Page 42 of The Nightblood Prince

The village market was nothing compared with the festive bustle of Yong’An, or even some of the bigger cities I’d visited in the past year. This didn’t mean it wasn’t full of personality, the kind that only small villages had.

At this hour, Father was in class teaching the village children poetry and numbers. Mother was probably home, embroidering. I wasn’t ready to meet their stern gazes and hear their lectures abouthow I should have sent more letters, should have come home more often.

I went to find my sister first. The one person who was always happy to see me, no matter how often I disappointed her.

The village had changed in minuscule ways in the time I had been away.

Qing-ma’s baby had grown into a toddler, with chubby cheeks and wobbly feet, beaming dimpled smiles at every passerby as his mother hawked small, stale winter fruits. Zhangxi, a beautiful girl a year younger than me, was now married to the cowherd, her belly rounding, cheeks flushed with a motherly glow. Her husband was a sturdy man, big-handed, small-eyed, preferred animals to humans, but doted on Zhangxi with love. His face bloomed in awe whenever she was near. Everybody in the village had known they would end up together. A love match destined by the stars, a blessing so few girls could afford. Even in small villages like this one.

I wondered how Si—

I caught myself before I could let myself think of him again. My eyes quickly focused on the nearest thing. Lu-ma’s back was beginning to hunch as she carried out bowls of noodles from her shop to eager customers. She made the best beef noodles I had ever tasted, comparable even to the imperial chefs’. Her face had weathered and wrinkled in the months since her son had gone to war and returned without one of his legs and three of his fingers. However, now that her son was home, her smile had returned, enough to light up even the dreariest of days. “Li Fei! You are back!”

I smiled, too. “I am.”

“Did you bring me any decent kills this time?”

“I’m staying for a few days. I will go into the forest and hunt soon. What do you want?”

“Venison or wild boar would be great. I’ll give you free noodles if you give me a good deal.”

“Don’t I always?” I pretended to roll my eyes. “Have you seen Fangyun today?”

“She’s at her stall. I was just about to bring her a bowl of noodles. Poor girl, standing outside all day in the cold. Why don’t you take it to her? You know how my legs are; it will take me half an hour to walk from one side of the market to the other.”

“Just for her? Don’t I get a bowl?”

“I will give you one big bowl of noodles with two sets of chopsticksanda bowl of wontons if you bring me some wild boar meat.”

“You drive a hard bargain, Lu-ma.” I took the bowls from her, my gloved fingers curling around their warmth. “I’ll see you later.”

“Don’t forget to bring back my bowls!”

I found Fangyun at the edge of the village, just as the delicious aroma of her scallion pancakes hit my nose. A smell I had always loved, but now it just reminded me of that old lady in Duhuan, and the stench of—

I flinched at the memories and quickly pushed them down.There is nothing you could have done,I told myself as my heart thudded like a drum. Someone was hunting the stargazer. I hoped she could outrun whoever this predator was.

“Fei?” Fangyun’s voice pulled me back to reality.

My sister stood alone in her stall, my mother nowhere to be seen. Fangyun was mixing a bowl of batter in her arms, a basket of steamed buns at her side. She was better at making sweet treats, like red bean cake, lotus seed cake, andtangyuan,but such ingredients were hard to find in times like these.

Her once-delicate face was sliced red by the winter winds, her skindry and peeling at the cheeks, just like mine. Her eyes were also duller than I remembered. She looked older, too.

When she saw me, she flashed a smile that made me feel like I was home. Because home was not a place. Home was the people who loved you, the people who waited for you, the people whose eyes lit up when they saw you. Home was my sister and mother, and though he scowled at me more than he smiled, it was also my father. Home was Siwang—

I shook the thought away.

“You have flour on your face.” I kept my head down, blinking away my tears as I set the bowls on a table by her stall.

With me gone, Fangyun had to shoulder more responsibility than she should, taking care of both Mother and Father without complaint. If I hadn’t been so selfish, she would be married to a minister or a wealthy merchant by now, belly round like Zhangxi’s, dressed in silk and dripping in gold.

Guilt gnawed at me again. I absentmindedly touched the pouch of gold at my hip, my earnings from hunting. I had precipitated my family’s downfall. It was only fair that I make it up to them.

“Heavens, why didn’t you write letters like you promised?” Fangyun pulled me into a hug before I could say another word, then buried her face in my shoulder.

A muffled whimper at my ear. I felt her warm tears trickling down my neck, so I hugged her tighter, arms intertwined, pressing her to me so that she knew I’d missed her, too. So much. And in this moment, with my sister’s breathing and her milk-sweet scent enveloping me, everything felt warmer.

Even the washed-out winter colors felt a little brighter.

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