Welcome back to our book club read-along for OwlCrate's October book, Jade Fire Gold!
Just a reminder that this will be a SPOILER discussion for Chapters 13-17 of Jade Fire Gold, so make sure you read are finished this section before continuing.
Discussion questions are listed below, and anyone who participates in the comments will be entered to win a free OwlCrate box!
The story continues...
Chapter 13:
Altan wakes no longer in the cavern, visited by the Phoenix. The Phoenix asks if this is truly what he wants, saying that the cost must be paid in blood. When Altan agrees the Soul Beast cries a single tear. Altan jerks awake underwater and drags himself out of the spring.
Back at the inn Tang Wei is surprised, and pleased, to see him alive. He describes what happened to him and she says their next step is to meet with their southern contact about a proposed alliance in Beishou, under the guise of Gao Log’s funeral.
Chapter 14:
Ahn is practicing her magic with Leiye but isn’t having any luck summoning her life stealing affinity. Linxi interrupts their lesson telling them that the empress has requested to see Ahn. The empress asks Ahn about herself and requests that she attend the banquet after the funeral to keep her son Tai Shun company, who is grieving after the passing of his father. She also gives Ahn a tincture she says can help clear memory pathways, suggesting it may help her remember her mother.
Ahn jerks awake from a dream of her family at a puppet show. She wants to ask her father more questions about her childhood, and as he often works into the night, decide to go to his study. As she approaches the light in the study goes out and she sees Leiye leave with something in his hands. Inside Ahn discovers he had taken the manuscript with the map of the Emerald Sea. While pondering what to do she leans against a wall which gives way to a dark narrow room that Ahn assumes is lost knowledge. She puts everything back in its place and decides not to tell her father about the manuscript for now. She wants to figure out what Leiye is up to.
Chapter 15:
After the funeral procession Altan and Tang Wei head to the temple. En route Tang Wei tells him of her meeting with Linxi the night before and that the Life Stealer is in the palace. She also tells him the girl is from the small desert town they visited and that she has a grandmother there. Altan forms a plan in his mind.
Altan meets with Ambassador Tian and Shīfù, asking if the nation of Nandah will join them when the time comes. Reluctantly, the ambassador says his king has agreed to send troops to help with the usurpation. Afterwards, Altan walks around the lake by himself, contemplating his cousin who is now the crown prince Altan once was.
Chapter 16:
After Linxi helps Ahn get ready for the banquet she hears beautiful music on the way to the hall. Getting closer she finds it is the crown prince, Tai Shun. He seems to still be grieving, but is kind. And going against her better judgement Ahn agrees to arrive at the banquet with him.
Ahn and Tai Shun make it through the banquet, Tai Shun while slightly inebriated, and eventually they are able to flee the hall into a garden. Tai Shun tells her he misses his cousin, and about how he came to be the crown prince and his insecurities about being emperor and pleasing his mother. Also about having feelings for Leiye. It seems to please him that Ahn treats him like a normal human, so Tai Shun suggests they leave the palace, just the two of them, to attend a shadow puppet show in the city center. Ahn agrees.
Chapter 17:
In the Lotus Sect safe house Linxi comes to visit Altan and Tang Wei. When Altan suggests they either kidnap or kill Ahn’s grandmother, he is met with shocked reactions. Linxi insists Ahn is a good person. Shīfù reminds him that neither he nor Ahn is his great-grandfather, but if Ahn does make the incorrect choice it is only he that can stop her.
Linxi and Tang Wei drag Altan to the shadow puppet show, insisting he needs some entertainment. There he runs into the girl from the market in the desert, to his surprise. They talk and banter only for the girl to panic because her friend has passed out from drinking too much. Altan helps her get him out of the crowd and away from people, only to discover that his ”friend” is Tai Shun, his cousin. Linxi finds them and agrees to help get the prince back to the palace secretly, calling the girl Lady Ahn. So this girl is the one he is meant to kill.
Questions:
- Why do you think the empress is showing such interest in Ahn?
- What do you think the significance of the secret room in Ahn’s father’s office is?
- What do you think the Phoenix meant when it said the price must be paid in Altan's blood?
- How do you think Ahn will be able to access her Life Stealing abilities?
- What do you think Altan is going to do now that he knows who the Life Stealer is?
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