Inhaltsangabe
The sequel to the internationally bestselling Of Jade and Dragons, a thrilling and epic silkpunk fantasy inspired by the legendary Qing dynasty. Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Lim and Xiran Jay Zhao. Now in paperback!
Two years after Ying leaves the Engineer’s Guild and the ghost of her father’s unjust death behind, life seems to regain a semblance of normalcy. But the winds of unrest continue to stir within the nine isles, and the aftermath of a horrific pirate attack by the mysterious Blood Phoenix fleet forces Ying back into the tense political world of the new High Commander, Ye-yang. And soon, Ying, Ye-yang, and her former friends from the guild must work together to find a way to outsmart the cunning pirates who terrorise the straits—and the elusive mastermind who’s controlling them.
Meanwhile, Ying’s sister, Nian, now lives in the capital, awaiting the day she will finally marry the High Commander. While her relationship with Ye-yang remains distant, she finds company in her friendship with the fourteenth prince, Ye-kan, and discovers her unexpected affinity for governance and strategy. But the capital is more dangerous than she expects, and when a dark conspiracy arises, Nian and Ye-kan must unravel the mystery in time to prevent the High Command from collapsing from within.
New dangers arise at every moment, threatening to tear the nine isles apart. In order to sail through this storm, Ying and her loved ones must make difficult choices amidst terrible betrayals. With the world on the brink of destruction, will they find a way to defeat their enemies and survive? And will it be worth the cost?
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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor
Amber Chen is a Singaporean Chinese author of SFF and contemporary fiction. She spends much of her free time living within Chinese fantasy novels and dramas, and also drinks one too many cups of bubble tea. One of her webnovels, The Cutting Edge, has been adapted for television. She is also the author of Of Jade and Dragons and the upcoming An Auction of Souls. You can find her online at AmberCWrites.com and on TikTok, Instagram, and X @AmberWrites88.
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Chapter 1
Wouldn’t it be nice to spend forever accompanied by the silence of the seas?
The thought floated through Aihui Ying’s mind as she lounged inside her tiny vessel, a bubble-like capsule big enough for one, staring through the yun-mu glass window at the schools of fish swimming by.
Down here, there was no ruckus from playful children or irate market vendors, no whirring of airship propellers or horns from docking ships, not even the cry of a condor or the rushing of waves against the shore. Just peace. Silence.
She found herself yearning for such pockets of quiet these days, which was why she sped up work on her latest creation, affectionately nicknamed the Octopus. It was a submersible craft propelled by the mechanical undulations of bronze tentacles, fitted with a kaen-gas bag that functioned like a fish’s swim bladder. From afar, it looked exactly like its namesake—a giant, golden octopus.
Ever since she helped old Eidu fix a retractable fishing net onto his rickety boat so he would no longer have to cast nets by hand, she had received daily visitors at her front door clamoring for assistance with trivial tasks, believing that engineering would be the solution to all their woes. For the most part Ying was happy to help, but the constant fuss that invaded her life also meant that she barely had space to think. Or to indulge in haw candy.
She took a large bite out of the candied fruit on its bamboo skewer, letting the sweet and sour flavors explode in her mouth.
“Mmm.”
Best haw candy across the nine isles.
Unfortunately, such tranquility was destined to be short-lived.
Moments later, the very important guests that she had been waiting for showed up in a burst of whitish sea-foam, kicking up a cloud of bubbles with their graceful tails. A pod of bearded seals out on the hunt—not expecting that today, they would be the hunted.
Through the glass she saw someone waving at her from another Octopus, trying to catch her attention. He pointed down at the vessel’s control board, signaling that it was time for them to conduct their test.
“I’ve barely made it halfway through my candy,” Ying grumbled. Reluctantly, she tossed her skewer aside, focusing on the myriad buttons and levers in front of her. Maneuvering a wooden control shaft, Ying carefully repositioned her vessel so it was facing the approaching herd, then she pulled down the periscope and peered through the glass. Her index finger readied upon a button the size of a weiqi piece.
One, two—
“Damn.”
A harpoon fired from the concealed hatch on the neighboring Octopus, its glinting silver tip completely missing its mark. The frightened seal herd scattered.
Glaring out through the yun-mu window, she pointed one accusatory finger at her incompetent companion, then reached for the lever that controlled the vessel’s gas bladder, shoving it down to inflate the sack. The Octopus slowly rose, eventually bursting through the water’s surface. She steered the golden orb toward the shore, popping open the exit hatch and hopping out once she hit land. Clutching a coarse rope, she dragged her Octopus over to a makeshift wooden shelter a little farther up the shore, where a neat row of three other orbs sat in wait.
“Ying, I’m sorry!”
A tall young man with a healthy bronze tan and nimble limbs clambered out of his own vessel. Dragging his Octopus along the sand, he jogged to catch up with her, the long braid on his half-shaven head bobbing as he went.
“It was an accident. I know I should have waited for your cue, but my finger slipped! I really didn’t mean to mess things up,” he apologized.
“I already said that you didn’t have to come with me.”
“It’s safer that way. The seas are unpredictable.” The boy wrangled the rope out of her hands, taking over the chore of parking both their vessels. “I promise I won’t make the same mistake the next time.”
“What makes you think there’ll be a next time?” Ying muttered, rolling her eyes.
Jangmu Feng-kai was considerate to the point of being utterly exasperating, so she couldn’t be angry with him even if she wanted to. She had tried to provoke him into losing his temper several times to no avail. Compared to the boys back on her home isle of Huarin, or those she had known in the Engineers Guild, Feng-kai was genuinely the most accommodating, thoughtful, and mild-mannered person she had ever met. She should consider herself lucky to be matched with such a fine specimen of a boy—at least that was what everyone deigned to remind her of on a daily basis.
Two years ago, after the debacle of her running off to Fei and enrolling in the prestigious Engineers Guild, her older brother, Wen, had been furious. He hadn’t spoken to her for a full three months after she returned to Huarin, and he locked her in her ger to reflect on her mistakes. Then the Jangmu clan of Larut came knocking with an unexpected request—for Ying’s hand in marriage.
If she had continued to stay on Huarin, she knew that Wen would force her to marry eventually, and she was certainly not entering into any political marriage like her brother wanted. If she had to leave, then she would leave on her own terms. So here she was on the isle of Larut, engaged to Feng-kai, her childhood acquaintance and the son of one of her father’s closest friends.
Perhaps it was A-ma watching over her from above, helping her to spread her wings and fly once more. Or to run away. The memory of her father’s loss still brought an ache to her heart. Time had slowly mended those wounds, but the scars would always remain.
Ying sat herself down on the soft sand and turned her gaze toward the open sea, glistening a brilliant azure blue under the sun’s illumination. She had once stood beside another boy upon the city walls of Fei and admired these same seas, and he had promised her the world. Funny how she could still remember that moment as if it were yesterday.
Ye-yang used to write to her every now and then, but she had burned every letter without reading them. It hurt to see his familiar brushstrokes on each envelope, reminding her of his betrayal. The letters stopped after the announcement of her engagement to Feng-kai nine months back, as she thought they might.
Was he angry? she sometimes wondered.
In the initial days, she had feared that he would show up on Huarin and take her back to Fei, but her worries were unfounded. Even up till the day she set sail for Larut, Ye-yang didn’t appear. Why would he? He was the High Commander of the Antaran isles now, and there were far more pressing issues that needed his attention.
“A-ma’s getting impatient. He’s been asking after the progress of the Octopus,” Feng--kai said, walking over to join her. His sunny expression turned somber. “More and more fishermen are refusing to go out to sea because of the pirates.
”The recent surge in pirate attacks on fishing vessels was causing great anxiety to Feng-kai’s father—the clan chief. Piracy had always been a problem in the Dunzhu Straits, the strip of sea that lay between the nine isles and the Qirin empire, but the situation had worsened ever since the former High Commander, Aogiya Lianzhe, passed away two years back. The Jangmu clan relied largely on the trade of seafood to survive, so the livelihood of the people on Larut would become a serious problem if things continued to spiral in this trajectory.
“I’ve already told him many times that the Octopus isn’t going to solve his problems,” Ying replied, wrinkling her nose in disdain. “It can’t even catch a seal, much less...
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