Page 20 of Dynasty of the Wicked

“Why ravage our lands anyway? We have been nothing but peaceful—” she began.

“Save the moral talk,” he said with a wave. “We are both adults here, are we not? Let’s not pretend like land and resources don’t trumpmorals. If we go with what’s right or wrong, isn’t it safe to assume that we Kadians deserve it more? You people don’t even know how to properly use your lands.”

“That doesn’t even make sense. You contradict yourself?—”

“We are more deserving of what your empire has,” he said. “But even if we weren’t, the winner of this war does not need to have a good reason for winning, Princess Ying Yue. Winners are winners.”

It sounded like he was dumbing things down for her, speaking in a patronizing way as if she couldn’t understand the complexities of conquering lands. She clenched her fists together. “I will not marry you?—”

“You have no choice.” Another flash of a cruel grin. “Once we defeat your empire, I will take you, Princess Ying Yue.”

She sprang to her feet and slapped him. His head snapped to the side. Zhi Ruo breathed out deeply, her hand stinging.

“I will never become yours.”

He turned his face slowly, his eyes wide with shock, before narrowing down to slits.

All of a sudden, he tackled her onto her back. The air was knocked out of her as she crashed onto the ground with little resistance. One second she had been glaring at him, and the next he was on top of her, his thighs pressing on both sides of her hips and his hand clamping her wrists above her head.

Pain radiated over the chafed skin of her wrists and her battered body. He leaned his weight on top of her as she struggled against him.

Panic surged within her, making it harder to breathe.

“Let me go!” she screamed, trying to kick and swing at him, but he was far stronger than her. He kept her firmly in place. Hishot breath blew over her face and her nose crinkled at the scent of rancid chicken and eggs.

Tears of fear burned the back of her eyes.

“You insolent fool,” he seethed, gripping her raw wrists so tightly that she cried in pain. “You don’t seem to know how to act like a woman. You are far too aggressive. No matter, I will more than gladly put you in your place, time and time again if you act out.” He inched his face closer to her; pure hatred and evil reflected off the sapphire blue in his eyes. “You are mine to do with as I please. The only reason I won’t fuck you right here is because we have class in Kadios. It’s consideredunbecomingto deflower your bride before the wedding night.” A cruel grin stretched over his face and he clamped her hips tighter with his thighs, pressing down on her body so she could feel him. “But if you overstep yourself again, I won’t act like a gentleman.”

Zhi Ruo wanted to spit on his face, to scream at him to leave her alone, or to fight back. But she couldn’t move. She was paralyzed, his words sending nausea rolling over her stomach in thick waves. She could see on his face that he meant every word. No … it actually seemed like hewantedher to resist him and struggle. She wouldn’t give him that satisfaction.

Wyer yanked down the collar of her torn dress, his gaze roving over her breasts, but there wasn’t anything lustful about his hardened gaze. His lips curled into a frown. “Where is your mark?”

She didn’t say anything, her tongue too heavy.

He grasped the back of her head, weaving his hands in her hair, and jerked her close to him, his hot breath steaming over her face. “I’ll strip you naked here if you don’t say anything. I never did check to see if you were marked, and I’m only now realizing that I should have checked before feeding you and keeping you here.”

“My shoulder.” The words came out without her volition, the fear making her malleable.

He pulled down the dress and when he saw the moon and serpent tattoo on her something akin to relief washed over his face, quickly replaced by a smirk. Only members of the royal family were marked, with magic, with the MuRong family sigil—a serpent eating the moon.

“Now, Princess, will you continue to fight me or will you cooperate here?”

She couldn’t speak.

He gripped her face between his rough hands, his expression fading into anger. “Don’t forget that you aremine.”

When she didn’t fight back, he eased himself off her, threw the cloak over her chest, and barked orders for his soldiers, who had been stationed just outside his tent. When he turned back to her, his smile fell. An ominous chill entered the tent.

“This is just the beginning, Princess Ying Yue.” He leaned his hip against the edge of his desk, his arms crossing over his chest. It took everything in Zhi Ruo not to burst into tears. “I hope you understand that you are mywar prize.”

7

For the next few days,Zhi Ruo was kept in a cramped cage atop a wagon as the Kadian army marched onward into Huo territory. She was jostled left and right, the cage shifting and hitting the sides of the wagon with every turn and bump on the road. The cage was smaller than her and she was forced into a balled position with her arms wrapped around her shins and her head ducked low. The Kadians occasionally let her out so she could stretch her legs and eat, and then back in the cage she went.

In the meantime, she didn’t hear anything about Feng Mian, nor the old prisoner; she would have been happy with the elderly prisoner being dead, but her heart ached at the thought of Feng Mian. Had they killed him? He was the son of General Zheng, so he was more valuable than other prisoners. Did that mean they had already bartered him off for their own prisoners of war that Huo had?

Her head was a whirlwind of anxiety and despair. She didn’t want him to be dead, and she didn’t want to be alone here either.

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