Vermilion String

Chapter 3: Fifty Strikes: Mine By Blood

Commander Pei saw.

Through the cracked door. The vermilion string. The hands. The forehead touch.

He said nothing when the Crown Prince walked past him. He kept his head bowed. His face was stone.

But he served the Empress Dowager first.

---

The summons came at dawn.

Four palace guards. Iron armor. No words. They took Wen Shuyan from the kitchen while he was grinding ink.

The head eunuch watched. Said nothing. The other servants watched. Said nothing.

Shuyan did not struggle. Servants who struggled were beaten longer.

They dragged him to the courtyard of the Eastern Palace. The execution ground for household crimes.

The Empress Dowager sat beneath the silk canopy. Her face was calm. Her eyes were not.

Kneeling before her was Commander Pei. Head lowered. Voice even.

"This subject reports. Last night, in the western servant quarters, this subject witnessed the Crown Prince in the chamber of servant Wen Shuyan. Their foreheads touched. The servant wore a vermilion string upon his wrist. His hand was fisted in His Highness's sleeve."

The courtyard went silent.

Only the wind. Only Shuyan's knees hitting the stone.

The Empress Dowager looked at him. At his sleeve. At the thin wrist beneath.

"Pull it up," she said.

Shuyan's hands shook too badly. A guard wrenched his sleeve to his elbow.

The vermilion string burned red against his skin. New. Fresh. Tied tight.

Someone gasped.

The Empress Dowager nodded to Pei. "Read the law."

Commander Pei drew a bamboo slip from his belt. Unfurled it. His voice carried across the courtyard, clear and cold.

"Article 17 of the Great Qing Code. 'Any servant who entices a prince of the blood, who receives tokens of marriage, who shares breath in secret, shall be cut into eight pieces at the market. His head shall hang at the city gate for three days. His household shall be sold to pay for the offense. Mercy shall not be granted.'"

Pei rolled the slip shut. Bowed. "This subject has finished reading the law."

Shuyan could not breathe. He pressed his forehead to the stone. "This servant did not... This servant never..."

"Lies." The Empress Dowager did not raise her voice. She did not need to. "The string is on your wrist. The Commander saw you. Do you accuse Commander Pei of false witness?"

Shuyan's mouth opened. Closed. To accuse Pei was death. To admit was death.

"Mercy," he whispered. "Mercy, Your Majesty."

The Empress Dowager looked past him. At the man standing at the edge of the courtyard.

Xiao Yichen.

He wore court robes. The nine-dragon crown. His face was Jade Frost. Cold. Empty. Unmoved.

A jade thumb ring sat on his right hand. Green as still water. His fingers curled. The knuckles went white.

He had been standing there the whole time.

"This prince claims him," the Empress Dowager said to Yichen. "With a marriage string. In secret. Like a cur."

The jade ring cracked.

Xiao Yichen's hand closed into a fist. The sound was small. Sharp. Like bone snapping. Powdered jade fell between his fingers.

He did not look at Shuyan.

"Fifty strikes," the Empress Dowager said. "Given by the palace guard. Now. If the servant lives, he is banished from the Inner Court. If he dies, the matter is finished."

Fifty strikes was a death sentence. No servant survived forty.

The guards seized Shuyan. Tore his outer robe. Forced him over the wooden bench.

The bamboo rod fell.

Shuyan bit his lip until blood ran down his chin. He did not scream. Not yet.

"One," the eunuch counted. His voice was steady. He had counted for servants before.

The second strike. Third. His vision swam.

"Two. Three."

On the eighth strike, Shuyan's body seized. Blood ran down his back. The wood was wet with it.

"Eight," the eunuch called.

"Stop," Yichen said.

One word. Every head turned.

His voice was level. Perfect. Jade Frost. But his eyes were not. They burned.

The guards froze. The Empress Dowager's eyes narrowed. "You dare..."

"The servant is mine," Yichen said. He stepped forward. "I tied the string. I entered his chamber. Article 17 states the lesser party is cut into eight pieces."

The courtyard froze.

"The lesser party," Yichen repeated, "is determined by rank. I am Crown Prince. He is a servant. I am lesser."

Shuyan's head snapped up from the bench. "No!"

"Silence!" The Empress Dowager stood. Her prayer beads snapped. Jade rolled across the stone. "You would die for a servant?"

"I would die to uphold the law, Grandmother." Yichen walked to the bench. "Take him off."

Two guards hauled Shuyan from the wood. He fell to the stone, unable to stand. Blood pooled beneath him.

Yichen ripped his own outer robe. The silk tore. "Eight strikes remain for the servant. I will take them. Forty-two strikes remain for the prince. I will take them. Fifty strikes. If the law is just, it must cut the prince as it cuts the servant."

No one breathed.

Yichen lay down on the bench himself. On his stomach. He turned his head. Looked at Shuyan bleeding on the ground beside it.

"Get up," Yichen said to him. Soft. Only for him. "Stand."

The guards looked at the Empress Dowager. She said nothing. Her face was white.

The head guard raised the bamboo rod. His hands shook.

The eunuch opened his mouth to count. No sound came out. His face was grey. Sweat ran down his temples. To count the Crown Prince's beating was to witness treason. To not count was to disobey the Empress Dowager.

"One," the eunuch whispered. The word was broken. Barely heard.

The first strike fell on Yichen.

Yichen did not make a sound. His body jolted once. The nine-dragon crown clattered to the stone.

Shuyan screamed from the ground. "Stop! Please! Don't!"

The second strike. The third. Blood bloomed through Yichen's white inner robe.

"Two," the eunuch breathed. "Three." His voice cracked. He looked as if he might vomit.

On the fifth strike, Yichen's fingers dug into the wood. The bench splintered.

"Five," the eunuch said. Tears ran down his face. He had served three emperors. He had never counted a prince's blood.

On the tenth strike, Yichen vomited blood.

"Ten," the eunuch sobbed.

"Stop," the Empress Dowager said. Her voice was ice.

The guards stopped. The eunuch collapsed to his knees. Yichen lay still. Blood pooled beneath him. Ten strikes for a prince. Thirty-two remained, but she would not kill her heir before the court.

Shuyan crawled to him. Heedless. Mad. He touched Yichen's bloody hand. "Yichen. Yichen, look at me..."

Yichen opened his eyes. He smiled. A tiny, awful, bloody smile. He covered Shuyan's hand with his own. Blood to blood.

"Mine by blood," Yichen whispered. So only Shuyan could hear. "I told you on our wedding night. The night they strangle us for it. I keep my promises."

Shuyan broke. He pressed their bloody hands to his face and sobbed. "You promised you'd be the one on the market block..."

"I am," Yichen breathed. "Look at me. I'm yours. By law. By blood. By beating."

The Empress Dowager's hand slammed on the armrest. "Take the servant to the infirmary. He is not to die. Not yet." She looked at Yichen, bleeding on the bench. "You will marry the daughter of Minister Liu before winter. You will forget this servant. Or I will have him cut into sixteen pieces. Slowly. In front of you."

Yichen did not answer. He could not. His eyes closed.

Two guards lifted him. Carried him away. The crown prince left a trail of blood across the courtyard stone.

Shuyan was dragged to the infirmary. He did not stop screaming Yichen's name.

---

Night.

The infirmary stank of blood and herbs. Shuyan lay on his stomach. Eight strikes burned. Fifty would have killed. But he wished they had.

The door opened. No sound. No light.

A shadow knelt beside his cot. White bandages across his back. Face pale as death.

Yichen.

He could barely sit. But he came anyway.

"Does it hurt?" Yichen whispered. His voice was broken. Not Jade Frost. Not the Crown Prince. Just a boy who bled for him.

Shuyan turned his head. Tears fell before he could stop them. "Not when you're here."

Yichen took Shuyan's hand. Pressed their palms together. Skin to skin. Blood to blood.

"Mine," Yichen breathed. "By blood. Always."

Outside, Commander Pei stood guard. He heard every word.

And he would tell the Empress Dowager before dawn.

He did not know Pei had already left to make his report. And that the Empress Dowager had just ordered the Minister's daughter to the palace at once.