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“No.” His fingers bend the corner of a book on the table that I suppress the urge to snatch away. “After Father and I studied the maps, committing them to memory, he destroyed them. Father grew more suspicious in his later years, scenting treachery everywhere.” His gaze clouds. “I used to think he was overly cautious, but he was wise. I thought my battle for power ended when I was named heir, except it was just beginning.”
“This route—where do you emerge in the Three Kingdoms?” I ask.
“The southern tip of the Iron Mountains, close to the Pearl Ocean.” Prince Zixin studies us with cunning. “Is that your destination? I should know if I’m to be your guide.”
“You aren’t coming with us,” I say adamantly.
“Then I will tell you no more.” For a prince, he has the shrewd bargaining skills of a fishmonger.
“There are far more unpleasant means to extract this information,” Jin warns.
“I’ve already lost everything that matters. What else can you take?” Prince Zixin shrugs. “But you won’t kill me. I am of use to you—a pawn against your greatest threat.”
Jin’s smile is chilling. “I don’t need to kill you to make you wish you were dead.”
The prince doesn’t respond, crumpling more of the pages. “What do you want?” I ask reluctantly, yanking the book out of his grasp.
“Freedom,” he says after a long pause. “The chance to rebuild my life. My price for leading you safely to the Pearl Ocean is that you must bring me with you—and leave me there.”
“So you can escape to your sister and betray us?” I scoff.
“Why would I want to return to the Iron Mountains while she is queen? She tried to kill me; she will try again,” he says vehemently. “I want to reclaim my rightful place. When I return to the Palace of Nine Hills, it will be at the head of an army. I will make my enemies kneel and punish those who betrayed me.”
“Where will you obtain this army?” Jin asks warily.
“Lady Shufang of the Pearl Ocean is unwed. I will seek her hand and her soldiers.”
A knot twists in my chest. Prince Zixin trades himself with the same ruthless calculation that he expects of others.
“Why would she marry you?” Jin asks. “Why ally herself with an enemy of the Iron Mountains when it would endanger her people?”
“Lady Shufang is proud, stubborn—and vulnerable. Few will stand with her against the new queen who seeks dominance over the Three Kingdoms. Lady Shufang won’t want to serve my sister, she will be seeking an ally.” He straightens his sleeves, his face somber. “She also favors me, for more than my title alone, just as she dislikes Chunlei.”
His sister’s name slips out, a stark reminder of her betrayal… a vulnerability that echoes in the uttering of it, that he cannot wholly conceal.
Then his expression hardens once more. “I am the rightful King of the Iron Mountains, my father’s chosen heir. Marrying me offers Lady Shufang the best chance for her kingdom’s future—to keep her independence. She will be queen, once we succeed in retaking the Iron Mountains.”
Or lie dead alongside him, if they are defeated. I should not care as long as my home is safe.
“Support me in this, and I vow there will be peace between our kingdoms. We will forge a treaty—a real one—that will last beyond our lifetimes.”
Despair rings in his tone. It reminds me of how I’d felt in the Iron Mountains, watching my future unravel without hope, shackled to Mistress Henglan. Still, it is dangerous to trust the Prince of the Iron Mountains. We cannot afford betrayal.
“If you regain your crown, if the dangers that threaten you vanish—you will cast your gaze here again,” Jin says.
“I no longer have any desire to conquer your lands,” the prince says firmly. “I will swear any oath you ask of me, on my honor and life.”
“Promises are easily broken once the urgency for them has passed,” Jin says flatly. “And I don’t value your honor and life as much as you do.”
“What will it take for you to believe me? Bind me however you wish.”
I’m thinking hard. Words alone would not hold him, but the prince has a keen sense for survival. It’s how we ended up here. I untie my pouch, pulling out the devil pepper from my garden, and offer it to him.
He touches the spidery lines across its red surface. “What is this?”
“A poison. Only I have the antidote,” I lie, the prince unaware that the leaves grow like grass on my island.
As Jin smiles, the prince recoils in shock. “You’re poisoning me? How is this different from what my sister did?”
