A thin shout rang out a distance away. Prince Yanming? I glanced up to find him and his brother encircled by soldiers. In the tumult, I had not realized they had been separated from us. Terror clawed me at the sight of a soldier moving silently behind Prince Yanxi. Flames arced from my hand, the creature dipping back to evade them. With a smooth twist of its arm, the soldier swung its guandao toward Prince Yanxi—my cry of warning morphing into a howl, my insides shriveling like burnt paper as someone hurled himself in front of the blade, small arms clutched tight around Prince Yanxi’s waist. How warm and soft they had felt around my own. Weapons crashed all around, shouts erupting—yet I heard nothing except that sick, wet squelch as the guandao slid through Prince Yanming’s chest, scattering his blood like rain upon the sand.

Chapter 23

Light crackled from the blade into Prince Yanming’s body, the stench of scorched flesh springing into the air. Just hours earlier, I had remarked he was taller, and now … how frail he looked, with that massive guandao jutting cruelly from his chest. Blood pooled, his palm groping at the wound, coming away a glistening red. His small body convulsed, eyes so wide there was a ring of pure white around his irises.

A guttural scream tore from Prince Yanxi’s throat as he lunged at the soldier, thrusting his sword through its gut in a single ferocious strike. The creature stiffened, its hands clenching harder around the guandao, holding it fast.

“The blade! Get it out!” I raced toward them, nauseated by the sight of the ominous lights still flowing into Prince Yanming’s body.

Prince Yanxi clawed the soldier away, grabbing the guandao and ripping it from his brother’s chest. The boy’s gasp, trapped between a breath and a scream, stabbed like nails driven through my skull.

As the Celestial soldiers started toward me, my mind hollowed of thought, consumed by rage. My power surged, a storm erupting from my fingers, knocking aside those in my path. A reckless use of my energy, a waste I could ill afford—but I no longer cared, my only thought to reach Prince Yanming.

A thunderous rush swirled through the air, the churn of water and wind. My hair flew across my face, cold droplets spraying all around as the Four Dragons sprang from the ocean depths, covering the sky itself. Crimson and yellow, pearl and black, undulating through the heavens with majestic grace, the monstrous press of their auras closing in as they descended to the beach. Arched gold claws sank into the white sands, billowing like mist in their wake.