Eight of Wugang’s soldiers stood in the entrance, their skin mottled with frostlike patches, their eyes alight with that eerie glow. I tried to muster a spark of hatred for them for so callously snuffing out Prince Yanming’s life, but it was like trying to hate an arrow that had hit its mark. These creatures were no more than weapons themselves, though far deadlier than any I had ever encountered.

As two of them seized my arms, I cried out and struggled, tempering the urge to fight back in earnest. They dragged me effortlessly into the silent corridor, past the crumpled bodies of the guards. Their fingers bit into my arms as they hauled me outside the palace. My slippers scraped a jagged stone, the silken threads rupturing, the beads from the embroidery scattering upon the ground.

A large cloud hovered just beyond the entrance. One of them pushed my back, and I stumbled upon it. As it took flight, soaring high—I almost knocked into a soldier. I blinked, studying its face. This one appeared younger than the rest, a strange thought when these creatures seemed at once ageless and yet not quite alive. The same light emanated from its hollowed eyes, however something more grazed my consciousness—a shadow of remembrance, an echo of who he used to be … a stark dread of what he was now.

It could not be him. Prince Yanming was a Sea Immortal; his spirit did not lie in the Divine Harmony Sky. His brother had brought him back to the Eastern Sea. A rush of emotions crashed upon me, a terrifying thought sliding into my mind: What if those killed by Wugang’s soldiers were somehow bound to his will, even in death?

“Prince Yanming?” I whispered, even as my heart clenched, rejecting the thought. When he showed not a flicker of recognition, I tried again, choosing my words carefully. “Do you remember your parents? Your brother? The Eastern Sea?”

The soldier’s head lifted ever so slightly—if I were not watching him, I would have missed it. I followed his unseeing gaze, catching a glint of sapphire and pearl on the horizon—the sea, awash with midnight stars. His lips parted, his eyes fixed ahead like he was seeking something … even though he might not know it. Hope unfurled in me that perhaps a part of him remained untarnished by this vile power, that the dragons were watching over him after all.

“Go far from here,” I told him quietly, unsure if he could hear or understand. “Return to the Eastern Sea. Find the dragons; they will keep you safe.”