Listening Snow

VI

At once, he was pulling her hair and her face went red with pain. Her eyes a widened sea of emeralds.

Instincts took over and she raised her knee to his groin and not only did his grip on her hair vanish but he also doubled over in pain and began to stagger.

She didn’t waste time. Her knee collided with his throat, twice and he fell to the floor and she was restrained. But it didn’t matter, the kind of him choking, groaning and gasping for her was more than enough reward.

She even smiled.

By the time he righted himself, he was out of breathe and she was grinning ear-to-ear. She even c****d her brows at him and his gaze darkened in rage. Yes, he could pass for a warrior of the old. But this warrior had much to learn from her.

Red.

Her hair was red. No she. Just red.

No stains left anywhere.

But of course they were now all tangled and all.

Her stubbornness was legendary. Many warriors would be cowering if not intimidated. Yet she would not meet his gaze, kept her back to him in the cell and her side to him now. She looked very demure but then she would have to or risk exposure.

Something that had already befallen her.

The dragon seal hadn’t been found but his manor had been attacked nonetheless and his wife had lost her life in it all. With his heir to boot.

Yes, she was indeed taller than he was or any woman he had ever laid eyes on or hears of, and those eyes…… They were emerald. Lush and brilliant, fanned by the longest lashes ever. Has she not been peering at the wall and bent her head lower, he wouldn’t have been able to bring them eye-to-eye. Yet there has been this delicateness about her. She spoke – quite eloquently. Then she had poked at him again and even evaded his staying hand. He could feel her anger lapping like waves at him. Perfect decoy: righteous indignation.

Then she has used her knee on his - . Aarrgghh. The minx. – and again at his throat, twice. It knocked him over and he struggled to breathe at all, then we’ll enough. He heard himself wheeze and groan, and heard her short laugh. She was no easy quarry even when held captive. She had simply shown him she needed no arrows, poison or sword to take him down. She didn’t even need to use her feminine charm.

No, he had a thing or two to learn from this woman asides from the whereabouts of the dragon seal.

Slowly he pulled himself up and cringed. Those moves …. He couldn’t even meet Mo Lian Chen’s taunting gaze. He felt humiliated.

Until he heard her stomach growl.

A wolffish smile took over his facial features at her obvious discomfort and embarrassment. Struggling to keep hold of his still fading control, he returned to his seat and couldn’t help groaning with each movement. He felt more than saw her grin.

“Why don’t we do this?” she started.

Isn’t this lovely? She had the nerve to negotiate. Taizhu inwardly groaned. He knew pain could be inflicted on the groin but pain this much…..and that move……

“You give me unlaced food, I eat and walk away. I won’t even sue you. For k********g and all. Mmhhmm?”

Mo Lian Chen was silently laughing at him at him. His dark eyes were dancing.

Taizhu groaned. Good, she was asking for food. That’s good. Unlaced food. He scowled. Was she -? “Are you insinuating I may poison you?”

She had the gall to nod and a very cheery nod it was.

Taizhu fumed and some of his men started shifting suspiciously.

She had her satisfaction watching him squirm. If she didn’t know better she would have sworn he seemed rather flushed. She chuckled.

He squirmed on his seat. “Hão,” he finally found his stance enough to say. “You’ll have food.”

Alice grinned widely and continued till the food was presented and the grin withered.

The outrage!

“Is this what you term food?@ she demanded heatedly. Her stomach growled and her head victimized by a thunderous headache. This nightmare needed to end. Now.

She picked the sticks she knew to be chopsticks and plied them terribly. She winced and dropped them with a loud clang. This wasn’t working at all. She eyes the food and pushed away from it. She eyed the man before her with such murderous intent. “You call this food?”

Granted there was rice, meat and veggies to sum it all up. Not the typical meal for one who was not into Chinese at all and usually preferred meals like mashed potatoes and gravy, a slice or two of cake. A tear rolled down her cheek, followed by another; then of their own volition, they flowed and she fell deep into heart wrenching sobs.

Behind her the men cast about in confusion and even peered over her shoulders at the food that had elicited such reaction.

Head bowed shoulders rolling in sobs and in a hushed tone thick with emotions, Alice tried again to plead her case and flee from this strange place. “My name is Alice Bethany Mallows. I’m a potter, a painter and an all-night bar tender in a bar not far from my cottage. I was on my way home riding my bicycle when I was ran off the road by a speeding truck. I fell into a lake beneath the bridge and must have hit my head somewhere hard. Next I’m drowning. But then I see a light and swim to it. That’s where I saw you.” She glanced teary-eyed at him. “I thought you were the truck driver dressed all cute. I thought you brought me there to take more undue advantage of me.” She sniffed and the tears flowed. “I got angry and lashed out. That’s normal, right? I decided to walk away and met all those fighting and didn’t want to be there in any case it went all bad. Then you almost severed my head, accused me of killing your Consort, infiltrating your manor and demanding whereabouts of a seal that eludes me!” She sniffed. “You keep me prisoner without food and I when I request for food, you give me this.” She held out a hand to the offending meal. “I want to go home. Please.” She cast about frantically.

Her eyes at the moment were the brightest of emeralds ever.

“Then who are you?”

Alice stamped a foot. “I just told you,” she cried, holding out her hands in a beseeching manner. “I don’t know where this is, “ she pointed out using her eyes to encompass her surroundings. “I don’t know why I’m even here. I want to go back home. Please. Let me go. I’m innocent.”

He stared at her for a bit and then straightened. “Then you leave me no choice.” He nodded at someone behind her and Alice was grabbed and tortured.