Chapter 24

ZHEN

Zhen's eyes cracked open.

Where was he? Was he a snake or a human? Or something else? He didn't know. He had no sense of place or time. His body felt

boneless; if he had limbs, he couldn't feel them.

The memories burned like the sulfur in the decoction going down his throat. The excruciating pain of his joints unlocking

against his will—the first time he'd had no control over his transformation. Each bone had felt like it was being ripped from

its socket, and all he could do was scream and writhe and beg for everything to stop, to end.

He had shouted to Qing in the language of snakes, which humans could not understand, and told her to run. He hoped that, for once, she had listened. He couldn't bear to imagine what they would do if they captured her. He prayed that, by now, she was far, far from wherever he was.

His surroundings gradually materialized from the shadows. He was lying on a cold stone floor, facing a wall. A sickly glow

slanted through thick vertical bars. He didn't take long to guess which side of those bars he was on.

He was human again. He shivered, a reminder that he was naked. A threadbare blanket had been thrown over his lower body. His

throat felt like he had swallowed briars, and his skull felt as if it had been split apart and fused back together. Probably

because it had.

Don't kill him—I need him alive.

A terrible prickle rose over Zhen's bare skin. The chilling tone in Xian's voice as he spoke those words was something he

would never forget.

Xian finally knew who Zhen was. What he was. Not just a snake, but the monster he had been hunting all these years. The one he blamed for taking away his mother's

cure.

When he lifted his head, something cold and hard pressed against his neck. He reached up and brushed his fingers against the

metal band that encircled his throat. He could sense the ore's unnatural power suppressing his own. With this collar, he would

not be able to change back into a snake.

The equilibrium always finds itself.

As a snake, he'd wanted nothing more than to experience everything human life had to offer... and Xian had given him that. Every touch, every breath, every sensation had imprinted on his soul, and each time Xian held him close, their bodies fitting together like two halves of a whole, he wished they could stay that way forever.

That illusion had shattered the moment Xian announced the bounty. A silver tael for every white snake brought to the palace

alive. The edict had made the blood in Zhen's veins turn to ice, just like the night when Xian had opened his rattan case

of steel instruments reeking of snake blood. Only that horror would be multiplied a thousand times as citizens of Changle

swarmed the forests around the capital hunting for snakes, indiscriminately killing those that weren't of the color they were

seeking. The shock and dread had been too overwhelming, and Zhen's nose had started bleeding again.

A rustle of footfalls made him stiffen. Instead of a burly guard coming down the flagstone steps, a slender silhouette appeared

at the far end of the dungeon. The figure sidled along the wall and halted in front of the cell, revealing a familiar face.

Recognition dawned. "Deng?"

Deng spoke with quiet awe in his voice. "It really was you."

It took Zhen a moment to realize that Deng was talking about what had happened in the outer court on the night of his punishment,

when Zhen had transformed into a snake and bitten through his ropes to make his ordeal more bearable.

"What are you doing here?" Zhen climbed to his feet, holding the thin blanket around his waist as he limped toward the bars.

"How did you get past the guards?"

"They open the underground tunnels during the summer in case of flooding. I know where they intersect with the dungeon." Deng moved closer. "I came as soon as I heard what happened at the festival. Are you hurt?"

Was Deng actually here to help him? Zhen could hardly believe it. But he didn't have much of a choice. The number of people

in this palace on his side at that moment could be counted on the number of fingers he'd had as a snake.

Deng pointed at Zhen's right side. "You're bleeding."

Zhen looked at the linear cut on his rib cage. The blood had already crusted over. He vaguely remembered a sting of pain when

Feng attacked him with his sword on the dais.

"It's just a scratch," he replied. "Did you see Qing, my sister? Did they capture her as well?"

Deng shook his head. Zhen's heart sagged in relief.

"The guards are searching the surrounding forests, but I don't think they've found her," Deng said. "Is she a snake spirit

too?"

Zhen ignored his question. "You have to leave now. If the guards find you here, you'll get in serious trouble—"

"I know you put in a good word for me with the prince," Deng interrupted. "It's the only way I could've gotten a lighter punishment.

You did that even after I beat you brutally. I owe you a debt of gratitude." He paused. "They said you transformed in the

middle of the feast. What happened?"

Zhen grimaced, pushing his long, tangled hair away from his face. "There was sulfur in a tonic the prince asked his adviser

to prepare for me." He had detected the scent even though it was heavily masked by other herbs. "Snakes cannot tolerate sulfur."

"People like to mix realgar with white wine during the Duanwu Festival," Deng said. "Wait—did you say that the prince's adviser

prepared the tonic for you?"

Zhen nodded. "That's why I couldn't refuse, even though I was afraid of what the sulfur would do to me."

He had thought the sulfur would make him pass out or become seriously ill. He'd never imagined it would set off an uncontrollable

transformation.

Deng's brow furrowed. "His adviser came to me the day after my punishment. He demanded to know about the white snake that

had appeared in the outer court the night before."

Zhen's heart skipped a beat. "What did you tell him?"

"Nothing. I didn't even know it was you at that time. I just told him a white snake showed up, scared the hell out of me,

and slithered off."

Fahai had discovered his secret. He must've seen Zhen transforming back into a human that night. He'd probably figured out

that Zhen was warning off the snakes during the hunting trip, and he had added sulfur to the decoction to expose Zhen's true

nature in front of everyone.

"Come on, we don't have much time," Deng said. "The tunnels divert floodwaters to the underground canals, and you can follow

them to reach the Min Jiang." He started in the direction he had come before glancing back at Zhen. "What are you waiting

for? Change into a snake and follow me!"

Zhen pointed at the band of metal around his neck. "I can't transform with this thing on me. It's a magical collar."

Deng looked crestfallen. "Then how do I get you out of here?"

"I don't think you can," Zhen said. "They made sure of that."

Men's voices made them both whirl toward the stairs. Deng's eyes widened in panic.

"You need to go," Zhen told him. "If anyone catches you, I won't be able to help this time."

Deng bit his lip. "I'm sorry. I tried my best."

"I know," Zhen replied. "Thank you."

As Deng vanished like a ghost, Zhen pressed his forehead against the cold metal bars. His former nemesis was the last person

he would've expected to come to his aid.

Boots descended the flagstone steps, and the prince's bodyguard came into view. Feng had been distrustful of Zhen from the

start, but now his misgivings had been proven right beyond all expectations. Zhen's treachery was, more than anything else,

a slap in the face for Feng as the prince's bodyguard.

Xian appeared behind Feng.

Zhen's stomach clenched. Xian's expression, half cast in shadow, was a perfect visage of calm. A true leader did not flinch

in the face of anything, not even betrayal. Anyone else would have seen a prince with the power to sentence him to death,

but Zhen saw the boy he had never intended to hurt.

As Xian stepped forward, Zhen's fingers tightened around the bars that separated them. "Xian, please—"

"Don't you dare speak the name my mother gave me." Xian's tone was a knife that found its mark between Zhen's ribs, sending excruciating pain through his chest—like he hadn't fully transformed, like he was a human trying to survive with a snake's heart.

"I'm sorry," Zhen whispered.

"Open the cell," Xian ordered the guards.

They unlocked the cell door and roughly dragged Zhen out. The threadbare blanket fell away, exposing his naked, bruised body.

A body that Xian had once tenderly touched and kissed. But given the dispassionate way Xian stared at him now, that was all

in the past.

A guard thrust a rough gray tunic into his hands, and Zhen lowered his gaze as he clumsily put on the garment. He had nothing

left to salvage, not even his pride.

Feng spoke. "I can secure the cuffs on him."

"No," Xian replied. "I want to do it myself."

Xian took out a pair of cuffs connected by a deceptively thin chain, but Zhen could sense the supernatural quality of the

metal. Like the collar they'd put around his neck, these cuffs were no ordinary steel.

"Hold out your hands," Xian commanded.

Zhen did as he was told. His fingernails, neatly trimmed and buffed just hours ago, were now caked with dirt and his own dried

blood.

Xian snapped the cuffs around his wrists before lifting hard eyes to meet Zhen's. "I did say I wouldn't be going back to Wuyue

without you."

Those words were a cruel mockery of what Xian had said to him the morning after they'd made love for the first time. He should've left immediately after, saved them both from this inevitable outcome. Even snakes knew when to back down from a lost cause.

Such hubris, to think that his deception wouldn't come at a terrible price.

Xian turned on his heel and strode up the flagstone steps without a backward glance.

After the guards had fastened a set of ordinary manacles around Zhen's ankles, Feng moved forward. The steely glint in his

eyes was more terrifying than any sword. Zhen was sure Feng would have slain him on the dais if Xian hadn't intervened.

Feng's tone was grim as he spoke. "Take this unworthy creature out to the wagon."