Page 101 of The Nightblood Prince

When the guard returned his attention to me, I prepared myself, hand ready to rip the headband from my mark. The stars knew I couldn’t win in a fair fight against these battle-trained soldiers. But I might if Fate helped me cheat.

In the end, none of us brandished our weapons. The guard gave a subtle nod of his head. “You can go in.”

I braced myself, then entered.

Watery daylight peered through the tent. Without any lit candles, every color inside was subdued to a subtle gray hue.

Siwang sat at his desk, his back to me. There was a calmness in his silhouette.

This was far from the reunion I’d painted for us in vivid, imagined colors. I’d thought there would be tears in his eyes when he heard I was alive.

Perhaps Yexue was right. Perhaps Siwang didn’t care so much for me after all. Perhaps my palace fears were true, that despite everything, I was just another pawn to him.

“Siwang.” I whispered his name, hoped the sound of my voice would bring him back to me.

When he finally turned, my breath caught in my throat, and a dull ache weighed heavy in my chest. Relief shone in Siwang’s shining eyes, tinged red in the sallow light. He had been crying, for a long time, it seemed.

Then he flashed the slightest of smiles. Not enough to ripple his stoic features, but enough to make my own eyes sting.

“Fei.” He said my name quietly. “You are back.” There was no emotion in his words. no joy, only emptiness. “Did he—”

“Yexue didn’t hurt me,” I replied before he could finish. “He was…kind, actually.”

Siwang merely nodded. “?????.”Open the door and reveal the mountain. Let’s get to the point.“Yexue didn’t send you back out of the goodness of his heart, did he?”

I took the treaty from its folder and placed it on the table across from him.

“So you are choosing him?”

“There is nothing to choose, Siwang. You are right. Youhavelost the ability to see the forest for the trees. We are going to lose this war, and the sooner we agree to peace, the sooner we can send those innocent men and boys too young to even be herehome.”

A sob threatened to rise from my throat, causing my voice to crack.

The Siwang I knew, as flawed as he was, was a good man. I refused to believe he’d watch his people suffer in the name of pride.

“We won’t know if we don’t try,” he whispered. “Even monsters can be killed. With fire. Withsilver.We can kill them. I have a plan.” His eyes burned with a fervor I didn’t recognize. “We are so close to turning the tides, Fei. Lan Yexue attacked that night for a reason. He was trying to scare us into submission because he knew we had found his weakness. Silver is fatal to his beasts, and if we—”

“It’s not worth it.”

Siwang shook his head. “It will be. When we are victorious, every death and sacrifice will be worth it. Rong is not a tiny northern tribebowing to the southerners anymore. We obey no laws and listen to no man who is not our own.”

Sentiments I had heard before, from the scriptures of the fallen dynasties.Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.Siwang had read the same books I had; if I remembered this, then so did he. Yet…

“War is not about land or power. It’s about protecting those who cannot protect themselves. Our ancestors would not want to see bloodbath after bloodbath over piles of dirt and dust when peace isofferedto you. If you don’t sign this treaty, men will keep dying. Is that what you want?”

If you don’t sign the treaty, you will die, Siwang.I tried to reach for his hand from across the table, but he pulled away.

“We havenotlost the war yet,” Siwang snarled. His eyes were blades, sharp enough to cut when he looked at me. This wasn’t the Siwang I knew. He felt like a whole other man.

“We have already lost. You just don’t want to admit it.” I closed my eyes, my breath shaky. “I am on your side, Siwang. And because I am on your side, I can’t let you do this.”

I pushed the treaty toward him, and he turned away. Stubborn, like a child. A side of him I had rarely seen.

“What did Lan Yexue say to you? Did he show you the cities that he conquered, full of people who sing his praises because that’s the only way they are allowed to live? Did he boast about how happy those people were, under his rule? How benevolent a regent he is?”

“His citizens looked happy,” I said, and it was the truth. I’d believed Yexue when he said he wasn’t the sort of conqueror who abandoned cities after he got his hands on them, as so many emperors did.

Siwang’s laugh was harsh. “Oh, I’m sure theylookedhappy. Awonderful charade of smiles and sunshine, until night falls. I don’t know how many vampires are in his battalion, but I assume it’s not a small number. All those mouths…hungry for blood. Lan Yexue has to feed them somehow, right? Fei, Yexue can weave a veil over your eyes, but not mine. I know what he’s done to the people who refused to kneel for him.” Siwang reached forward until his fingertips gently brushed over mine. “Fei, surrendering sounds lovely from your lips, but do you know the true cost of kneeling for him?”

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