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“We’ll do this together.” His hand runs along my arm. This time, rather than desire, I fight the urge to pull away. He looks the same as he did a moment ago, yet something has changed. “Did you bring the starfire here? Let me keep it safe for you.” His voice softens, like I’m a skittish creature about to bolt.
“I’ve hidden it someplace safe, far outside the palace walls.” I don’t tell him of the Moon Dragon’s locket—hating to keep this from him.
“Where?” In the silence, he tilts his head to the side. “Why won’t you tell me?”
“Being back in the palace reminds me of the first time we met,” I say instead, with a warm smile. “Do you remember?”
“The prince’s ball,” he agrees, tucking a stray lock of my hair behind an ear.
It’s what many in the palace believe—that I met Jin at the ball. But they are wrong, we met at the market in Twin Cypress Village. Though I still smile like everything is all right, my world is falling apart. Relief blinded me to the things that didn’t fit earlier: his elusive answers, the way he touches me as a distraction, the glint of calculation in his gaze. This person is lying to me, biding his time until he can snare me. A wretched thing, to suspect the one you most want to trust.
“We must escape. I’ll leave first to scout a path, then return for you.” I’m eager to get away. I need to find out what the queen has done to him—whether his memories have been tampered with or he’s an impostor. But one thing is clear: This is not Jin.
His face hardens. “You seem upset, Yining.”
I take a step away. “Why would I be? I found you.”
He moves swiftly, catching my arm. His mouth tenses as though struggling with himself. “You’re frightened.”
I try to wrench free but he’s holding me too tightly, dragging me closer. “Let me go.” My tone is low and wrathful.
“Why? A moment ago, you wanted me.” His eyes gleam the same shade of gold… yet I’m afraid.
“You’re not Jin. You’re a fraud, a pretender—”
“You’re the fraud. The enemy.” His expression shutters, a chill settling over me like frost. “You and your people are the reason Thorn Valley is struggling, why the decay is spreading through my land.”
It jars, his devotion to his people. An impostor wouldn’t care. I shake my head furiously. “I found the cure, restoring the Ancient Grove.”
“Impossible that you could have done that. No outsider can enter the Ancient Grove.”
“You brought me there, don’t you remember?” I ask searchingly. “The rose marked me. We wove the shields together—”
“I remember none of this. Queen Chunlei warned me how you tried to poison my mind, infiltrating it with false memories and lies. You failed, because she saved me. You are despicable, trying to deceive me this way.” His hate is real. Whatever has been done to him has turned me into the enemy.
“She did those vile things to you!” When he remains unmoved, I shake my head, struggling to make sense of it all. He sounds like Jin, yet is not—like he is half who he was. “Why pretend to be glad to see me if you hate me? Why kiss me?”
“To get you to reveal your schemes.”
He failed. Still I want to fold over, sick with rage, with that twisting sour sensation of being cheated. The queen assured me Jin would be safe. I arrived within the week, but she did it anyway—she took Jin from me. She took him from himself.
“The queen is lying to you. You are her captive. She threatened me with your safety to force me to bring her the starfire. She altered your memories, killed your messenger—”
“Messenger?” he repeats, revealing the first flicker of concern.
“The firefly. The one who used to bring me your summons when I was on Mist Island. I buried him just outside the grove.”
His gaze darkens with grief, but then his lip curls. “I was warned you are devious and cunning.”
“All that and more,” I agree wholeheartedly. “But not with you—not anymore.”
“Isn’t that what a liar would say?” he mocks.
“What did she do to you?” My voice is raw. To come all this way to find him, to learn he believes I am the enemy… “She promised she wouldn’t hurt you.”
“Queen Chunlei saved me; she pledged to share her power with me. We will forge an alliance between Thorn Valley and the Iron Mountains, to become the strongest in the realm.” His tone is hollow, like he’s reciting a lesson taught.
“She doesn’t share power—not with her brother, not with her husband. Not with you.” I step forward. “Don’t you remember all we went through, Lord Jin-Yong?” I speak his name softly, just as he asked of me once. Yet his expression remains unchanged, as if the queen has snuffed out these recollections. “When we met in the market, I told you a terrible fortune. The worst one I could devise because you were arrogant. At the palace, you wanted me to help you find the Sun Dragon. Then you trained me to fight General Xilu on the tower.”
