Chapter Text
The wrongness started with the sound of some sort of dull, wet impact. It was almost like a melon being chopped except for the strangled scream that followed it.
Jiang Xuening’s new husband, who had been sleeping during the long stretch of travel following their stop for lunch, sat up quickly at the sound. Shen Jie, the Crown Prince of Da Qian, didn’t seem to notice her reaching for his hand for reassurance. She aborted the motion and opted to crouch between the carriage’s benches in the footwell instead while he poked his head out of the curtains to nervously look at what was happening.
Then there was a familiar “thunk” sound much closer that made her head snap up and her eyes widen with fear. Buried in the wood of the carriage wall was an arrow that had passed right by her husband’s head.
“Get down! The bandits are shooting at you!”
Shen Jie crouched down next to her immediately. She could see his hands shaking. Hers weren’t, strangely enough. This was the second bandit attack she’d experienced in her life. Even as the guards around them died loudly and miserably, her instinct was, as it had been back then, to protect herself. Her head was clear-–she was ready to fight for her life.
While her husband cowered, she opened the lid of the storage bench nearby to see if there was anything she could wield.
“What are you doing?” he asked in a loud whisper.
“Looking for something to defend myself with.”
His hands came to cover his head as another arrow whizzed in through the back curtains to hit the front wall of the carriage and she couldn’t help the way she quietly scoffed at him. Last time she’d been attacked by bandits – back when she was fourteen years old – she’d only been accompanied by a few disloyal servants and hired guards. Now she had a retinue of disguised imperial guards and a husband who had supposedly been trained in basic martial arts, but it had still fallen to her to defend herself.
Moments later her eyes lighted on the mounted cast iron teapot that contained hot water. She darted to grab its handle as someone’s footsteps approached the carriage. The moment the stern-faced man in dark blue who didn’t look like a bandit at all came in through the back curtain, sword in hand, she stood up and swung the full teapot at him with all of her strength.
Seemingly not expecting significant resistance from the occupants of the carriage – especially such a small female occupant – the man didn’t have time to shield himself from the scalding water and heavy pot. She didn’t even look behind her to see her husband’s reaction—she just ran out as the man hissed and swiped where he’d been hit in the head with the pot. She was small enough to get past him even in such a narrow space.
But once she stumbled out of the carriage still clutching the teapot, she was faced with a line of armed men who looked at her with a range of expressions ranging from interest, to ridicule, to lust. She only had a moment to ruminate on the group’s un-bandit-like appearance and weaponry before someone’s hand connected with the back of her neck and sent her into blackness.
—
She woke in a dark, musty room with pain in her neck and numbness in her hands and feet. In the dimness she could barely see the lump of her unconscious husband to her right. They looked to be in some sort of storage room, now that her eyes adjusted to the faintly moonlit space. There were high windows that were mostly blocked by crates and boxes, but they let in enough light for her eyes to adjust.
Even though her hands were bound, she tried to move around her fingers to dispel the uncomfortable numbness in them. Then she used her elbow to nudge Shen Jie. He didn’t respond after gentle nudges so she became more forceful, almost falling down where she sat due to the restrictions of the bindings. He woke with a weak groan.
“Ningning, where—what?”
He seemed much more groggy than she was, and when his face turned in her direction she saw why: He’d been beaten. She’d been knocked unconscious by a martial artist’s single hand strike—he’d evidently been beaten into it, at least if the dark shadows under his eyes and swollen face were any indicator.
“We’re being held captive somewhere. I don’t think we met with bandits.”
“That’s…right. They beat me. They’re…Pingnan-wang’s men.”
Terror shot through her at his words. Pingnan-wang’s people were notoriously vicious and well-trained. They’d been the scourge of areas surrounding the rebel prince’s fief—areas they thought they’d been avoiding on their incognito trip to Suzhou. Either the rebels had expanded their area, or someone had caught wind of their travel plans. Neither option was comforting.
Flexing her hands and feet had restored feeling to her extremities and she didn’t hear anything outside, so she thought it may be safe to explore the room and see if there was anything at hand she could use to help them escape. As she scooted around the floor of the dusty shed almost like a worm, a creaking door opened on the other side of the space. Moonlight slanted in around a male silhouette. His approach had been completely silent.
In only moments he’d caught her arm and began to drag her towards the door as she struggled and screamed. She was disheartened to see how little her husband moved to defend her. Yes, he was injured and bound up just like she was, but shouldn’t he fight harder?
Another man walked in as she was dragged out, presumably to get Shen Jie. Then they were both dragged across a weed-littered courtyard while she screamed curses at them, telling them to let her go so she could walk on her own two feet, berating them for bullying a woman like this when they were wearing swords. She didn’t want to say who they were in case it was just a coincidence that Pingnan-wang’s people had gotten to them. Maybe they didn’t know they had captured the Crown Prince and his consort and had simply captured a wealthy young couple opportunistically, hoping for a ransom.
Her protests and struggles were completely ignored by the stone-faced man who dragged her to the door of another small house, this one with steps leading up to the door. It was the same man who’d come to retrieve them in the carriage, and she could see an area of bruised, scalded skin on his face and forehead. It served him right, she thought as her shins and knees knocked on the corners of the stairs while he dragged her. The impacts sent sharp pain up her legs and made her gasp.
She was gearing up for another tirade at their harsh treatment of her when the door opened to a room bathed in light from several multi-tiered candelabras. A few simple tables and chairs lined the walls, along with some nondescript chests. There was a desk at the other end of the room, behind which sat a man. He was turned around, so she could only see his long hair and elegant-looking clothing. He didn’t look like this rough warrior who manhandled her—surely he wouldn’t tolerate a woman being treated this way!
She yelled,
“You there! Tell your man to cut these bindings and let me walk! He’s hurting me!”
Behind her she could hear Shen Jie trying to weakly say something, but she couldn’t make it out.
Then a deep voice emerged from the man across the room.
“Dao Qin, keep our guest quiet.”
A grunt of “Yes” came from the man who dragged her, who soon tore a strip from his clothing and tied it around her mouth despite her continued protests.
Then the man turned around. His face was serene and unbothered, handsome as an immortal’s with full lips and a prominent nose carrying a small beauty mark. The whole view of him, along with the Taoist robes he wore, was like that of a refined scholar—not a kidnapper. But there was cruelty in the quirk of his lip and slant of his eyebrows, not just beauty.
“Taizi, forgive my cold reception. I must say, your taizi-fei isn’t what I expected. Let us discuss what I want with you.”
This man was not a simple person, and he knew who they were. They were doomed.