The night air turned to knives against my skin as the riders emerged from the darkness—not our pursuers from the palace, but something far worse. Their black armor bore the serpent sigil of the Northern Federation, the Crown Prince's most formidable enemies.
I barely had time to draw my dagger before cold steel pressed against my throat.
"Struggle, and I'll break your pretty fingers one by one," the lead rider murmured, his breath reeking of iron and cloves. The threat wasn't empty—his grip alone told me he'd done such things before.
Xuanli moved like lightning, but three crossbows cocked in unison, aimed at his heart.
"Run," I begged him silently with my eyes.
He didn't.
The ride north lasted days. They drugged me with something bitter that made the world swim—through feverish haze, I caught glimpses of obsidian fortresses carved into mountainsides, of bridges spanning bottomless chasms. A kingdom of shadows and sharp edges.
When the hood finally ripped away, I stood in a throne room of black marble. Not a castle—a war room. Maps of our empire covered the walls, every border town marked with blood-red pins.
"At last, the firebird in our cage."
The voice slithered from the shadows. The man who stepped into the torchlight wore no crown, only a scar that split his face from brow to jaw—General Ruin, the Butcher of Blackwater Pass.
His fingers, gloved in scaled leather, traced my cheekbone. "You'll write to your beloved Crown Prince. Tell him you're... guest of our sovereign."
I spat at his boots.
The backhand sent me crashing onto the cold stone. As blood filled my mouth, I glimpsed movement in the gallery above—a slender figure watching silently. A woman in jade-green robes, her eyes twin pools of frozen poison.
Princess Anya. The Federation's famed "Silent Dagger."
The General hauled me up by my hair. "Resist, and we'll send His Highness your fingers first. Then your tongue. Then—"
"Enough."
The single word came from above. The Princess descended like green smoke, her silk slippers whispering against stone. Up close, I saw the madness in her gaze—and something worse. Recognition.
"She's more valuable whole." Her nail traced my collarbone. "For now."
As they dragged me to the dungeons, the Princess's final words followed me into the dark:
"Welcome to the real war, little songbird. Let's see how sweetly you sing when the cage shakes."
[To Be Continued...]
ns216.73.216.8da2
and then Add to home screen.