Only now did I notice his attire, unused to seeing him in such finery. His moss-green brocade robe was embroidered with dragons that reared up amid swirls of silken mist, a belt of silver links fastened around his waist. A crown rested on his head—different from his father’s—a carved gold headpiece set with an emerald.

“I could not sleep either,” he confessed. “Would you come with me?”

I hesitated. “It’s late.”

“It’s not far,” he assured me.

As I nodded, moving away from the entrance, he strode into my room toward the windows. A cloud was already hovering there, as though he had known I would agree.

“Why not through the door?” I asked.

His nose wrinkled. “I’m not my father. I do not want or need a guard tailing me at all times.”

And there were few threats he could not handle on his own.

He climbed through the window, dropping onto the cloud. I did not take the hand he offered, grasping the wooden frame as I slipped out. The cloud soared high, circling the palace, the wind gliding through my hair. When we came to a halt, I turned to him, my eyebrows arched. “The roof?”

“I know your fondness for them,” he said lightly.

Something tightened in my chest. He meant the times I had found solace upon my rooftop in the Jade Palace, as I stared into the sky longing for home. And yet it was also where we had pledged ourselves to each other, and where I had almost shot him to make my escape. I shrugged aside the past, both the good and the bad—for with tomorrow so uncertain, I would yield them no place tonight.

The tiles here were carved of iridescent stone that gleamed like they had been dipped into a rainbow. Yet the true beauty of this place lay in the endless horizon encircling it. Glowing lanterns floated through the air, borne on some enchanted breeze. The arched roofs of the buildings below shone like jewels. And beyond the bank of violet-gray clouds curved the Golden Desert, aglitter as stardust.

The wind teased at Wenzhi’s hair, draping long strands across his face. “Thank you for coming with me. This is where I came whenever I wanted to be alone. I’ve wanted to bring you here for a long time, even before I knew what it meant.”

He lowered himself upon the tiles, resting an arm upon a raised knee. While his expression had always been aloof and unreadable, there was a new gravity set into his features.

“What is troubling you?” I asked.

“I have wanted to be king ever since my brother began tormenting me and those I cared for. Each insult, every injury drove me to seek my father’s favor, through any means necessary.”