Page 53 of The Nightblood Prince

Are we going off to war?This was my first thought, because we werenowhere near ready. If they sent us to the front lines now it would be like sending lambs to the slaughter.

I absentmindedly touched the headband covering my phoenix’s mark, tempted to pull it a little lower for a glimpse of what might happen. Patience was a virtue I’d only half learned, given Fate’s blessings.

Thankfully, before curiosity fully dug its talons into me, the drums began to sound. Caikun said learning to decipher the tempo of drums was on our agenda: an ancient method of passing messages in the chaos of war.

I shifted my weight from foot to foot, unease growing tight in my belly.

Then a young man stepped onto the platform at the center of the courtyard. Dark brows, pillowed lips that were almost offensively beautiful, and those familiar, sharp eyes, capable of turning at a pin drop’s notice. Kind one second, cruel the next.

My heart writhed. Despite the distress of the past year, Siwang looked well. Better, even. He was taller than I remembered, his shoulders wider and body sturdier. Gone was the lingering baby fat around his cheeks.

The prince standing before me was no longer a boy, but a man.

A soldier.

“Good morning,” he addressed the camp, hands behind his back and head tilted high.

There was a new gravitas to the way he spoke, something that hadn’t been there before. A deepening of the voice, like a quiet rumble of thunder that commanded attention with every uttered word.

Siwang sounded just like his father.

“For those of you who don’t know, I am Rong Siwang. The Crown Prince of Rong, and the commanding general of the Third Army.”

Shit.Out of all the armies he could be in charge of, why did—

From the elevated platform, Siwang’s eyes caught mine as if he’d heard my thoughts. Those pale eyes pierced all my armor with just one look, and I flinched back. I tried to lower my gaze, but not before Siwang’s lips twitched, ever so slightly.

Did he recognize me? Surely not. I had spent every waking second of the past moon under Caikun’s watch. Despite the initial comment on the first day, there was no further indication that he knew I was a girl, let alone remembered I was Lifeng Fei. And in the long months when I had traveled as a man, the only people who saw through my disguise had been other women.

“On behalf of the people of Rong, I’d like to thank each and every one of you for your service,” Siwang continued without missing a beat.

He can’t spot me in a crowd this easily,I told myself. A year was long enough to heal a heart. Even if it wasn’t, the political stress of going from a conqueror to the conquered would surely take up all Siwang’s attention. By now, I was likely a forgotten face gathering dust in some forgotten corner of his mind.

Still, I lowered my head and strategically positioned myself behind my comrades. My family’s life depended on my identity remaining a secret. I had to be discreet.

Typical Fei.I could hear my father now.Reckless and thoughtless. She never thinks of the consequences.

A side effect of growing up in the imperial palace as the prince’s bride. I rarely had to think far enough to consider the repercussions of my actions because Siwang was always there to protect me.

No more.

“Now, why don’t some of you come up and show me what you have learned?” Siwang rolled up his sleeves and descended from theplatform. “You there, with the blue headband.” He pointed toward my direction, and everything stopped. “Come and demonstrate what my commanders have taught you.”

Instantly, a flock of eyes turned toward me.

Siwang’s lips tilted into a crooked smile.

It took all my courage not to make a run for it.

“Your Highness.” I bowed as Siwang made his way toward me, the crowd dispersing for him like oceans parting for a dragon.

Once Siwang and I stood face to face, fellow soldiers quickly gathered in a circle around us. Sly smiles and eager eyes: they were itching to see whether the crown prince would get his ass handed to him, or if I’d be the one to walk away from this fight bloodied and bruised.

A spectacle, either way. A break from our mundane drills.

My insides shriveled. Siwang had been trained by the best combat teachers the empire—hell, thecontinent—had to offer since birth. I was not his match. I knew this. Our teachers knew this.Heknew this.Which means he doesn’t recognize me, right?

“How do you suppose I should demonstrate my lessons to you, Your Highness?” I continued to keep my head low, feigning innocence, shuffling back to put space between us while he circled me like a predator.

---