The gate to Elder Cixi's estate blew open before anyone gave the order, wood and metal flying across the courtyard.
"Down!" Wei Liang pulled Feng Yao behind a stone wall as chunks of gate rained past them.
"That was not us," Su Wan said, crouching low, eyes wide. "Someone else just did that."
Garrow peered around the wall's edge. "Riders. Coming through the smoke. Not ours."
Bao Chen's face went pale. "I know that banner. That's not Cixi's guard. That's a rival faction. They got here first."
Wei Liang felt his chest tighten. "They want the vault too."
"Everyone wants the vault," Xu said inside his head, voice sharp and tired at once. "That is the problem now. Too many people know it is real."
The riders swept into the courtyard fast, cutting down two of Cixi's own guards before anyo
