Chapter 13 · The Commander She Forgot

Snow struck Xia Lan’s face like thrown sand.

She came awake on her knees, one hand buried in frozen earth, the other clamped around a knife she did not remember drawing. Her lungs dragged in air so cold it cut. Silver hair spilled across her vision. Beneath it, the world glittered blue-white between black trunks and jagged curtains of falling snow.

Three knocks sounded behind her.

Not loud. Not hurried.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Xia Lan turned.

A door stood in the forest where no door had any right to be. It was taller than a man and blacker than the gaps between the trees, its surface carved with the ash-mark she had seen burned into the ruins beneath Riftport. Two hooked wings enclosed a hollow circle. Frost crawled away from it instead of settling on it.

Another knock came from the other side.

Her fingers tightened around the knife.

“Don’t open it.”

The man’s voice came from her left.

Xia Lan spun so fast her boots slid. A tall figure stood among the pines, coat torn, dark hair wet with melted snow. Blood stained one side of his uniform from collar to hip.