Chapter 171: Nightmare or Truth?

Qingyue woke up with a gasp.

For several seconds she could not remember where she was, her body still caught between nightmare and reality.

She stared into the darkness of the tent, her breathing uneven and her heart pounding so violently that it seemed impossible that her sisters had not woken up from the sound.

One hand was pressed against her chest as she pushed herself upright, trying to calm herself down.

The battlefield was still there, she could see it. The broken ground beneath her knees, the blood staining the earth and smoke rising into a darkened sky.

There were screams echoing through the battlefield, but none of that frightened her as much as what stood before her.

Ru Yi.

She had been standing in the middle of the destruction, surrounded by a darkness so thick that Qingyue could barely see her face. Yet, somehow she had known it was her.

Qingyue and her sisters were kneeling at her feet. Not standing beside her or protecting her.

Kneeling.

The memory sent another chill through her.

There had been something terribly wrong with the scene. It made her instincts scream that she was witnessing a future that she was never supposed to see.

Ru Yi had looked down at them, but her expression had been impossible to read. And the shadows behind her stretched outward like living things, swallowing everything they touched.

It reminded Qingyue so much of what had happened in Tiancheng. Then Ru Yi lifted her hand and the darkness swallowed the entire battlefield.

Qingyue had woken before she could see what happened next. She dragged a hand through her short hair and exhaled slowly.

"It was only a dream," she said over and over again. She said them quietly, like speaking them out loud might make them more convincing.

But they weren’t. Not entirely.

Qingyue had experienced dreams before, but they had never felt as real as this one. In reality, she had never seen Ru Yi like that before. Not once.

Ru Yi had always been unpredictable, stubborn and far more capable than she allowed others to believe. But there was something fundamentally gentle about her despite everything she tried to hide.

The woman in Qingyue’s dream had not been gentle. She had been terrifying.

Qingyue glanced toward her sisters. Lieyin was still asleep, her arm thrown across her chest. While Yexue had curled into herself beneath the blanket.

Neither had moved.

Qingyue stood up slowly, she needed air. She slipped outside the tent without disturbing them and stepped into the cold night.

The camp was quiet.

Everyone else was asleep. Even the fire in the middle had burned low, leaving only a faint orange glow beneath the ashes.

Qingyue breathed deeply. The cold helped. She closed her eyes for a moment but the image remained.

Ru Yi surrounded by shadows. Her sisters kneeling in submission. And that strange feeling in her chest that she couldn’t explain.

Qingyue opened her eyes. "I hate dreams."

She turned towards the mountains, hoping the sight of them would clear her mind. It didn’t.

Instead, she noticed something else. A faint warmth against her finger. It was the ring. She looked down at it.

The strange artifact had been quiet for most of the night, but now it felt almost warm beneath her skin. It made her brows furrow.

She had long stopped trying to understand the ring or the eternal bond between her and Ru Yi. Every time she thought she had it figured out, it did something else. Just like she had only been able to access her spiritual energy after Ru Yi held her.

The warmth increased around her finger which made her frown.

Then she felt it— that same magnetic pull she’d first experience at the winehouse. It wasn’t painful, or particularly strong like the first time.

Her eyes narrowed as she followed it.

The sensation led her away from the main camp, toward the outer edge where an empty tenth stood beneath the trees.

Qingyue hesitated before she followed.

-

-

On the other end of the clearing, Ru Yi couldn’t sleep either. She had been staring at the inside of her tent for what felt like hours, turning over repeatedly as thoughts crowded her mind.

Kael’s words had changed everything. She still didn’t know whether she could trust him, but she knew one thing for certain. He believed she was supposed to die.

And if that wasn’t enough to keep her awake, the thought of telling the triplets the truth certainly was.

Ru Yi rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. She had promised herself she would tell them instead of Han Shuying who was more likely to twist the truth to her advantage.

Soon.

They were only a day from Ashen Fortress. She would do it then. Before she became more attached to them.

"Wonderful," she muttered. "Exactly what I needed."

She pushed aside the tent flap and stepped outside.

The night air immediately cooled her face. She breathed in slowly, allowing herself to relax. If the sisters didn’t strike her down immediately after learning the truth, then her overbearing brain would be the death of her.

She walked a short distance away from the tent and stopped beneath one of the old trees, looking up at the stars.

For a few moments, she simply stood there before letting her memory slip back to the world she’d come from. She wondered how Jenny was doing, if the news of her death had devastated her. Or maybe she’d felt relief at not having to deal with Ruby’s unwelcomed feelings.

Then she heard footsteps and her body stiffened immediately. Her hand moved instinctively to the weapon at her side.

The footsteps came closer.

Ru Yi turned, her heart was already racing. Then she saw a figure emerging from the darkness. "Qingyue?"

The tension left her body so quickly that she nearly laughed. She released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

Relief softened her entire expression.

For some reason, seeing Qingyue standing there made the night less frightening. Qingyue stopped a few steps away.

They stared at each other in complete silence. Before Ru Yi closed the space between them with hurried steps and pulled Qingyue into a warm embrace.

Wrapped in the soothing scent of each other, neither of them realized that somewhere beyond the edge of the camp—Kael was watching them.