No matter how hard they try, a noble cannot blend into a crowd. And you are the worst of the lot. I might not have recognized you at first, but everyone else sure does. There’s something about how you walk, how you talk, how you hold yourself that just screams nobility, and that’s what the assassins are looking for. Please spare me the gray hairs, Your Highness. I can’t stop you, but I also can’t take the stress. -Lunar Guard Captain Hua Zhen’s seventh such plea to the Lunar Prince

  The song faded from my ears, but with it, the air became lighter. The flickering array beneath my feet steadied and shone.

  “This was probably what caused the blackouts,” I mused. “Or at least, what started them.”

  “I’m sure Shattered Moon didn’t help matters either.”

  “Probably not. They exacerbated the problem by attacking the armillaries, but this is the main control array,” I explained. “It was failing thanks to the void’s exposure.”

  “Is it fixed?”

  I shook my head. “No, but I don’t have the knowledge to fix it from here. I’ll have to scour Shi Reili’s library for the original schematics.”

  “A problem for another day, then?” He put an arm around my shoulder to help support my weight.

  I nodded in agreement. “Let me do one thing, then let’s go home.”

  Returning from Half-Moon Manor was far easier than getting there was. After authorizing Lin, Xinya, and I within the Master Defense Array, the serpent guards and Watchers gave us no trouble. In fact, two of the lantern bearers arrived immediately to assist in guiding us back to the servant’s entrance.

  “Care to give that new blade of yours a more relaxed test run now that you don’t have to rush in and save me from a giant moth monster?” I asked Lin as we stood at the top of the staircase back to where our boat remained moored in the river.

  Lin grimaced. “I was never a real fan of flying on Razor Wind,” he admitted.

  “Oh, come on,” I nudged him playfully. “Who was it who was complaining that sword flying was convenient?”

  He scowled but didn’t argue. Moon Rose was drawn from its sheath to hover next to the wood artist who eyed it the same way one might a wild horse. In the end, he stepped onto the blade and tested its balance. I smiled as I watched him before drawing my own blade and stepping onto it.

  “You’re not going to make me walk, are you?” Xinya protested.

  “Of course not,” I offered her a hand. She took it, and I pulled her onto Eclipse in front of me.

  From here, I had an excellent angle on the crescent moon comb that Chiho had woven into her hair. It really was a fine piece, one of the best of my collection, and it made my heart swell with pride to see her wearing something truly befitting our relationship. Not only was she the blood of my blood, Chouko’s descendent and the only one to inherit Reili’s bloodline, but she had been under my care for long enough for me to admit that the relationship between us was more than that of student and teacher. Thinking on it, Lihua’s mistake in calling Xinya my daughter wasn’t so far from how I felt about the little girl.

  She probably doesn’t want me as a father, I thought to myself. She loves Lang Tailyn far too dearly for that.

  But, that didn’t mean that I couldn’t privately work on filling Lang Tailyn’s shoes. After all, one of the last things he ever asked of me was to protect his daughter. I liked to think that, by helping her to grow strong, I was fulfilling his wishes to the best of my abilities. Even if Xinya would never see me as anything more than her fun uncle who taught her cultivation, I would be content in the knowledge that her true father’s ghost might have approved of my care.

  “Are you done fidgeting?” I asked Lin. He had readjusted his feet four times since stepping onto Moon Rose.

  “I just need to get it right,” he said.

  “Lin, you leapt on Razor Wind, flew around Saikan, then went to fight a giant snake within an hour. Even with that blade, you flew to my rescue without hesitation,” I pointed out. “You’re perfectly capable of riding a sword without this much thought.”

  “I didn’t have a choice in either of those cases!”

  “And you did wonderfully. Stop second guessing yourself.” I rolled my eyes and crouched to look over Xinya’s shoulder. “Are you ready?”

  “YES!” the little girl answered entirely too quickly. I didn’t bother containing my amusement at her enthusiasm.

  “Alright, then. Three, two, one, here we go!” I stood, making sure to keep a hold of her hand as I urged Eclipse forward and into open air. The blade thrummed under my feet as it reacted to my commands as smoothly as if I’d sprouted my own wings to fly.

  Xinya’s cries of glee could have been heard all the way back in the Fourteenth, and that only urged me faster. We darted around in the air, and, at every turn, I gave her instructions on how to fly: how to lean into the turns, leaning forward with the acceleration, and back when we came to a stop.

  “Are you ready for the next bit?” I asked.

  “YES!”

  “Crouch down, then,” I instructed. She did as she was told, and I did the same, wrapping an arm around her waist just in case as I pushed my weight forward.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Eclipse pitched forward into a nosedive, and we hurdled towards the ground like a shining meteor in the darkness. Xinya’s yelp of surprise turned into laughter and delight as the ground raced up to meet us. At the last second, I pulled up, directing Eclipse into the ruined streets in the darkness. We whipped through the ancient buildings, rounding corners at breakneck speeds. I took the little girl to the district’s dead armillary and back before coming to rest on the small dock where Lin was waiting with the boat.

  “Having fun?” he asked.

  “That was AMAZING!” Xinya exclaimed as I let her off the blade. Her hair was windswept, and her eyes were wild. “When can I get a weapon like that?”

  I laughed. “We’ll see.”

  The truth was that I had a few choice options from some of the Half-Moon Manor vaults that I would have loved to give her. She’d shown some desire to learn the glaive like Satoro, but she was still young. Once she settled on a fighting style that worked for her, then I’d find an appropriate weapon for her to inherit from my family’s vaults.

  “Yoru, look at your chains, quickly,” Lin said softly.

  I glanced at my arm, my mind still on what weapon might be best for Xinya’s future. With a frown, I stared at the spot, trying to figure out what was truly going on. Yet, even as I wondered, the picture became clear.

  At first, they were translucent, almost completely invisible against my robes. They even felt lighter, but after a few moments of watching and letting the adrenaline from our flight wear off, they began to solidify once more, gaining weight and substance until they were hanging around me once more.

  “I take it my point is further proven?” he continued.

  I nodded reluctantly. Just because I could recognize that his theory regarding my inner turmoil was correct didn’t mean I knew what to do about it. It wasn’t as if I could simply choose to live without the chains.

  In my distraction, voidlight threads danced playfully around my feet, and I slipped on a bit of water that had pooled on the stairs. Luckily, Lin reached out and grabbed my hand before I had the chance to careen headfirst into the dark waters.

  After giving me a wry smile, Lin stepped onto the boat, followed by Xinya, but I chose to sit on Eclipse’s blade and hover lazily overhead. It was safer than trying to keep my balance on the waters, and the last thing I needed was for the two younger cultivators to make fun of me again for my inability to swim.

  Nothing bothered us on our journey back. The defeat of Shouweiye had already reached the void spirits in the darkness. They whispered of my passing but never dared show themselves to the ones who had destroyed the great Moth Spirit. Apparently, those in the dark finally recognized me as a greater spirit of the void, which was more than fine by me.

  “Well, I’ll admit, I didn’t expect any of you to return before the palace killed you,” Crescent greeted as we pulled into the dock at the Forgotten House. “So, tell me, which trap convinced you to turn back with your lives?”

  I glared at her. “Do you really hold such a low opinion of us that you assume immediately that we failed?”

  “Don’t take it personally. That place is a death trap.”

  “I’m more insulted that you didn’t even ask if we succeeded,” I said, pulling out the Lunar Globe and offering it to her. “Especially, when we went so far out of our way to walk in the Darkened Moon’s personal residence to fix your array.”

  Her eyes went wide. “You’re kidding.”

  “It’s straight from his personal chambers.”

  Crescent took it in both hands, her eyes wide with awe. “Forgive me for doubting you, Masters. I will bring this to the Moon Guard at once to restore the defense array.”

  “See that you do.” I urged, more than a little annoyed at her lack of respect. The shade bowed and rushed away, leaving a servant of the Forgotten House to escort us back to the door.

  “I heard a rumor,” Xinya began as we walked through the Black City to the inn, “that the House has a theory. They think that Crescent originated from the Summoned Isle, and that’s why her manners are so poor.”

  “I can’t say that I’ve met anyone from there before,” I admitted. “It didn’t exist in my time.”

  “It appeared out of nowhere at the end of the Sunset Succession,” Lin answered. “Something about a ritual gone awry or something. I think scholars debate it, but ultimately the answer is the same. A whole continent of strange people with no qi arrived out of nowhere.”

  “Mister Satoro says that the Demon of Ruthlessness is from the Summoned Isle,” Xinya added. “Says she’s the Pirate Queen of the South Sea, but her story is called the Captain of the Ghost Ship. Mister Satoro says that her manners are even worse than his.”

  “That would be impressive, since he’s the dictionary definition of ‘uncouth,’” I answered with a roll of my eyes.

  It wasn’t long before we ascended the stairs to Half-Moon Harbor, only to find the door unlocked, not that any of us were particularly surprised. What was surprising was that the Oni Prince was standing behind the counter when we entered, and he looked more than a little perturbed.

  “Oh, look, the owners are back,” he sneered. “Nice of you to finally join us.”

  “Good to see you, too, Satoro,” I answered with a scowl.

  “Did you enjoy your weekend trip down memory lane?”

  I hung my bow by the door and pulled the ward flags from my belt. “It went about as well as expected. Just enough excitement to keep the blood pumping, but not enough to kill us.”

  “Well, good for you, we have bigger problems.”

  “Oh, and what might that be?”

  Satoro pointed to his table. “She took my table.”

  I raised an eyebrow and turned to see a beautiful woman sitting, drinking a cup of steaming tea. She was dressed in vivid red and pink silks but left quite a bit of skin showing around her arms, bust, and midriff. It was decent, but certainly nothing my father would have ever let Aya or Chouko wear…not that it had ever stopped them. Between her attire and the perfect red roses woven into her hair, I had a good guess of who our mystery guess was, or at least who she was here to represent.

  “Oh, come now, Satoro,” I chided. “I knew you had a history of murdering beautiful women, but I didn’t realize it was because they frightened you so much.”

  Satoro growled. “Choose your next words carefully, Pipsqueak.”

  “Xinya, prepare another pot of tea, please,” I instructed, meeting the Oni Prince’s gaze in challenge. “It would be rude to make our guest make her own.” Xinya rushed off to carry out my instruction while Lin started placating Satoro. Meanwhile, I sat across from the beautiful woman.

  “I heard that a handsome spirit moved into the district some time ago,” she began before taking a sip of her tea behind her sleeve, “yet, we never had the pleasure of hosting such a rare beauty in the Red Lantern district, I had a hard time believing it was true.”

  “An oversight, I assure you,” I answered politely. “If I’d known there was someone waiting for me, I’d have made my way there right away.”

  The woman flicked open a rose-decorated hand fan to hide her laughter. “There’s always someone waiting for you in the Red Lantern district. Your absence can only lead me to conclude that you have little interest in our style of entertainment.” Her dark eyes glimmered with mirth over the pink fan.

  “I learned long ago that courtesans don’t look twice at those without the money to pay.”

  “And yet, the embroidery on your clothes speaks of a wealthy cultivator. The pin in your hair is of the highest quality jade I’ve ever seen, and your daughter wears a priceless antique that would sell for more than some of the sect estates in this city. You have wealth, Master Tsuyuki, yet you run an inn with your sworn brother. Why?”

  I took a sip of my tea, leveling my gaze at the woman. “You’ve done your research. Might I assume you’re a member of the Blushing Rose Sect?”

  “You may, but you’d only be partially correct,” she said. “I am Iza Kirana, Sect Leader of the Blushing Rose Sect, and I have heard a great number of things about you.”