Page 38 of Dynasty of the Wicked

That night, the Kadians camped in one of the small villages they destroyed, the entire population decimated, and Zhi Ruo and Feng Mian were thrown into a one-roomed shed that had escaped being burned to cinders. A few guards stood stationed outside, and their only light source was slivers of moonlight slipping through the cracks in the bamboo-poled walls.

Zhi Ruo sat across from Feng Mian, her trembling, half-frozen hands warming as she tried forming a ball of shadows. Her magic sputtered at her fingers, dying off easily.

“It’s not working,” she murmured, swallowing hard.

“You’re too distracted,” Feng Mian answered with a dark scowl; she was thankful she couldn’t see the extent of his exasperation in the dimly lit room, but the space between them tensed nonetheless. He raked a hand through his silvery-white hair and blew out deeply. “All right, justfocuson what you’re doing. Try to imagine the type of magic you want. It’s not that difficult, Princess. You’re not doing complicated magic like teleportation, or opening a rift, or … or something else. You just need to form a blast that can kill that bastard when you need it to.”

Zhi Ruo pursed her lips together and lowered her hands. “I know I’m not doing something grand, but this is my first time practicing with magic?—”

“Not yourfirsttime. This is probably your twentieth time at least.”

“Okay, fine. My twentieth time.” She narrowed her eyes. “I’m still a beginner. You can’t expect me to be at your level.”

“Oh, I’m not asking you to be onmylevel. At the pace you’re taking, that would take you decades,” he snapped.

She balled her fists together, the chains binding her wrists clanked together, a reminder of their limited time. “You don’t have to be so mean. I’m trying, Feng Mian.”

“You need to do better than justtry. You saw what was out there.” An edge entered his voice and he leaned closer to her, his eyes glowing bright silver. “You saw what they did to those children. Those women. Thoseinnocents. The longer we stay here, cooped up like pathetic prisoners, the more we will witness it, and the less likely we are to do something against them.”

The back of her eyes stung as she remembered the smell of the burning bodies, the ashes that had clouded the snow and turned it murky, the smoke that had curled over houses and villages built with decades of labor, work, and love.

“I’m not responsible for what those monsters did to our people.” Her voice was barely a whisper, and she could feel the thrum of her magic beneath her flesh, swirling like shadows. “I want to get out of here as much as you do, and I’mtrying, I really am.”

“Youareresponsible.” He jabbed a finger in her direction, and the chains wrapped around his arms clinked together loudly, the metal rustling with the movement. “You’re the princess of this empire. You’re royalty. That automatically makes it your responsibility to care, to do something about it. Don’t just dismiss your role in all of this.”

“I …” She couldn’t speak, not with the guilt weighing down on her shoulders. She had never thought that her role was anything more than being a pawn for Father. She was just a marriage tool. She didn’t hold any real power to make a difference. “You expect too much out of me,” she finally whispered, hating the bitterness that leaked into her words. The weakness of giving up. “I was never an important princess, Feng Mian. I’ve always been ignored. How could I have done something to help in this war effort? I’m not even supposed to know how to use magic.”

“You’re using it now,” he said pointedly. There was a harshness to his tone that hadn’t been there weeks ago. “Do you think I like pinning all my hopes on you? If I could do something, if I could force us to leave, I would have broken out with you a long, long time ago. But I have no choice but to push all of this on you, so unfortunately, Princess, you have to do better.”

“I’m trying?—”

“You’re not?—”

“Stop!” she whisper-shouted, glancing over her shoulder to the entrance of the shed, and then back to him. “I understand that I have to work hard, but you’re being too … too cruel!” Her voice wavered and she hated the wobble of her words. “I can do it?—”

He laughed, the sound harsh and mean in the dark room. “You don’t understand the extent of my magic. I can kill someone with a singletouch. I can wreck battlefields with my presence alone. I could do so much here.” His words came out in a hiss. “I am so powerful, so vengeful, so wicked … but here, I amuseless!”

Feng Mian slammed his fist on the floor and the chains bounced off the dirt floor loudly, and Zhi Ruo flinched back.

“We are running out of time,” he gritted out through clenched teeth, and she could feel his rage behind his barely suppressed voice. “How long will it take for the Kadians to realize that I am more valuable to them dead than as a prisoner? How long do you think before they realize that my father will never pay any price to release me?” He flexed and unflexed his fingers, his mouth hardening. “I do not have time, Princess, and you are not learning fast enough. You don’t even have the burden of my curse and yet you still flounder with magic. It is frustrating watching you fail.”

Her throat thickened with emotion. “You are being too cruel to me.”

“I am not being cruel; I am being stern when I say that you need to focus.”

“Why have you suddenly grown so … so mean when you speak to me?” Even to her own ears she sounded like a small child begging for change, and her heart tightened at the weakness she was showing. The vulnerability, the hurt that was so clear from her words alone. She had grown accustomed to having him so near, so protective of her, and seeing him put so much distance between cut her deeper than it should have. “I understand that you’re worried about your life, but don’t you see that this is hard for me too? I also don’t have the luxury of time. Wyer has already threatened to … to do unimaginable things to me if I try to escape again. I have to be perfect when we escape. I also am scared of failing, scared of not being quick enough. I’m terrified. I can’t sleep most days.” Tears threatened to spill from her stinging eyes. “This is hard for me too, Feng Mian, and I am trying my best. I would rather you be kind to me instead of further adding to my apprehension.”

If she thought her words would break down the barrier he had built between them, she was wrong, because he only turned away from her, his lips pursed together tightly.

Zhi Ruo felt her face crumple and tried to keep her tears at bay. “Say something, please.”

“Princess, we have no time,” he said, finally, quietly. “Get back to practicing.”

She sniffled and shifted her attention back to her hands; she could see his posture stiffen in her peripheral vision, but if it made him uncomfortable to know that he was the reason behind her tears, he didn’t show it. She blinked away the emotions burning the back of her eyes and tried to focus on making shadows curl over her hands, but try as she might, nothinghappened. Her muddled feelings masked everything, including her motivation.

“I understand you’re terrified for your life—” she started.

He barked a laugh. “You think I’m terrified for my life? Princess, I was born to die on the battlefield. I am a monster, true and bred, and my curse will end me soon, but I would rather die in battle, killing as many Kadian scum as possible, than die like a bound animal for slaughter.”

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