Page 97 of The Blood Orchid

“We have to keep moving,” Zheng Sili said after a few minutes, glancing at the horizon. “I’ll ride with her.”

“No, I’ll do it,” Wenshu said, scowling.

“You want to drop her and crack her skull like an egg?” Zheng Sili said. “What could I possibly do to your sister while on a moving horse?”

Wenshu grumbled but relented, lifting up Yufei to pass her to Zheng Sili after he mounted his horse. We rode toward the city once more, this time in silence.

We approached the gates of Chang’an the next day at dusk.

Zheng Sili pulled Yufei’s hood over her face—explaining the Empress’s sudden resurrection would be difficult when life alchemy was strictly forbidden. But Wenshu and I had no reason to hide anymore—we were heading home to die. If word got back to the Empress, all the better.

The guards at the gates of Chang’an turned to us as we strode to the front of the line on our horses. They frowned as if prepared to scold us, but they held Wenshu’s stern gaze, eyes flickering between me and him.

“Your Highness?” one of them said.

Wenshu made a gesture for him to step back and rode through the gate. The crowd murmured all around us, slowly backing away.

I remembered the first time we’d entered Chang’an, running from the guards who now cowered before us, our broken sandals sinking into red dirt roads, only a few coins to our name. Now the crowd parted for us, the streets lighting up with whispers as we rode toward the palace.

As we drew closer, the dirt began to darken from pale red to deep scarlet, the soil softer beneath our horses’ hooves. A woman’s corpse, just beginning to rot under the hot sun, swung from the central gate as we passed beneath it.

The front gate of the palace had shattered open, the guards lying in pools of blood, their throats slit. So this was how the Empress had “cleared the way” for us.

We dismounted once we reached the palace grounds, our feet splashing in bloody puddles. Zheng Sili and I quickly repaired the gate with a couple waterstones. It wasn’t enough to keep out any true threat, but it hardly mattered—the private army that had laid siege to the palace was long gone.

The palace had been carved open like a gutted pig. Most of the golden brick walls of the inner courtyard were now clumpsof rocks and powder, gaping open to reveal the scorched interior. On foot, we led the horses deeper into the palace, through the garden where all the prince’s ducks used to live, but now there was nothing but a hole in the earth and wilted lily pads, the grass scorched yellow.

The center of the palace was in better shape, aside from the bloody footprints and the lingering smell of salt and smoke. The Empress had killed her entire family just to live in this palace, and then she had destroyed it.

Yufei remained asleep, so Wenshu went off to find a bed to place her in. Zheng Sili took Durian off to what remained of the western duck pond, promising to draw water up into it. I lingered by the inner courtyard and looked to the sky, where the sun was melting into the horizon. We had one more day until Gaozong would meet me.

I tied up my horse and headed for the treasury without a word, trailing bloody footprints behind me, the ground so spongy from blood that it felt like living, fleshy tissue beneath my feet.

I should have known by the door ripped from its hinges, but still I crossed the dark threshold, igniting three firestones in my hand.

The treasury was empty.

Shelves had toppled over and lay in pieces on the ground. There were holes in the wall where paintings had been mounted, tables overturned, remnants of glue where wallpaper had been torn off.

Something glinted in the darkness. I rushed forward, irrational hope swelling in my chest as I knelt down on the ground to get a better look.

A single pearl lay in the corner, covered in dust. I clutched it between my palms and sat down heavily.

“Zilan?”

I didn’t turn around, closing my eyes against the prince’s voice. Footsteps drew closer.

“It’s not here,” I said quietly. “The private armies probably raided the palace the day they came for Yufei. It could be anywhere.”

Wenshu said nothing, but I could sense him lingering behind me.

“I can try to teach Zheng Sili how to resurrect people,” I said.

“In one day?” Wenshu said softly.

“I don’t know if the Empress knows he’s involved,” I said. “Maybe he can hide for a few months, then find a way to bring us back?”

“Zilan,” Wenshu said, and I could sense the anger in his voice even if I couldn’t see his face. “You mean you want to let the Empress kill us?”