Page 43 of The Blood Orchid

My vision burst with light, split halfway between the darkness of the river plane and a flash of candlelight. Something stung my cheek, and I heard Wenshu’s voice far away, calling my name.

Wenshu.

I’d almost forgotten about him, left alone in the restaurant full of the Empress’s puppets. That sharp spike of desire—to find him, protect him—ripped me from the river plane, still clutching the Empress’s necklace.

I crashed onto my back on hard ground, Wenshu poised above me to slap me in the face. I shoved his arm aside before the blow could connect, gasping down a breath of night air. I was sitting on the ground outside the tavern, which Wenshu had barricaded with barrels. Inside, the people were yelling, tearing at the lattice windows.

I rubbed my forehead where I could feel a bruise forming and realized I was still clutching the Empress’s pearls, coated in blood.

Nothing in the river plane was real except souls, so I shouldn’t have been able to take it back with me. And yet I held four bloody pearls in my hand.

My head throbbed and I let out a groan, pocketing the pearls.

“Did you hit my head against something?” I said.

“Not intentionally,” Wenshu said, looking away guiltily. “You’re heavy, okay? I was in a bit of a hurry.”

I forced myself to my feet and examined the barrier, then used some woodstones to reinforce the lattice windows with a solid pane of pine, blocking out the sound of yelling. I was tempted to just burn the whole place down, but that would draw attention to the restaurant and there was a chance someone would let everyone out.

“So much for getting some rest,” I said, rolling my shoulder.“This city obviously isn’t safe. Let’s grab Durian and get out of here.”

“I thought we could at least get dinner before someone tried to kill us again,” Wenshu said, already hurrying down the road.

I started to follow after him but hesitated after a few steps. “Where’s Zheng Sili?”

“How would I know?” Wenshu said. “He’s not a child. He can look after himself.”

I glanced over my shoulder toward the city center. If the Empress had taken over a whole restaurant full of people, it was safe to say she had a tight grip on this town. She would probably recognize Zheng Sili, or at least would have noticed that we were traveling together. She might be pulling his organs out to make into sausages as we spoke.

I shouldn’t have cared. But there was a difference between brushing someone off for rudeness and abandoning them to the Empress’s whims.

“We have to find him,” I said. Wenshu looked like I’d suggested we eat garbage, but he grumbled and followed me all the same.

We ran back to the main road in the city center, where the crowd grew dense once more. As we brushed past startled merchants and drunken men, I wondered if all of them were no more than actors in the Empress’s charade, just background art for the stage she was setting to destroy me at her leisure. I prayed that whatever alchemy she’d managed to get her hands on hadn’t allowed her to decimate this entire city.

I was about to run past a temple when Wenshu grabbed me by the sleeve, forcing me to a stop.

The Empress had found Zheng Sili first.

He was splayed across the steps of what looked like anabandoned Buddhist temple, cheek crushed to the dirt.

I hesitated a few feet away, unsure of what to do. I’d never liked him, but I hadn’t meant for the Empress to actually kill him. I shared an uneasy look with Wenshu.

Then Zheng Sili coughed, sliding down another step and groaning.

I stomped forward, yanking him up by the collar. His hair and clothes reeked of ale. “Are youdrunk?” I said. “We’ve hardly been gone an hour!”

“It’s none of your business,” he said, words slurred, trying to pry my hands off but only managing to slap his wet fingers across my face.

I sighed and tossed him back to the stairs, where he lay down heavily, blinking as if just recognizing his surroundings.

“Hùnxie?” he said, rubbing his eyes.

“Stop calling her that,” Wenshu said.

Maybe it was the alcohol, or just the fact that it was another man scolding him instead of me, but he looked mildly ashamed. “Sorry,” he said, “forgot your name.”

I pressed a hand to my eyes. “The Empress is running around, and you’re drunk.”