She sighed. “Keep them still, and I will try not to.”

We waited till the first group of guards left the courtyard. Only then did I unleash my magic, forming coils of wind, encircling the guards and binding them tight. Their mouths gaped, their cries stifled as more layers of air wound around them like a cocoon. A struggle with twelve; my body tensing from the strain. I glanced impatiently at the woman, streams of glittering energy already flowing from her palms and swirling over the guards. They lingered across the centers of their foreheads, the hollows of their necks, their wrists and knees. The guards struggled wildly at first—soundlessly—before going limp, their bodies slumping to the ground, their chests rising and falling in a steady rhythm.

“What did you do to them?” I asked.

“An enchantment on their meridians. If they had so much as twitched, it would have struck the wrong place.” Her nose wrinkled. “It would not have been pleasant.”

She was skilled in Life magic. Before I could ask her another question, the hairs on my skin sprang up, the sudden awareness of danger pressing upon me.

When had the music stopped?

“Quick!” I urged her. “We must hurry.”

Together we ran to the room, throwing the doors apart. Liwei was there and Tao too, his eyes widening in shock. Relief crashed over me as Liwei crossed the chamber and reached for me—but I reigned in my emotions, shaking my head.

“We must go.”

“You!” Tao gasped, his face ashen. “How did you—”

I stalked to him, grabbing his arm. “Do you have the elixir?”

Before he could reply, the woman’s voice rang out from behind me. “Release him!”

Her magic flashed, streaking toward me. Taken aback, I swung aside—too slow—as it struck the side of my neck, blisters erupting over the skin with stinging pain. Tao wrenched himself free and darted away, cowering behind the woman. As Liwei pressed his palm to my wound, channeling his power across it, the pain eased at once. My breathing came labored, shock mingling with anger at her unprovoked attack—along with a dawning realization.

I pointed at Tao. “You’re here for him.”

She opened her mouth, but then her head snapped to one side. I sensed it, too, the swell of auras beyond the courtyard. The woman bolted outside, pulling Tao after her, Liwei and I racing after them. As a large cloud swooped down, summoned by Liwei, we sprang upon it. Celestial soldiers called out, gesturing at us—a few already climbing upon their clouds to give chase. My energy flowed forth as I wove an invisibility enchantment, shielding us from sight as we soared toward the eastern gate. Turning around, I hurled eight bolts of flame into the shells across the palace, burning them to cinders and ash. I would not draw the emperor’s wrath to Master Bingwen and the Southern Sea.