The border reeked of damp earth and smoke.
Prince Li Jin crouched in the ditch, dagger in hand, counting the smuggler's footsteps. Five men. Two carts. Enough grain to feed his city for a week, if he could take it.
If he failed, fifty more people would starve before winter.
He was about to move when the sky tore open.
No thunder. No warning. Just a sound like silk ripping, and a streak of white light slamming into the hillside a hundred paces away. The earth shook. The smugglers dropped everything and ran.
Li Jin didn't.
Stupid, maybe. But a prince who ran from falling stars wasn't a prince for long.
He found the crater steaming, grass burnt to ash in a perfect circle. And in the center, a girl.
She wore white robes that should have been filthy but weren't. Her hair spread around her like spilled ink, and blood—gold, not red—dribbled from her lips. Her eyes were open, but unfocused, staring at nothing.
A cultivator. A real one. Not one of the charlatans who sold fake talismans in the market.
She saw him and tried to sit up. Failed. Her hand scrabbled at the dirt, and a single word escaped her lips in a language that made his teeth ache.
"Seal."
Li Jin lowered his dagger. "You're not in a position to give orders."
Her gaze snapped to his. For a second, something ancient and furious flared in her eyes. Then it vanished, replaced by exhaustion.
"If you're going to kill me," she said, voice hoarse, "do it fast. I don't have time to die slowly."
Li Jin blinked. That wasn't how this was supposed to go. Usually people begged.
He sheathed the dagger. "I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to get you out of this crater before the enforcers come."
"Enforcers?" Her brow furrowed. "From the…?"
"From wherever you fell from," he said bluntly. "And if they're looking for you, I don't want my kingdom caught in the middle."
She stared at him like he'd grown a second head.
"You're not afraid."
"Should I be?"
Another pause. Then, impossibly, the corner of her mouth twitched.
"You're either very brave or very stupid, Prince."
Li Jinwent still. "How do you know—"
The air split with a sound like a bell tolling underwater.
Both of them looked up.
Three figures descended from the clouds, robes of silver and blue, faces hidden behind masks. Their presence made the air heavy, hard to breathe. Heavenly cultivators.
The girl—_the princess_, his instincts said—cursed again in that strange language. She tried to push herself up, and this time golden light flared around her hand.
"Stay down," Li Jin said, grabbing her arm. "You'll kill yourself."
"I'd rather die than be dragged back."
"Selfish," he muttered, but he was already hauling her up, throwing her arm over his shoulder. She was lighter than she looked, but burning hot, like she'd swallowed a furnace.
"Run," he told her.
She looked at him, really looked, for the first time.
"Why are you helping me?"
Li Jin started dragging them both toward the tree line as the enforcers dropped lower.
"Because if I don't, nobody will. And because you said 'please' so badly it hurt."
He didn't wait for her reply.
Behind them, one of the enforcers spoke, voice cold and carrying:
"Celestial Princess Lian Yue. You are under arrest for treason against Heaven. Surrender, or your mortal accomplices die."
Li Jin's grip tightened.
So that was her name.
He didn't let go.