Page 31 of Dynasty of the Wicked

Zhi Ruo shivered and gripped her elbows close to her body, hating the trembles that ran over her. Feng Main remained tense and didn’t lunge forward, even when the door to the cage swung open and one of the men entered. He didn’t even protest when the man yanked him up to his feet by the collar of his tunic, and began wrapping the chains over his wrists.

The other two soldiers filled the cage too, one of them going for the old man and the other walking toward Zhi Ruo. The soldier snapped his fingers forward and it took her a second too long to realize he wanted her hands; his hand shot toward her and he yanked her forearm forward, hard.

She cried out as he wrapped the heavy, cold chains on her wrists.

“Don’t touch her,” Feng Mian snapped in Kadian. His usually smooth and velvety voice sounded rough and guttural.

“Or what are you going to do about it?” the man taunted, pulling her chain forward so she slammed into the man’s heavy armor.

“Feng Mian, don’t,” Zhi Ruo said, trying to right herself on unsteady, trembling legs. She could see the tick in Feng Mian’s jaw, his shoulders tense and his body still as if he was ready to spring forward and attack. “I’m fine.”

He opened his mouth and then snapped it shut.

He couldn’t fight everyone. Not when they had a plan to escape, a plan that hinged on their cooperation, on their ability to seem placate.

“Save that energy for what’s to come,” one of the soldiers said with a snort, shoving Feng Mian forward and out of the cage. One by one, each of them filed out, dragging the three prisoners by the chains.

Harsh lighting blinded her as they left the tent and it took a few seconds for her eyesight to adjust to the war camp. Zhi Ruo’s stomach twisted as the man holding her chain led them through the parting crowds of jeering Kadian soldiers. The breeze shifted her thin, mangled, dirtied dress over her legs. The whole camp seemed to have formed a group here for whateverentertainmentWyer had planned for them.

They finally stopped when they reached Wyer, who sat on an elevated chair that seemed completely out of place in the camp. Beside him stood a golden-haired man with cold, soulless eyes, who stared listlessly at the three of them.

The men silenced when Wyer raised his gloved hand. The wind howled over them, sending flurries of snow to frost their clothes. “Now, now, let’s be quiet and get on to the entertainment!” He gestured toward Zhi Ruo, his cloak—identical to the one she wore—rippling behind him as he spoke. “Everyone, please welcome Princess Ying Yue! My soon to be bride, and the woman who will rule this kingdom under me.”

Zhi Ruo braced herself as the men chuckled all around her. Her head felt light, but whether it was from starvation, dehydration, or pure fear, she wasn’t sure. The glaring sunwasn’t making her feel any better, and she swallowed down the panic and bile rising up her throat.

Everyone seemed to realize how much of a joke she was.

“We can’t exactly hurt the princess, now, can we?” Wyer drummed his fingers over the worn armrest of the wooden chair, and glanced at the warrior beside him. “Frethirik, what do you think? What is your opinion?”

Frethirik’s cold blue eyes flicked in her direction. “I do not know,” he murmured, his voice surprisingly soft. “But I think it would be tasteless to hurt your bride in front of everyone.”

The general pointed to a soldier from the crowd. “What about you? What do you think? Should we hurt the princess, or no?”

Zhi Ruo balled her bound, clammy hands together while the soldier seemed to think for a moment. She eyed the dense horde of sweaty bodies surrounding her. There wasn’t any escape route, and there were too many people here. Judging by the fields of grass and the few speckles of trees, they were still in the Huo empire. Kadios was known to be mountainous around the border.

“I think we should do whatever we want,” the soldier finally announced, earning him a cheer. “Who’re these Huo bastards to tell us what to do? If we want to make a show of the princess, we can and should!”

Zhi Ruo’s hands shook. Was this what they’d meant about entertainment? Were they going to torture her? Humiliate her?

Suddenly, all the foreign soldiers looked taller than they actually were, their colored eyes pinned on her, oppressing her with their gazes alone. She inhaled sharply, her body jittering like a buzzing fly.

Maybe it would be better for her magic to flare right now. For it to consume everyone around her. Maybe?—

But she didn’t know how to use it. She remembered Feng Mian’s words about not losing control of it, and not showing her magic to them. At least not until they tried to escape.

Her attention slipped over to Feng Mian, who stood a few paces ahead of her. His entire body was stiff, almost ready to jump into action.

“We should see what’s under that dress of hers!” one of the soldiers hooted. “Who knows if there’s even a woman there, huh?”

“Did you even check to see if she has the royal mark?” another said with a laugh. “Maybe she’s not arealprincess!”

Zhi Ruo’s royal mark seemed to prickle at that, and she turned to Wyer to see if he would say anything, but the man only grinned at the crowds of people. He seemed toenjoythis. Having all these people here, peering up at him like he was a royal on a throne. It made her sick to her stomach.

“Don’t—” she said, surprising herself—and everyone else. It took her a second to realize she was speaking in their language, but it rolled off her tongue naturally. “Are Kadians nothing but thieves and low lives? This land is not yours to take! We will never yield to you barbarians.”

The soldier closest to her—a brown-haired man in his forties—reached forward and slapped her. Iron filled her mouth and she stumbled sideways. The man holding her chain yanked her and she fell to the ground.

She blinked in shock. It only lasted a few seconds before she clambered to her feet, the cackling from the soldiers growing louder by the second. The man holding Feng Mian’s chain dug his heels into the earth as Feng Mian struggled toward the man who had slapped her.

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