Page 45 of Dynasty of the Wicked

“No, no.” He shook his head. “I will only be useful on the battlefield. I am content there.” He pushed back a strand of her hair that had gone astray with the frigid wind. A trail of heat brushed over her skin by his touch. “I am a monster, Princess. I would not make a good husband for you. Nor a good lover, nor a good … anything.”

“But—” Her throat thickened with emotion and she found it difficult to speak. She had known it wouldn’t be easy—that escaping would just be the beginning—but she didn’t want to rush back to reality. Back to Father’s vicious court where they both were nothing. Where she was only good for marriage, and he was only good for killing. “Feng Mian, I … I want you.”

“And I want you,” he murmured, brushing away a stray tear with his thumb. “But you are a princess. You are meant for more than just me.”

“Why are you talking like that? Didn’t you tell me that I should love myself? That all of Father’s court was wrong to treat me unfairly? So why are you now speaking like this too?” Her hands curled into fists and she slammed them against his chest lightly. “Listen to me, Feng Mian. I don’t know how it will work, but we will make it work. My father’s court cannot keep us apart,and you cannot keep us apart either, with your depressing talks of being a monster. You are more than that.”

Feng Mian appeared like he wanted to say more—to argue with her—but something passed over his face quickly, and he jerked his face to the left, eyebrows pulling together. He tensed, and she did too, following his attention to the barren bushes and trees surrounding them, darkness bleeding between them.

“We cannot talk for too long. We must hurry out of here,” he said, grabbing her hand, and a burst of warmth spread over her once more, spreading down to her toes. “Wyer and his forces are still after us. We are on foot, while they are on horses. It will not take them long to find us. The only reason they haven’t so far is because of my magic.”

Zhi Ruo and Feng Mian quickly hurried through the forest, and she got the sense that he was all too eager to escape from their conversation. She could feel his magic pulsing into her through their joined hands, warming her body and flesh. She was sure that the only reason they hadn’t frozen to death was because of him.

Their breath steamed from their mouths, appearing hazy in the night sky. Zhi Ruo tried keeping up with his long strides, her body weak and quaking. She wasn’t sure how he was able to keep up his pace, especially since they had been starved and emaciated due to the Kadians.

“Did you carry me the whole time?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“How long was I gone?”

He hesitated. “A few days. I lost count.”

“Did you … heal me?”

“I did.”

They continued for a while after that, their feet kicking up snow and packed earth. Feng Mian waved a hand behind them every now and then, causing a rush of shadows to hide theirtracks. Sweat dampened his forehead and his breathing became more labored with time. He yanked out a drawstring bag from his pocket and handed it to her.

“What’s this?” She took it from him, pulling the string gently to find small cubes of yellow. She picked up one of them and inspected it.

“It’s food.” He frowned even as he said it.

“Food?” She sniffed it, and crinkled her nose at the sharp scent. “What type of food? Something fermented?”

“I don’t know. I heard the Kadians call itcheese.”

She took a bite of the cube and almost wanted to spit it out; it was such a strange flavor. Piquant, tangy, and sour—she didn’t know how the Kadians stomached it, but she wasn’t a fan. She had never seen anything like it in their cuisine.

“What is it made of?” She turned the cheese in her hand, her steps slowing as fatigue crept into her muscles. They must have walked for an hour at this point.

“I don’t know.”

“Strange.”

“Indeed. I was able to steal it from a few Kadians.” He took out a small hunk of bread from his pocket and handed it to her, which she gratefully took and munched on. “There were two Kadians who ended up tracking us. I think they knew some sort of tracking magic, because I don’t know how else they found us. I killed them about two days ago.”

“Oh.” A few months ago, that news might have turned her stomach, made her want to retch and forget that she was eating a dead man’s meal, but she had seen too much at this point to care for their deaths.

“Do you even know where we’re headed?” she asked.

He sighed this time, long and hard. “I don’t know for sure, Princess. But far away from here, at least. I can sense them a fewmiles behind us. Wyer is likely keeping his distance because of my magic. At this point, I’m just trying to get away from him.”

They didn’t talk again for a while, both of them turning their focus to treading through the thick snow and wayward winds. Zhi Ruo found herself wanting to ask him more about their earlier conversation, but exhaustion weighed heavily on her shoulders and it took all her energy to put one foot in front of the other.

Zhi Ruo tripped over an ice-crusted root covered with fluffy snow and landed in a pile of slushy ice. She gasped, her elbows deep into the flurries of snow and frost. The coldness drenched through her sleeves and the front of her dress. She pushed herself onto her hands and knees, the blustering wind making her frozen, wind-chapped face feel even more rigid.

“Here,” Feng Mian said as he stretched his hand out for her. “Are you hurt?”

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