Don’t be an idiot. She couldn’t afford a display of power now. Kitay was gone and the fire was gone. She had no leverage. This wasn’t the time to bluff. For once, she’d have to be diplomatic.
“Fine,” she said tightly, and followed the Iron Wolf out the door.
Souji wasn’t waiting in his tent.
Rin stopped short at the entrance. “You.”
The Monkey Warlord rose from his seat. “Hello, Runin.”
“What are you—” She inhaled sharply, then composed herself. “Get out.”
“Why don’t you sit down?” He gestured to the table. “We’ve much to discuss.”
“Get out,” she said again. Anger superseded her confusion. She didn’t know why Gurubai was here, but she didn’t care—she wanted him gone. He didn’t deserve to be here. This wasn’t his victory, his troops hadn’t bled at Leiyang, and the very sight of him standing here in Rooster Province, where her people had died while he cowered in Ruijin, was almost too much to bear. If she still had the fire, she would have incinerated him where he stood.
“You should be glad we arrived when we did,” he said. “My troops have been leading the rescue efforts, have you not noticed? Without us, hundreds more of you would be dead.”
She barked out a laugh. “So that was your plan? Hide out in your mountains until I’d won your battles, follow us, and then claim our victory?”
Gurubai sighed. “I would hardly call this a victory.”
The tent flaps parted before she could retort. Souji strode in, followed by three Iron Wolves and several of Zhuden’s junior officers.
Rin looked at them in surprise. She’d been waiting for those officers just as long as she’d been waiting for Souji. Was this why no one had responded? Had they spent all this time together? Doing what?
“Oh, good,” Souji said. “We’re all here.”
“Where the hell have you all been?” Rin demanded. “I’ve been sending for you since noon.”
He sighed and shook his head. “Oh, Rin.”
“What?” she demanded. “What’s going on?”
None of Zhuden’s officers would meet her eye.
Souji shot her an apologetic smile. His fingers played at the hilt of his sword. “You still haven’t figured this out?”
Too late Rin realized she was alone.
Alone, and without her fire.
Her hand flew to her knife. Souji charged her. She unsheathed her blade, parried clumsily, and didn’t last three seconds. He twisted her knife from her grip with a move used by novice swordsmen, then kicked it far out of her reach.
“Where’s your fire?” he taunted.
She threw herself at his waist. Again, he overpowered her with ease. At the peak of her training she could have put up a good fight, could have scratched out his eyeballs or gotten a good, vicious grip on his crotch. But he was bigger and heavier, and he had both his hands. In two moves, he had her pinned to the ground.
“So it’s true,” he observed. “You’ve lost it.”
She thrashed, shrieking.
“Shhh.” Souji’s fingers closed around her throat and squeezed. “Not so loud. Hurts my ears.”
“What are you doing?” she gasped. “What the fuck are you—”
Gurubai raised his voice. “‘He said to tell you I walk free if you’ll come to the New City yourself.’”
He was reading from a scroll. Rin stared at him, bemused. Her mind was so fogged with panic it took her a moment to recognize those words. Where had she read those—
Oh.
Oh, no.
“‘He says that this doesn’t have to end in bloodshed,’” Gurubai continued, “‘and that he only wants to speak. He says he doesn’t want a war. He’s prepared to grant clemency to every one of your allies. He only wants you.’” Gurubai set the scroll down. “Rather cold, I think, to sacrifice your only family.”
“You snake,” she hissed.
He had to have learned this from his spies—his fucking ubiquitous spies, eavesdropping on her wherever she went, even after they were leagues away from Ruijin. Who was it? The sentries? The guard outside her tent? Had he opened and copied the scroll before she’d ever seen it?
She thought she’d outplayed him, had finally gotten the upper hand. But he’d been playing the long game this entire time.
“When were you going to tell us there was a peace offer on the table?” Gurubai inquired. “Before or after you sacrificed us to an unnecessary war?”
“Nezha’s a lying bastard,” she choked. “He doesn’t want to negotiate—”
“On the contrary,” Gurubai said. “He seemed quite keen on our proposal. You see, we don’t want to die. And we’ve no qualms about sacrificing you, particularly since you seemed so ready to do the same to us.”
“Are you deluded? You need me—”
“We needed you in the south,” Gurubai said. “We have the south. Now you’re just a liability, and the only obstacle to a cease-fire with the Republic.”
“If you think you’re getting a truce, you’re so stupid you deserve to die,” she spat. “The Yins don’t keep their word. I swear to the gods, if you deliver me then you’re dead.”
“And we’re dead if we don’t,” Gurubai said. “We’ll take our chances. Souji?”
Souji’s grip tightened around her neck. “Sorry, Princess.”
Rin writhed, just hard enough to force Souji to lean forward and use his weight to press her back against the dirt. That brought his wrist close enough to her mouth. She bared her teeth and bit down. She broke skin; she tasted copper and salt on her tongue. Souji shrieked. The pressure on her neck disappeared. Something slammed into the side of her head.
She fell back, temples ringing, blood dribbling onto her chin.
She saw two Soujis looming over her, and both looked so outraged that she couldn’t help but laugh.
“You taste good,” she said.
He responded with a slap to her face. Then another. The blows stung like lightning; head swimming, ears ringing, she could do nothing but lie still and absorb them like a corpse.
“Not so chatty now, are you?”
She gurgled something incomprehensible. He pulled his fist back, and that was the last thing she saw.
She was lying on the same floor when she awoke. Everything hurt. When she twitched, she felt the stretch of bruises along her back, bruises from blows she didn’t remember taking. Souji had kept kicking long after she’d passed out.
Breathing was agony. She had to learn to take small, suffocatingly insufficient breaths, expanding her lungs just enough not to crack her likely broken ribs.
After a few seconds, her fear gave way to confusion.
She ought to be dead.
Why wasn’t she dead yet?
“There you go.” Souji’s voice. She saw his boots standing several feet away. “I’m assuming we don’t have to verify her identity.”
Who was he talking to? Rin tried to crane her neck to see, but her puffy eyes limited her view, and she couldn’t tilt her head up any farther than thirty degrees. She lay curled on her side; her field of vision was restricted to the dirt floor and the wall of the tent.