She raised her overbright eyes to him. “Give me the common law’s punishment for infidelity, and banish me.”
I sucked in a breath. The common law’s punishment was a flogging, and a brutal one at that. For men it was thirty strokes, for women it was fifteen. But in her state, as delicate as she was…
“Very well,” said Liu Zhuo, his eyes closing briefly. “It will be done as you have said—”
“I will take her punishment,” I blurted, the words escaping before I could even think.
I felt the weight of countless eyes turning toward me, whispers spreading and fingers pointing in my direction. I ignored them, focusing on Liu Zhuo.
“Very well,” he said, infinitesimal relief crossing his face. “Handle it with all due speed. I want this matter resolved and dismissed.”
A guard came forward to bind my wrists. The sight of rope in his hands made my ears begin to ring.
“I only have one request, Your Majesty,” I said quickly. “In return for bringing this matter to light.”
His face darkened with irritation. “Have you overlooked how precarious your own position is, Lady Hai? Do not think I have forgotten your previous deception.”
“All I request, Your Majesty, is a private audience with you.”
He sneered. “You think I’d agree to meet with you alone—”
“I am but a woman,” I replied. “I carry no weapons and harborno ill will. But if Your Majesty still seeks to maintain utmost caution,” I continued, “let it be immediately after the flogging, when it will be impossible for me to pose any threat. Your Majesty, I simply wish to speak with you, without the interference of others.”
Consort Caihong nodded. “She means no harm, Your Majesty.”
And he was right; she had never been a liar. I had assured her that I did not mean to harm the Imperial Commander, only to speak with him, and she had believed me.
Yet words could cut sharper than any blade.
“Very well,” he agreed, after studying Caihong’s expression.
A wooden post was brought out, which I was swiftly bound to. As the first bamboo cane struck my back, I bit back a cry, my nails digging into my palms. The second lash came on the heels of the first, and my breath caught at the shock of it, the way pain never failed to amaze me.
The third sliced open my skin, and as tears stung my eyes, the horrified faces of the royal family blurred before me. “You’re a perversion.” I heard General Huyi’s voice in my ears.
Another lash: “You thought you could become squad leader? You’ll never be good enough.”
I lost count, my thoughts clouded with pain. My mind, ever a creature of habit, drifted back to well-worn memories.
Luo Tao’s eyes glittering with malice. “Hai Ren is a liar and a traitor.”
Princess Yifeng laughing over me. “Your greed is astounding. Despite breaking every rule imaginable, you still came out witheverything.”
Then the bamboo cane struck my left shoulder, which had never fully recovered after the war, and a scream ripped from my throat, the ghost of the old wound resurfacing. I was going to black out, and then I would lose my chance to speak with the ImperialCommander. Sky would be executed for a crime he did not commit. Yuchen would seize upon his stroke of good fortune. And I would be imprisoned, put to death, forgotten.
My legacy would be one of ruin.
The pain threatened to swallow me whole, darkness pressing at the edges of my vision. And yet, in the midst of my despair, I sensed the presence of another, anchoring me against oblivion. I raised my head and found Sky’s eyes locked on mine, filled with a bleak, unspoken understanding.
I had regretted making Sky watch, but now his presence became an indispensable comfort, for he knew my most private of pains. As the guard caned my shoulder once more, I stifled my cries, yet Sky winced all the same. He knew each of my vulnerabilities, the weaknesses I tried to conceal in the dark of night. The pain was tremendous, but he shared it with me, and somehow that made it just a little more bearable.
Distantly, I realized the lashes had ended, some time ago, and someone was untying me now. I swayed, on the verge of collapse, before remembering my lixia and using it to anchor my life force.Wood, fire, earth, metal, water, I whispered silently, circling through each element as my jade heated against my skin. Always, I had held something back; I had kept a part of myself free from the influence of lixia. But now I felt even those vestiges slipping, unable to resist the tipping scales.
No one noticed; no one apart from Winter, who watched me with guarded eyes. He approached slowly, offering me his cloak to hide my torn robes.
My qi was dangerously spent, as dry as the Runong Desert, and testing it felt like trying to catch smoke in my hands. Ignoring every warning I’d read on the necessity of balance, I allowed my lixiato fill the void left by my depleted qi, letting it assume complete control. I could not afford to fail, not now, not this close to victory.
“Let my power heal you,” murmured the dragon.
