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I looked at Aunt Shou, shaking my head in mock disgust. “Parents shouldn’t be held accountable for the bad choices of their children, either.”

“Traitor,” Chengyin muttered, even as his lips twitched.

The bond between us was forged through such remembrances. Chengyin and Aunt Shou were my only family now, not through blood but affection, and yet as close and vital. I wished they would accept the gifts and honors I’d gladly bestow on them, but they’d refused everything except when it would aid me, as Chengyin did with the position as First Advisor. While this denied me one of the keenest pleasures of power—to reward those loyal and deserving—it was also a precious thing to be loved for oneself.

“Enough,” Aunt Shou said wearily, pressing a hand to her forehead. “We can’t have the Lady of Tianxia and her First Advisor bickering like spoiled children. If any of the minsters heard—”

“She can just order their heads cut off,” Chengyin interjected.

I smiled sweetly. “I might start with yours.”

“There will be no executions,” Aunt Shou said sternly. “Liyen doesn’t have the stomach for that; moreover, ruling by fear is ill-advised. Silencing worthy ministers, only rewarding advice that pleases the ear, cultivates a viperous court of bootlickers where nothing of worth gets done.”

I nodded. “I don’t want that, either, though it might make life easier.”

“The idea about the betrothal competition was shrewd. They didn’t expect that,” Chengyin told me.

“Unpredictability will keep them on their toes, but it won’t earn you their loyalty or respect,” Aunt Shou observed bluntly. “Right now, they fear the unknown more than you. It will take a while to change their opinion, but prejudices aren’t overcome in a day.”

“Are they plotting against me, Aunt Shou?” I asked.

“There are always plots when a throne is at stake. But they won’t dare move against you when you have the mandate from the Queen of the Golden Desert,” Aunt Shou said firmly. “With her favor, your position is stronger than before.”

When I didn’t reply, Aunt Shou’s eyes narrowed in that knowing way—the one that made me feel like a child again, caught doing something I shouldn’t have. “Liyen, what’s the matter?”

“I don’t have the queen’s mandate,” I said slowly.

Chengyin frowned as he glanced at Aunt Shou. “What happened?”

“The God of War tried to take the Divine Pearl Lotus from me. He failed.”

Chengyin drew in a long breath. “It’s a wonder you’re alive.”

The wrinkles across Aunt Shou’s forehead deepened. “The immortals knew about the lotus? I thought it was concealed.”

“As did I,” I said darkly. “Maybe he sensed it when he healed me? Magic seems unpredictable. We can never assume we know how it works.”

“Those monsters who attacked us before—the Winged Devils? Were they after you, for the lotus too?” Chengyin probed.

“It’s possible, but I hope not.” An uneasy feeling to be a target, hunted by both immortals and monsters.

Aunt Shou shook her head. “Your grandfather said the lotus couldn’t be seized; it had to be gifted. How did the immortals try to take it from you?”

“An enchantment. They needed my trust for it to work.” I wouldn’t say more of what he’d done. “Love” had no place between the God of War and me, nor would it ever.

“How did you escape?” Chengyin asked.

Quickly I told them of what had transpired: The confrontation with Queen Caihong, the attack on the palace, how I’d escaped with the qilin. I said little of my time alone with the god, of the ceaseless ache in my chest now.

“The immortals won’t let you go,” Aunt Shou said somberly. “They will come here.”

Chengyin sighed. “We haven’t recovered from their last visit.”

I simmered, remembering the fires that had raged through my home, the ruin left in their wake. If the God of War intended to repeat his destruction, I’d throw his precious sword into the forge—after I’d run him through with it.

If you can, that unhelpful voice in my mind added.

I smothered it; I had to think clearly. “I won’t let them hurt anyone. The immortals need me alive—at least for now. They’ve learned that they can’t just take what they want from me. They need my cooperation to secure the Divine Pearl Lotus, else I wouldn’t have dared to return here.”