Joshi felt the tower rock as a surge of lux exploded outward. A pulse of immense will, dropped down on him like a blanket. Joshi fell to his knees. All around him, people collapsed. He cycled Way of Boulders and struggled back up to his feet.

  Screams rent the air. The tower itself was shaking. He could feel a hard hum of lux in the air, discordant notes as the different colors made their presence known.

  What had just happened? He looked around. Festival-goers lay on the ground. Gem nobles sprawled out with their brightly-hued robes spread open around them. Cultivators were on their hands and knees, or, like Joshi, struggling to their feet. It looked like trained cultivators were having an easier recovery.

  There was a piercing howl. Joshi's blood chilled. He stood in the plaza of the governor's palace, where he'd been conversing with Hiroko a few minutes before. On the far side of the plaza, flanked by an immense gate, was the entrance to the top floor of the tower. According to the original plan, the three remaining bride candidates would have entered with their retinue in a few hours.

  Now, the opening was covered with a slick sheen of colors, like thick oil poured on top of a still pool. It rippled, the colors glimmering sickly. Then something pushed against it from the other side, pushing the entrance outward.

  Joshi set himself, and a monster bounded out. It was like a 10-foot-tall lion with a pair of pincher claws extending from its shoulders out in front of it, clacking. Its head was like a vulture's. It sprang forward, clawed feet crushing a man who had just started to get to his knees. The bird head bent and plucked the man’s head from his shoulders. Joshi knew what he was seeing. This was a tower eruption. Something had triggered it, and now every lux beast in the tower was making a break for the outside world.

  Without thinking, he stepped forward, Magen circling him. The air was dense with lux spilling from the tower entrance. Another pair of cultivators hurried forward, their robes flowing behind them. One carried a long staff which he infused with orange lux as he went. The other wielded a wicked curving blade. She had swathed herself in red lux armor. Joshi joined them as they hurried forward.

  The monster bent its rear legs and sprang again. Everywhere, people were running and screaming. Joshi ignored them, focusing all his attention on the beast. He rushed forward, infusing his arms with red lux, wrapping his hands in gauntlets. An orange spike protruded from his fist. He had been practicing braids with Chang-li, looking for a ranged attack to suit him, but now, in the face of danger, he fell back on his old habits.

  Magen flew ahead of him. Joshi instructed the lux beast to get a circle around behind the creature and look for a vulnerable spot. The other two cultivators reached the beast first. The male swung his staff wide in a wide circle, swirling until the air hummed with its sound. The woman moved in unison with her sword at his side. They were clearly a practiced pair.

  The vulture head reared back, its beak opening, and spat a green glob at both cultivators, splattering their robes and faces with ichor. The woman screamed and dropped her sword. The man grunted, his pattern breaking. Whatever that stuff was, it must hurt.

  Joshi had no more time to waste analyzing the beast. Magen had spotted something for him. The back of the creature's neck, where the pincher claws joined the lion body and vulture head, was covered in a rippling patch of lux. The line continued around its chest. Joshi suspected this beast was held together with lux. That was a weakness he could exploit. He summoned his reserves, bent, and leapt, Meteor Punch carrying him high into the air.

  He came down atop the beast and aimed a Thousand Fists technique at the patch of green scales. The blow landed, striking from four different directions at once. Joshi felt his strike go deep inside the beast. It screamed like a woman in pain, rearing back.

  More cultivators were surrounding it now on the ground. Joshi clung to its back, holding himself in place with orange lux claws in his left hand as he punched hard with his right. The beast shuddered. His opening gave the other cultivators a chance. They swarmed it, striking with a dozen different techniques, and a moment later, it collapsed to the ground.

  Joshi slid off, catching himself as he landed. The others began congratulating themselves. Joshi didn't have time for that. The entrance was distorting once again. More were coming.

  A man wearing Azure Flame robes, one of their grandmasters, was shouting. "We need to organize!" he called. "We need to surround the nobles and protect them! Fall back to the governor's palace! It will be fortified against a tower breach!"

  The other cultivators sprang to answer him, even those not of his sect. Joshi's attention was caught by the man and woman who’d attacked the beast alongside him. They lay half-crushed beneath the beast. That wasn't what had killed them. Their faces had been eaten away with acid. Their clothing was dissolving. In the untouched portion of the man's robe, something protruded—a book edged in red leather, his cultivating license.

  All around Joshi, chaos surged. This eruption wasn't going to be quick to resolve, but there were plenty of cultivators here. Once they got their heads on straight, they'd have no trouble clearing it. This was just the opportunity Joshi had been waiting for. He could disappear right now. Everyone would assume he'd been killed in the chaos. He could go find another sect or return to his home and join forces with what remained of his clan.

  The fallen man's license called to him. He could take it, hire a corrupt scribe to forge a page or two for him, and start over with a brand-new life. It was an easy solution, one that would benefit everyone.

  But even as he took a step toward the dead man, he paused. Was he really going to leave Chang-li without a word, let his friend think he was dead? Hiroko's biting words came back: "You're not afraid of bonds, you're afraid of connections." Chang-li—where was Chang-li? It didn't matter where he was now; he'd be heading straight for the thick of trouble as soon as he realized what was going on. That meant here. Was Joshi really going to turn his back on his ally and leave now, at this moment?

  He would not.

  Joshi leaned forward and swiped the license from the dead man, storing it in his own robes. It was always good to have a backup plan. Then he turned to survey the situation. The Azure Flame Grandmaster had things under control, with the Dowager Duchess at his side, directing nobles and cultivators alike. The Dowager Duchess had Hiroko with her. She looked terrified but determined as she focused a healing lux technique onto a wounded man. She couldn't have much lux in reserve to manage that. Joshi hoped she wouldn't strain herself.

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  The Dowager was shouting, "Find the brides! Get the brides into the tower! We need to summon the Emperor!"

  Joshi didn't care about that, but it was likely Chang-li would. He scanned the crowd for any sign of his friend. Determining at last that Chang-li wasn't there, he started off toward the gates of the compound.

  He was only halfway across the courtyard when he saw a man pushing through the throng of terrified people, the crowd parting around him like water. It was Noren. The supposed grandmaster looked grim, with a streak of dust and ash on his face and locks of hair falling from its customary top knot. His arms were bare up to the elbow, and his skin gleamed as though he'd been cycling hard.

  "There you are," he told Joshi. "Have you made up your mind whether you're going to stay or flee?"

  Joshi's hackles went up. That this man had seen his inner turmoil so clearly and was throwing it in his face now was insulting. "I'm looking for Chang-li," he said.

  "Good," Noren said. "Because we're going to need the two of you and Li Jiya for this. Any sign of the girl?"

  Joshi shook his head. "No."

  "This is a fine mess we've gotten into," Noren grumped. "Did you feel how much lux was in that first surge?"

  Joshi nodded. "It hit me like a charging stallion."

  "That much lux only means a handful of things. Someone could have killed a tower guardian. Any of the Prisms is capable of it, but I'm not sure why they would. Or a Prism may have died. Unlikely, but it would fit. Either way, this is bad. It's started a sequence of events that will result in this tower's utter destruction within hours."

  Joshi's blood ran cold. "Meaning what?"

  "Meaning pretty much everyone in this city will die, and the surrounding lands will be a wasteland for generations," Noren said. "Unless, and I hate to admit it, the Emperor comes in time to stop it. He is the only one in this part of the world to affect the fabric of the tower itself. But if he's not watching, he may not notice in time. These things are like a cascade. They start small and become rapidly too fast to deal with. Fortunately, there's already a weave that has been put in place to summon the Emperor. Get a bride to the tower guardian, convince it to grant her passage as the winner of the challenge, and she'll be able to call him from there. So, I need you and Chang-li and Li Jiya to get on it."

  "What about you?" Joshi asked, all his interest in fleeing gone. He might want a chance to make his own future, but not at the cost of an entire city.

  "I'll be doing what I can to help contain the eruption until you get to the Emperor." He pointed to Hiroko who was still standing with the dowager. "She can probably help you if you ask her, but I've wasted enough time here. I will be off to find Chang-li and set him this way."

  With that, Noren turned on his heel and started off. Joshi considered going after him. He'd rather find Chang-li than the haughty Li Jiya, but if Noren was right, they didn't have time to waste. He didn't see how Hiroko could help, but if Noren had suggested it, there must be a reason. Joshi swallowed his own pride and pushed across the courtyard to where Hiroko stood beside the Dowager.

  Her presence seemed to have a calming effect. The area around was quiet except for the Dowager's voice booming out over the crowd as she issued orders. "Not now," the Dowager snapped as Joshi approached. "We need you to—"

  "I need to find Li Jiya and get inside the tower," Joshi said. "If we can summon the Emperor—"

  The Dowager's eyes went wide. "Yes, of course. Of course. We need her and the other brides, and as many cultivators as can be spared to help them."

  Joshi ignored the Dowager, turning instead to Hiroko. "Master Noren said you could help me find Li Jiya," he said.

  Hiroko looked at Joshi, her eyes unfocused, and she gasped. "Something's different,” she said quietly.

  Joshi took her arm and led her away from the Dowager, into the base under a wide colonnade outside one of the palace buildings.

  "You've changed," Hiroko marveled. "Just in the past few minutes. Your ties are stronger now."

  "How can you know that?" Joshi demanded.

  Hiroko shook her head. "It's a technique I have. I don't usually have enough lux to practice it, but thanks to what the Prisms did — Anyway, it's been helping tonight. I can see your connection to Chang-li. Strong."

  "Like a chain?" Joshi supplied as she faltered.

  She gave him a smile. "Like a chain. Li Jiya isn't very tightly connected to either of you. I don't know... Oh, I see her." Her eyes widened. "Your sect. Yes, I can follow that." She closed her eyes, then pointed. "Li Jiya's not far off in that direction. No, she's moving." Her brow wrinkled. "Oh, this is hard to do.”

  "Then come with me," Joshi said, and took her wrist, leading her in the direction she'd first pointed. Hiroko went with Joshi, guiding him across the courtyard and into one of the wings of the governor's palace.

  This one had been opened for the celebration, offering well-lit parlors and quiet rooms. All along the hallway, people were stumbling out of private rooms, half-dressed. Hiroko squeaked and tried to avert her eyes as Joshi led her on. They were halfway along the corridor when one door burst open and Li Jiya appeared, adjusting her robe. Another woman came after her. It was the Azure Flame candidate, Xue Lan. The two women were red as beets, their hair disheveled. Joshi stared at them for a moment, then decided some things did not matter right now. Instead, he stepped forward.

  "Li Jiya, we must enter the tower and summon the Emperor to put an end to this disaster."

  Li Jiya's eyes went wide. "Of course, of course." She turned to Xue Lan. "Sounds like the competition's back on. Don't think I'm going to take it easy on you."

  The Azure Flame candidate raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Nor I, you. May the best woman win." They exchanged a quick handshake. Then Xue Lan was off down the hall. Li Jiya turned to Joshi.

  "We need the rest of the sect."

  "Noren has gone for Chang-li. I think that's the best we can expect," Joshi said.

  "Good, then there's no time to waste." Li Jiya strode forward.

  Hiroko was staring after her. Joshi couldn't help smirking at Li Jiya's overly straight back. Now her desire to spend ten years locked up in a harem full of women made a bit more sense. Hiroko glanced up at him, then at Li Jiya and back at him. She was as pink as Li Jiya had been. "The Emperor's brides are supposed to be pure," she whispered.

  "I doubt very much that Li Jiya is the only one of the Emperor's prospective brides who is more interested in her fellow brides than the Emperor," Joshi said, arching an eyebrow.

  "You don't understand. I grew up in that palace. I never knew, I never—" Hiroko broke off. "Never mind. It's not my concern, and we've got bigger things to worry about."

  "Yes, we do," Joshi agreed. He and Hiroko retraced their steps back out to the courtyard. Joshi paused. "I need to go with Li Jiya. You stay safe," he told her.

  Hiroko looked up at him, their eyes meeting for a moment. The noise seemed to fade away as she put a hand on his upper arm.

  "Joshi, I'm sorry for what I said before. I — I can't have our engagement broken. That would dishonor both of us, but I —“ For some reason, tears were welling up in her eyes. Hiroko leaned forward, raising up on her toes, and before he knew it, her lips met his.

  He was surprised, but his arms went around her instinctively. He leaned into the kiss.

  Hiroko broke away and met his eyes.

  "I knew it wasn't me you disliked," she said triumphantly. "I understand why you don't want to be bound, and I'll make sure that doesn't happen. I just wanted to know."

  "Of course I don't dislike you," he said brusquely. "The only reason I've even tolerated this betrothal at all is because of how much I respect you."

  Hiroko's bright eyes dimmed a bit. "Good luck," she said. "I'm going to help the Dowager now."