Page 82 of The Nightblood Prince

“You look surprised,” Yexue mused as he followed me in, leaving the door open behind us, as if to reassure me. “Is this not what you expected?”

“I expected your quarters to be more chaotic,” I said.

He faked a gasp and clutched his heart. “Are you insulting me?”

I rolled my eyes. “You don’t come here often?” I ran my finger along the desk and came away with a thin layer of dust. This place might be organized, however it was not clean.

“I have been a bit preoccupied, with that little war between Rong and Lan,” he said, and my ears perked up.

You mean Lan and half the continent?I almost corrected him, because in addition to his war with Rong, Yexue had invaded many of his neighbors. Unfortunately, he seemed to be winning every fight he’d picked so far. “You said you would stop attacking. We agreed that if I left the front lines with you, you would end this war.”

“Iwould end this war?” He huffed a laugh. “I told you already, I’ve seen enough death to last a lifetime. I don’t want to watch more foolish men charge into battle for lies like glory and honor. I don’t want to watch another city burn, another child die, hear the ghostly wail of another parent forced to bury their baby…”

Yexue’s voice cracked. He looked away quickly, though not before I caught the tears that glistened at the corners of his eyes.

These words felt genuine. But…“But you are the Prince Regent of Lan. If you want this war to end, it will be as easy as a snap of your fingers.”

Lan Yexue laughed. He walked around the circular table to stand on the opposite side. “Come here.”

From a secret compartment under the table, he pulled out a stash of papers. I quickly got to my feet and caught sight of what I couldonly presume was special paper made for royal mandates, and a row of jade-and-gold-encased seals—my breath caught in my throat. Forget about military information; if I could steal one of Yexue’s imperial seals and somehow send it to Siwang to fake mandates with, that might be more useful than every grain route and army location.

“These are the rejected peace treaties,” Yexue said, and handed me the small stack of paper, which I almost dropped, so distracted by his imperial seals. “I’ve been sending these to Siwang since last summer. I only ever wanted to reclaim the land that was rightfully my ancestors’. No more. No less. I offered peace on the condition that Rong agree to become Lan’s tribute state—which is fair. As Rong forced Lan to be their tribute state for so many years. Siwang seems to take these offers of peace as a sign of weakness, however. Each time, he responds not with compromises and envoys to discuss the terms, but aggressiveattacks, which forces me to retaliate by pushing farther and farther into his territories.”

I had heard plenty of tyrants try to justify their greed this way. “If you had given Siwang a way to end this war back in the summer, he would have taken it in a heartbeat. Even if he didn’t back then,he would have come to the table and agreed to negotiate by now.” I flipped through the pages and tried to look for the egregious demands Yexue had to be hiding.

“Like I’ve said, he’s very good at keeping secrets from you.” Yexue offered me his hand. “I am not the villain of this story. And if you don’t believe my words, why don’t you see things for yourself?”

46

While a mountain of lush bamboo and trickling streams sat east of the manor, a city sat at its west. Built at the mountain’s base, it was a gleam of terra-cotta and bronze. Houses made of stone, wood, and glazed bamboo stretched out into bustling streets. Teahouses and winehouses were vibrant with music and voices, with fluttering banners and red lanterns dancing in the breeze. At the main market, merchants peddled their goods while children begged their parents for sugarcoated treats.

“Welcome to Longyan,” Yexue announced as we wandered through the streets that reminded me me of Yong’An.

In this lively and beautiful city, joy shone bright on its people’s faces. A far cry from the way I’d imagined life under Lan’s rule.

However, hand in hand with splendor, the city was also laden with memories of violence. Along each street lingered the devastation of war, with crumbled buildings and flame-scorched walls peppering the city like festering mold.

Fire.The very thing Yexue’s monstrous creations were scared of.

“Siwang did this?”

“Like I’ve said, each time I try to end this war, he takes it as a chance to reclaim the land that he perceives as his.”

I grimaced. It always came back to this. Men and their pride and their self-righteous explanations as to why they had a better claim to a piece of land than other men, always forgetting that there were already people who called these lands home.

The seed of every conflict was never ancestral rights or justice; it was always greed.

I don’t believe you,I wanted to tell him. I had grown up beside Siwang and knew him like the back of my hand. He was a good leader, and he would not let his people die when peace was an option…. Right?

I said nothing, and as we walked, I noticed a pleased smile tugged at Yexue’s lips, the pride gleaming in his eyes. The citizens of this city smiled when Yexue passed and tilted their heads in greeting like sprouts reaching for the warm spring sun. Shopkeepers called to us and offered samples of dumplings and cakes and pieces of smoked meat. Children giggled and gasped when they saw him; the admiration in their eyes was not something that could be faked.

“Prince Yexue! Buy a red string for the pretty girl and the two of you will find each other in every lifetime!” an elderly lady hollered from her stand.

I was surprised she had the nerve to summon the prince regent like this, and was even more surprised when Yexue did as she asked and pulled me toward the little cart of braided red strings.

“One for the pretty girl and one for the handsome boy.” She beamed as she handed each of us a red string. “That will be five coins each.”

I gasped. Five coins? In times like these? It was enough to feed a whole family for three days.

---