Bloodline of the Forgotten Emperor

The chariot came down like nine tiny suns had decided to personally escort her to my doorstep — construct-flames orbiting a platform of gold and sun-bleached wood, heat brushing my skin even from this distance. Somewhere above it, a shape of white-gold fire cut lazy circles through the sky — her personal Sunfire Phoenix, apparently too important to actually land with the rest of us. The grass bowed under the wind of her descent. The guards held their line without flinching. Flame-wheels touched stone, veils parted, and she stepped down like someone who'd never once in her life needed to ask permission to arrive anywhere.

I straightened my robes. Whatever came next, I'd meet it standing. *Hmm. She looks different from last time.*

She was tall without being imposing, slender without being fragile, her figure carrying the balanced proportions of someone trained in both court and combat. Her robes, the color of fresh embers, draped in clean lines that suggested elegance rather than excess. Her hair was pinned high, dark as ink and threaded with gold, her face composed into the calm, unreadable mask of someone raised to rule. The phoenix ornament in her hair caught the light of the nine suns and threw it back in fragments.

"Welcome once again, Princess Xue, to my great Long Clan," I said, keeping every trace of emotion out of it.

She looked at me. "It's nice to meet you again, great Young Master Zaitian." A little smugness colored her voice.

"Don't call me that, Your Highness. Do you want to head to your private courtyard, or would you prefer a grand tour of my clan?" I kept my expression just as flat.

Her eyebrow twitched. "You're boring, you know that." She waited a beat, giving me a chance to respond, then continued when I didn't. "Take me to my courtyard. The tour can wait until tomorrow."

"Okay." I turned, then something clicked. "Do you mind taking a mount, or would you rather go on foot?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Are you planning to walk your fiancée to her courtyard on foot, in an estate this massive?" A little playfulness slipped into her expression.

*That's exactly what I wanted to hear, lady.* I chuckled quietly — quietly enough that no one else noticed, except her, which seemed to make her a little curious about what exactly I found so funny. "As you wish, Your Majesty," I said, all amicable on the surface.

I turned to Mei. "Call Lei. She'll be taking us to the courtyard." Without a second thought, Mei understood my evil intentions perfectly, shrugged, and whistled Lei over.

"SCREESH!!!"

Never thought I'd be glad to hear that sound again. Lei landed with a whoosh.

"My Lady." I bowed slightly, a small smirk tugging at my mouth, playing the loyal subordinate, and extended a hand toward her. By then, the rest of her escort had already been guided off by the guards, leaving just her and her personal maid — and, notably, no sign of that Sunfire Phoenix anymore. Not that she was my problem.

She glanced at my hand, then at me, ignored it entirely, and lifted herself onto Lei's back without any help. I didn't take the small snub personally — I had something else in store for her. Once she was settled, the two maids climbed up as well.

"Hang on, everyone." I gave Lei a pat, and she took off.

I turned, half-expecting the Princess to scream the way I had — but her expression didn't so much as flicker. She raised a hand, and the turbulence around us smoothed out instantly. It clicked then: she wasn't like me. She was Phoenix-blooded. The sky was practically home turf for her.

"What are you staring at, Young Master Zaitian? Regretting the annulment already?" Smugness, plus the ghost of a smirk.

*She read that thought right off my face. What a pain.* "Just admiring how mesmerizing you look up here," I said, the lie sliding out smooth as anything. She turned to say something to her maid I didn't catch, followed by a soft laugh.

I ignored it, keeping my expression as flat as ever.

A few minutes later, we arrived at her courtyard, set within the inner ring.

Her courtyard didn't so much sit on the ground as float just above it, a slab of pale phoenix-marble raised on nothing visible, ringed by a moat of water that burned instead of rippling — faint embers drifting along its surface like fireflies that never went out. Vermillion pillars, carved in feather patterns from base to crown, held up a roofline shaped like wings caught mid-spread, gold tiles catching the afternoon light in a way that made the whole structure look like it was perpetually on the verge of taking flight. Firebird lilies bloomed along every walkway, petals the deep red-orange of a dying coal, and somewhere past the entrance hall I could hear the faint, layered chime of wind bells tuned to no scale I recognized — deliberately imperfect, the kind of imperfection that costs a fortune to arrange on purpose.

She looked at me. "Young Master Zaitian, I saw that little trick of yours." Her voice had lost every trace of playfulness now, gone flat and genuinely sharp. "I'll be reporting to the Patriarch exactly how you tried to make a fool of your future wife. Our families have already decided we'll be together, whether either of us likes it or not — so I suggest you find a way to make peace with that, instead of testing me."

"There is no trick I played. If anything, you're the one who might have been planning something — you'd clearly already heard how your future husband screamed mid-flight, so maybe you were the one hoping to make a fool of me."

Her eyebrow twitched. *Heh. Little Princess, my skin's thicker than yours.*

"Princess Xue, would you care to explore my clan's city while you're here, along with the other sights?" I asked out of courtesy, while Mei walked her maid through the surrounding grounds.

"Tomorrow," she said. "I'd like to rest for now." Her expression made it clear she was more or less ushering us out.

Taking the hint, I signaled Mei. She took note of it, turned, and left with me.

"Enjoy your stay," I said, already sounding bored.

"Young Master, your fiancée is pretty cool, isn't she?" Mei said, sounding like she was fishing for gossip.

"Yeah. Especially that entrance." I let a little genuine approval show.

"And her mount was cool too, Young Master." That comment sent my thoughts straight back to the Sunfire Phoenix I'd seen earlier. *Speaking of mounts — I really need to see mine. They'd better be cooler than her overdressed chicken of a phoenix.*

"Yeah, speaking of mounts — Mei, you mentioned once that I have a few of my own, pretty impressive ones. I want to see them." Curiosity and anticipation, both plain in my voice.

"Are you jealous of her mount, Young Master?" Her eyes were practically sparkling with amusement.

I coughed. "How could I be jealous of a bird? You can find those anywhere." Doing my best not to sound like I actually meant it.

"You're totally jealous, Young Master," she said, giggling.

"Enough of that. Let's go — I want to see mine now, so nobody has room to look down on this Young Master going forward."

"Okay, Young Master." She turned and redirected Lei toward the Beast Chambers.