in. I started to turn away, aiming for where I normally walked to the palace grounds, but the prince carried on straight toward the five tunnels.

“We’re taking the shortcut,” he said, jingling his keys.

He moved faster, waving for me to follow him up the stone stairs. Our footsteps echoed across the hollow street, but no matter how much I kept climbing, I never seemed to come closer to the top, like it was expanding forever upward. The black doorways loomed larger, eating the rest of the night sky until everything above me was a vast emptiness, the scent of dampness and moss. A sharp pain lanced through my head and I took another step but the ground dissolved beneath me. I leaned back for balance, my foot slipping off the stair—

A hand closed around mine.

I was kneeling on the steps, the prince clutching my hand.

I could be killed just for touching him, I thought as his grip tightened, strong and steady.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. But my whole body felt numb and I couldn’t figure out how to form words. Images came in flashes—the dark, gaping tunnels, hot bursts of bright sunlight, howling wind and hurried footsteps.

---