Page 86 of Two Thousand Blades

Chapter 29

Kai

Sneaking through the fae stronghold was more difficult than Kai had expected, and it was all Rei’s fault because he’d declared it a no-magic zone. The elf was confident the fae lurking in the halls of the royal residence would be able to sense his presence if he used magic, giving away their only advantage—stealth.

It had been a long time since he’d last relied on his human skills. Even while holding Xiang captive, he would sneak in bits of magic here and there when the vampire hadn’t been paying attention.

Guilt twisted a tight, heavy knot in the pit of his stomach as he trailed behind his mate. Xiang was astounding to watch. Swathed in black, Xiang could disappear into the shadows in a heartbeat and move without making a sound. He was cold and merciless death, and Kai worried he was holding his mate back. Was Xiang moving so cautiously because he thought Kai couldn’t keep up?

As they reached the end of a corridor, Xiang shoved Kai into a dark niche and leaped upward. His right foot pressed to the wall, allowing him to push off and send his lithe frame sailing to the opposite wall. At that second, a guard turned into their hallway. Kai’s fingers tightened on the hilt of the blade he was holding, preparing to launch himself at the guard, but Xiang was already on the move. He came down behind the guard, his own blade slashing across his throat before the elf even knew what was happening.

Kai lunged from his hiding place as the elf crumpled to his knees. He picked up the corpse and dragged him into an empty room. Xiang followed a step behind and shut the door while Kai tucked the corpse inside of a bureau. While there wasn’t anything they could do about the small trail of blood, they could at least hope the guard wouldn’t be discovered anytime soon.

“That was only the third guard we’ve encountered since sneaking into the palace,” Xiang whispered in Kai’s ear. “It seemed like there was the normal amount outside, but the protection on the interior feels too light.”

“Maybe we’ve killed more of the fae than we thought,” Kai replied.

“As much as I would love for you to be right, I’m not willing to bet our lives on it.”

Kai couldn’t disagree with that. Entering the castle had been about distractions from Junjie’s team and sneaking past those guards they couldn’t move. Killing any of them would have alerted the fae to their presence all that much faster. Guards checked in with each other constantly. Someone failing to check in would have sent up red flags.

But the castle was a different story. There was no sign of servants, and the guards were sparsely placed on irregular patrols. Or even like this fellow, who just turned down the wrong corridor at the wrong time. Kai hadn’t even noticed a sword on him when he’d stuffed the man into the bureau.

His brain tried to argue that it was the middle of the night and that most of the castle occupants were asleep in their beds, and yet he couldn’t buy the excuse. He’d walked the halls of the emperor’s palace in Chang’An and other cities over the centuries. Regardless of the hour, guards had been every few feet and there were servants constantly scurrying about, cleaning or preparing things for the emperor and his family. This was too empty.

Xiang picked up some bit of lacy cloth that was resting on a tabletop and used it to wipe his blade clean. Kai looked over the room to find that they were in a bedchamber. Definitely not a room for a member of the royal family, judging by the moderate size and somewhat plain decor of white and pale pink. Maybe for a noblewoman or a spare, unused room judging by the staleness of the air.

“Do you have any feeling for where your sword is located?” Xiang inquired as he tossed the now-bloody fabric aside.

“Close, but nothing exact. I don’t get the feeling that it’s moving.”

Xiang flashed him a half smile as he gave his arm a small squeeze. “Not moving is a plus. It’s easier if we’re not chasing your sword.”

“True,” Kai agreed, forcing his lips to form an answering smile. Everything about this mission felt off. Ever since they’d stepped one toe inside of the castle. His skin crawled with endless chills. All of his instincts screamed that he should grab Xiang and fly out of there, but they couldn’t. Even if he were willing to walk away from his god-given sword, they still needed to eliminate the queen. If not for his own sense of justice, then to save all the humans who still lay in her path.

They paused at the door and listened for the approach of anyone new before slipping into the corridor. On silent footfalls, they crossed the intersecting hallways and darted down a set of winding back stairs that were likely reserved for servants. As they reached the bottom, a scent drifted past Kai’s nose and his hand snapped out, catching the collar of Xiang’s shirt and stopping him.

Xiang didn’t say a word. He lifted one eyebrow at Kai in silent question, while the rest of him froze. Kai couldn’t answer yet. Couldn’t even put into words what the scent was. Only that it was familiar.

He turned his head, catching another slender tendril of the odor up the stairs. Xiang’s shirt slipped from his fingers, and he backtracked up the stairs, while pulling a throwing knife from its sheath on his hip. This was the one place in the world where something familiar did not mean it was good.

At the top of the stairs, he headed along the corridor they had just left and paused at the intersection. The scent was gone now, as if the cause had vanished.

“What is it?” Xiang asked as Kai continued to sniff the area with his nose lifted toward the ceiling. He missed his dragon body. There would have been no escaping him. His senses were heightened in this form, better than any human’s, but not nearly as strong as they would have been if he were a dragon.

“I smelled something…familiar.”

“What do you mean familiar?”

Kai clenched his teeth and looked around the area. Thick, elegant rugs covered the marble floors. All the walls possessed landscape paintings or portraits of the queen. They’d passed a few starkly barren spots on the walls where portraits of the king had probably once hung. Or even paintings of Rei. Fall out of favor and the queen had you erased from memory. Yet for all its elegance, this place held the unwavering chill of a mausoleum. It was just waiting for all the bodies to be stacked up.

“Familiar…but not…”

“Like your sword?”

Kai shook his head. “Familiar, like you and your clan. But it’s so faint, I can’t get a lock on the direction or even how it’s familiar.”

“That can’t be,” Xiang muttered, and Kai had to agree. The four teams who entered the castle all came in from different points and different levels, so they wouldn’t have crossed each other’s paths, not yet at least. By splitting up, they had a chance of covering far more ground in less time.

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