Let no rule define you save the rule of your own heart. It is with a good heart that a cultivator shines brightest.

  -A misquoted line from the Oni Prince, which is often attributed to the Princess of Ren.

  I lowered my hand, even as the light of his technique burned my fragile Voidspawn skin. There was no mistaking that voice: the smoothness and the casual arrogance it held, as if its owner were completely used to being in charge, no matter the company.

  And, to an extent, he was. After all, no one on the Moon-Soaked Shore could challenge High Queen Taiya Pharyx of Hanai.

  The light faded, and the blood beasts to either side of the boar burst in twin puddles of blood that began seeping into the cobblestones. Blood flicked from Pharyx’s lance, having cut the things in half while his light blinded the field.

  He turned and flashed me a smile, sending flashes of memories racing through my mind of dozens of nights sitting around a campfire with the man. His sun-kissed hair shone just as brightly now as it did then, perfectly accented by the sun diamond pin that glowed softly in the darkness of eternal night. Traces of black stripes curled up his neck and around his hairline before disappearing down into his gold and black armor.

  “You’ll blind half the city with a light like that,” I complained good-naturedly. “Don’t you know most of the yokai here burn in sunlight?”

  Pharyx seemed to deflate slightly, his brows knitting together with uncertainty. “Apologies, you never seemed to be bothered by it in the past.”

  “That you saw,” I said with a sigh. “Then again, I know a good healer for me and mine. We’ll be fine.”

  “Then, if you’d allow me to make up for past failings and assist you in defeating your enemies?” he asked gently.

  I could feel wisps of guilt echoing from him. After five years, was he still concerned about standing down as I fought Shen Tori? Didn’t he know that I didn’t blame him?

  “If you’re willing to help a man as dangerous as I am, I’d be more than happy to have you.” I stepped forward to stand back-to-back with the hornet. “Fate’s Eclipse, take the nekomata. Pharyx, you and I get their master.”

  “He looks Salt. I take it you’ve advanced since the Tide Serpent?”

  “Of course. I haven’t sat on my hands for six years.”

  Pharyx nodded. “I’m glad to hear it. I’d be disappointed if you had!”

  Without any further banter, the hornet queen launched himself at the boar yokai, lance angled to gut the master. With blistered hands, the boar swung his axe, knocking aside Pharyx’s blow.

  “Don’t you know not to swat at a hornet?” I called. “It only makes them mad.”

  “And this hornet has been simply dying to sink his stinger into something ever since entering this stupid city,” Pharyx snarled. His hair flared with brilliant sun qi, and gossamer wings made of pure golden qi spun themselves behind him.

  In an instant, he was in the air, darting around the boar’s strikes with a speed I could hardly fathom. It seemed he’d also trained hard in the last few years. His qi was potent, his strikes were swift, and his speed was uncanny.

  Not willing to be outdone by my insectoid companion, I lifted my bow, a silver arrow forming out of qi, already nocked to the bowstring. The arrow flew, sinking into the boar’s back.

  He roared and spun around. “Pitiful little flies! You’re so far my junior that you ought to bow before me!”

  “I’m not a fly!” Pharyx proved the point by shifting his form into that of a large hornet and dipping under the boar’s axe to slam his stinger into the boar’s leg.

  “And, my title is Moon Moth, thank you,” I finished. “Honestly, children can tell the difference. And you claim to be our seniors? Isn’t that just hilarious, Pharyx?”

  “It’ll be funnier when he’s dead!” buzzed the hornet.

  “We’ll see who’s the last one laughing!”

  The boar slammed a foot into the stones, narrowly missing one of Pharyx’s delicate insect legs, before hurling the axe at me. It flew through the air with far more grace than an axe had any right to. I prepared to dodge, but in the last second, Flash Forward warned me of the trick bearing down on me.

  Halfway across the distance between us, the axe changed, morphing first into droplets of blood, then sharpening into a rain of needles. There was nowhere to go that wouldn’t end with my blood being infected by whatever was in the master’s technique.

  Nowhere to go, that is, but through.

  My body dissolved into black mist before I flattened myself to the ground. The needles sailed overhead. By the time I solidified back into physical form, I was ten feet closer and already drawing an arrow back on my bowstring, aiming for the heavens.

  “Pharyx! Remember the Spider matriarch?” I yelled.

  The hornet nodded his striped head, seeing where I was going, and the angle I was set up for. Qi sparked along my arrow as it released from the string. It arced high, catching the light of the eclipse above before turning and rushing to the earth, splitting into myriad copies with every breath it fell.

  Pharyx darted beneath the boar, transforming back into his human form just in time to sweep the boar’s hooves out from under him. Just as the arrows fell, Pharyx planted his lance in the ground, letting gravity impale his enemy upon it just as the arrows slammed into the boar from above.

  Impaled on two sides, the boar’s chances didn’t seem great. He choked on blood, but before he had the decency to die with honor, he waved a hand. His qi began to pulse wildly in crimson waves.

  Panic filled me. “Pharyx! Get out of there!” I shouted.

  The hornet didn’t need any further encouragement. He abandoned his lance, wings fluttering as he sped to my side. I shouted a warning to the Fate’s Eclipse disciples before grabbing Pharyx’s collar and pulling him with me to the ground.

  The explosion sent tremors through the city, and the sound of crumbling stone filled the street as the buildings to either side of the street fell in on themselves. Blood covered every inch of the ground within fifty feet of where the master had been. All, save for the ground beneath me, Pharyx, and the six members of Fate’s Eclipse.

  “Well, this is the most disgusting thing I’ve felt in some time,” Pharyx muttered as the two of us crawled back to our feet. He shuddered. “It’s all down my back.”

  I empathized, as the thick, sticky feeling clinging to my hair set my teeth on edge. Even Chiho keened in frustration at the mess.

  “Everyone gather around,” I called. Once more, I counted all six members of Fate’s Eclipse as they gathered. Shenshou looked positively miserable, as his five tails all looked half their usual, bushy size.

  With a wave of Moon qi, followed by a wave of gentle Void qi to scour any and all traces of blood from us, I cleaned all eight of us as best I could. After all the qi spent that day, between all the uses of Flash Back and the several fights we’d encountered, it was all I could do to clean us off. The ground was still covered in crimson, but it would have to do.

  Shenshou bowed to me, his disciples quickly following his example. “Thank you, High-”

  “Don’t mention it,” I interrupted, suddenly painfully aware of the hornet queen standing only a few feet away.

  After all, last time we met, he’d refused to help me fight Shen Tori, all because he believed me to be an agent of the Darkened Moon. How would he feel knowing that he was wrong, but not in a way that would make him feel better?

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “Queen Pharyx of Hanai,” I breathed, trying to get a measure of my old friend.

  He held himself with confidence, as I expected of a leader of his station and temperament. However, underneath the fa?ade, I could hear echoes of anxiety lurking beneath his composed demeanor.

  At the mention of the man’s title, Hei Shenshou glanced between me and the spirit hornet. He didn’t know the Queen, nor the complicated relationship between us, but he knew enough to bow his head in respect.

  “Master Tsuyuki,” Pharyx said. A sad smile crossed his lips, and he looked down. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

  “Long enough that you’re welcome to use my given name, Pharyx,” I said. “I’ve been calling you by your preferred one for long enough. It’s only right.”

  Pharyx blinked several times, as if he’d been struck by lightning. “I…uh…that’s very generous of you, Yoru.” He looked uncomfortable, and the confident mask he wore cracked and crumbled. “I’m not sure if I deserve that,” he murmured before forcing a smile again. “You’re looking well?” His tone suggested a question, even though the words didn’t agree.

  It was an odd thing, seeing the hornet crumble like that. I’d never known him to be anything but confident, almost to the point of arrogance, but now I felt only a low-level anxiety mixed with melancholy and guilt. What happened to him?

  “Thanks, you are, too,” I answered. “Was that a new technique? The one you arrived with?”

  He nodded. “Yeah! I picked it up from Kansi Ren, only she uses wind instead of light.”

  “And how is she?”

  “She’s well. She’s a good commander, despite being still only Silver. She refuses to advance, lest the Valley Lord eat her when she returns to the Pearlescent Valley,” he explained.

  I smiled and nodded in agreement. “The Valley Lord is quite the beast. Not an Ascendant alive has been able to best it, though I hear that the Sword Saint was able to befriend it somehow.”

  It was one of his many great achievements since I was imprisoned. The Valley Lord was an ancient being, a primordial monster that had lived in my homeland for longer than I’d been alive. It wasn’t sentient, just a horrifically strong spirit beast, but the Pearlescent Valley had been its territory for ages untold. The strongest cultivator in the Valley was Gold, for anything stronger was a threat that the Lord would swiftly hunt down and destroy. Jinshi was the sole exception in all of recorded history.

  Pharyx flinched. “I thought you were from the Valley. Surely, you’ve seen the truth behind the Sword Saint’s claims.”

  “I…it’s.” I bit my tongue before falling into old habits. The lies were there, just on the tip of my tongue, but they were thin and flimsy. Hei Shenshou and the others from Fate’s Eclipse were still here. The first uninterrupted instance of a “your highness” and my lies would fall apart, causing more damage than if I said nothing at all.

  I was tired of the lies five years ago when I revealed myself, I thought bitterly. Yet, what chance do I have of winning his trust back without them?

  Pharyx would never willingly befriend the Darkened Moon. Not when so much of his world depended on my continued imprisonment.

  “We should go. Blood Stalking Demon controls this district, but we’ll be safer the closer we get to the cliffs,” I said.

  Fate’s Eclipse fell in line behind me, whispering amongst themselves as we crept through hostile streets. No doubt they were speculating on Pharyx’s identity, given the tense familiarity he and I shared. I’d tell them eventually.

  “Are Tenri and little Xinya with you?” Pharyx asked as we walked.

  I nodded. “Do you hear that?” Thunder rumbled across the city, and he nodded. “That’s Xinya.”

  “Little Xinya is making all that?” His eyes were wide with surprise. “She’s come quite far.”

  “She’s Silver now and fast enough that I bet she’d give both you and Kansi a run for your money.” I couldn’t keep the pride from my voice.

  Pharyx lowered his head with a chagrined smile. “You know I’m slow for my people, right?”

  “You were pretty quick against that sect master. You could still run circles around me.”

  “And, I hear you’re faster on a sword, from what Kansi says.”

  I suddenly became very aware of Eclipse at my hip. Would he recognize the blade as the one Kansi carried all those years ago? It had been a long time, and she never drew the blade. Would he remember at all?

  “I’ve had a lot of time to practice.”

  The hornet began fiddling with a strand of his ponytail. “Maybe you can show me sometime?”

  The whispers behind us went silent as the disciples just listened. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Pharyx may have been one of the most attractive men I knew, but what they interpreted as an act of idle flirting only made me confused. The day we truly met, the hornet had all but sat in my lap in an attempt to obfuscate his position within his hive. If he were truly flirting, he wouldn’t be so shy about it, which meant that whatever this was, he was genuinely nervous about it. Was this an apology? For something I didn’t even hold against him at the time?

  I let the conversation drop while we continued walking across the city. In my head, I began organizing questions for the hornet. Was it worth pinning him down in the street for answers? Or would my patience hold out until we were safely back in the Fourteenth Armillary District to discuss such sensitive topics?

  Lin and Xinya will want news from home, I finally decided. Better to wait until we can all hear it at once.

  “This way,” I said. “Xinya and Lin will join us back at Half-Moon Harbor. We can talk there.” I turned to Shenshou. “Would you prepare a meal for us when we get there?”

  “Yes, your highness,” Shenshou answered, bowing his head. His ears were lowered in submission, and he looked positively miserable.

  “Fate’s Eclipse, please escort Queen Pharyx ahead. I need to speak with the Sect Leader. We’ll catch up in a moment.”

  “Yes, your highness,” came the automatic response. The disciples bowed and ushered the hornet ahead. From the look in his blue eyes, he definitely caught the title they used.

  Only when they were out of earshot did I continue walking at a slower pace. Shenshou fell in step next to me, his head down and tails drooping to brush along the ground behind him. More than ever, I got the sense that he was far better suited to a peaceful life than that of the cultivator.

  “Your Highness, this fox would like to apologize,” he murmured.

  “What is it you’re apologizing for?”

  He looked up incredulously. “My plan was a disaster. It put you and the others in danger! I hoped that your reputation would be enough to stay Xue Bashi’s hand, but I underestimated his cruelty. My miscalculation nearly cost you your life.”

  I snorted. “I was only in as much danger as I allowed myself to be, Shenshou. Xue Bashi is a quartz cultivator. We knew that going in. During that fight, I never once fought to defeat him, because escape was the only feasible outcome.”

  “You knew the plan wouldn’t work?”

  “I suspected.” I turned to the kitsune and put a hand on his head between his black-tipped ears. “You have a good heart, Shenshou. How you managed to be caught up in Shattered Moon’s wickedness is beyond me.”

  “My mother was a close friend of Sect Leader Asha,” he admitted. “When I was old enough to show talent for cultivation, she taught me and made me an inner disciple. I’ve never actually accomplished anything on my own.”

  “That’s nonsense,” I said with a snort. “You brought the Fate’s Eclipse Sect together. You regularly challenge one of the Five Demons of Devastation for the right to keep your sect together. I doubt any of the others would be so keen to face me directly if you weren’t brave enough to do it for them.”

  “Most sects would consider that a mark of shame, not pride,” Shenshou muttered. “A demonic sect who defies the demon they worship. It’s unheard of.”

  “I wouldn’t know. I’ve never met any beyond Shattered Moon and Fate’s Eclipse.”

  “There’s also the Ocean’s Heart Sect, as well as the Five Crews of the South Sea,” Shenshou said. “They all follow the Demon of Ruthlessness. I hear that she has extremely low tolerance for mutiny.”

  I stretched my hands over my head before pulling a strand of hair out of my ponytail just to make Chiho grumble. “Be glad, then, that I’m far more relaxed than my fellows.”

  Despite my words, I made a mental note to visit the Demon of Ruthlessness soon. The more I heard about her from Satoro and the rumor mill, the more I thought it would be wise to get in her good graces early. One did not earn a reputation for ruthlessness without an unforgiving nature. Any slight, no matter how small, could be disastrous.

  “That is something we are all grateful for, your highness,” Shenshou said. “We would not be here, save for your mercy.”

  I sighed. “Shenshou, why do you want to be a cultivator?”

  He blinked several times as he tried to understand my question. “What do you mean?”

  “Exactly what I said.” I moved my hand to his shoulder. “You have a good heart, Shenshou. You believe the best of people, even when they give you reason to think differently, but I can’t help but wonder if you’d rather be making noodle soup than being a sect leader.”

  The young kitsune lowered his eyes. “Noodles can’t stop the blackouts, can’t get kits off the streets and into homes.” His dark eyes lifted to meet my gaze, and I saw such awe within, felt the determination radiating from his heart, that I felt my spirit stir in response. “But you can! You built this city! You’re working to help people. When there’s no one left to help, then I’ll make noodles. Until then, I want to help you help my home. I was the highest ranked disciple of Shattered Moon who defected. That puts me in the position to be Sect Leader in Fate’s Eclipse, and from there, I can do a lot of good.” He paused, his shoulders stiffening as he seemed to carry the weight of the world. “At least, I hope I can.”

  “I see.”

  For having such a dark start to his cultivation journey, the young moon artist was one of the purest beings I’d ever met. Had he been born in another time, I was certain that Chouko would have made him her disciple in a heartbeat.

  “In that case, it seems we have a long way to go, Sect Leader,” I said. “Let’s see if this plan of yours bore any fruit.”

  Shenshou’s ears pricked forward, and the barest hint of a smile reached his eyes. If Lin reached the Demon’s Heart, then perhaps the fox’s confidence could be restored.

  “Highness, if I may ask something.” With my permission he took a deep breath and continued. “Who was that man who fought at your side? You seemed to know him well.”

  “Well enough. That’s Queen Taiya Pharyx of Hanai. He’s from the same land as Xinya and Lin,” I explained.

  “He seemed to want to say something.”

  I looked at Shenshou, studying him closely. For someone who had so blatantly misjudged Xue Bashi from the rumors, he was surprisingly perceptive when faced with people directly. He was a lot like Hua Zhen in that way.

  “He and I have a complicated past.”

  “How should the sect treat him?”

  “With respect. He’s a friend, even if I’m unsure where we stand as allies just yet.”

  “Yes sir.”

  I desperately hoped that he wanted to be friends again, yet I didn’t dare hope. When I told him the truth, that I was the Darkened Moon, would he strike? Or would he give me the chance to speak first?

  There was no hiding my truths from him any longer. I simply would have to face him and hope he could reconcile being friends with a Demon of Devastation.