Page 61 of Dynasty of the Wicked

She had dreaded this conversation, because a part of her already knew what he was hiding from her. She didn’t want to face it; she wished she could remain ignorant and simply feel safe here. But she needed to hear it from him.

“I agree.” She dropped her hands onto her lap. Her arm tingled, her numb fingers resting in one hand. “You tell me that I am unsafe here, that I am unwelcome, that I must hide my name. Normally, these conditions wouldn’t make sense.”

His shoulders stiffened. Mouth screwed tight together.

Everyone in the empire would be more than happy to help a royal in hopes that the emperor would reward them and remember them. Almost everyone.

“You are aligned with Li Chanming,” she murmured, staring at her husband, her love.

He winced, but didn’t deny it.

Her mouth felt dry, the bitter taste from the medicine still coating her heavy tongue. “The man who pledged to usurp my father, and the man who wishes to kill the royal family. The False Emperor.”

20

Zhi Ruo waitedfor him to deny it, to tell her that she was being absurd, but he didn’t say anything. Just kept his head down, his white hair curtaining the side of his face. She wanted to reach forward and push back the blood-stained strands, to cup his face and ask him if he was really a part of this. But she squashed that urge, her hands trembling.

“So you really are loyal to him?” Her head spun and she suddenly needed to puke again. “But Feng Mian, he’s treasonous. My father will kill him and everyone loyal to him. Your father?—”

His lip curled back, that word seeming to sober his stiff composure. “I’m already disgraced, Princess. What’s better than aligning myself with their greatest enemy? We will make a new dynasty together.”

She really needed to puke now. She rubbed her forehead, breathing out through her nostrils. “Feng Mian,” she warbled, “he’s … he’s an enemy to the royal family!”

“So what?”

“So what?” Zhi Ruo repeated, touching her chest. She dropped her voice to an angry, desperate whisper. “I’ma royal, remember? Or did you conveniently forget that?”

“I know, but you’re … you’re not like them.”

“Like them? Like who? My family?” She tried to keep her voice under control, tried to keep the panic out of it, but she felt like she was teetering off the edge. “Did you forget who I am? Feng Mian—” Was he plotting for her family’s death? Was he plotting forherdeath? Her mind was reeling, trying to think of excuses for him.

But Li Chanming was dangerous, the kind of person who would kill her and her whole family without a thought. Who had treasonously named himself a royal, despite never being accepted as a legitimate heir—though, after seeing him today, she was mostly positive that he was, in fact, her father’s son and therefore her half-brother. He would kill any link to the royal family for his claim to be legitimate enough to win the throne. If it wasn’t for this war with Kadios, he might be dead by now, killed by her father’s forces?—

Unless he had purposefully used this warring time to make a claim to the throne. It was only during chaos like this that he would be able to garner support for protecting the border, for protecting the people against an invasion. And the attack on the palace a few weeks ago …

She clamped a hand over her mouth, all too aware that she was breathing in deeply.

“Princess?” Feng Mian hesitantly clasped his hand in hers; her hand seemed so small nestled within his larger, calloused one. He rubbed her numb fingers. “Are you?—”

“Did he attack the palace? Did he hire all of those people?”

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb with me.” Her whole body was trembling, vibrating like a buzzing insect. She watched his face carefully. “The attack on the palace. The day I was kidnapped … Did he plan all of that? Did he hire those assassins?”

His silver eyes flashed with something. “I was already a prisoner by then.”

Her heart sank. “You didn’t answer the question.”

He opened his mouth, then closed it.

Zhi Ruo ripped her hand away from his, her stomach clenching. “You knew?” The betrayal and hurt was clear in her voice, nearly shrill in the quiet tent. “You knew he was orchestrating an attack on the palace? You knew he was trying to kill me?”

“Not you.” His hands balled together on his lap.

“Oh, but just my whole family.” Zhi Ruo laughed bitterly, her eyes watering. “I was just supposed to be collateral damage?”

“No.” He cursed. “Look, Princess, I didn’t even know you back then?—”

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