The Golden Sparrow in Chains

After executing the foolish emperor, Marquis Tan Hongyi of Zhen'an received an imperial order before the Eastern Palace, which was engulfed in towering flames: hunt down and capture Cui Jiao, the deposed crown prince of the previous dynasty, who had escaped amid the chaos.

People at court all said she was as beautiful as peach blossoms and as wicked as a snake, with a talent for inventing new ways to torture people. Anyone from the former dynasty who fell into her hands would wish they were dead, regretting ever having been born.

But when Tan Hongyi first saw Cui Jiao in his spotless white monk's robes, she suddenly changed her mind.

She kept him by her side. She neither beat nor scolded him, but made him watch as her subordinates were crushed one by one to dust, and as every hope he had of restoring his dynasty turned to ashes.

She wanted him to hate her, yet love her so much that he couldn't bear to be apart from her for even a moment.

Until he stained his hands with blood for her and broke every precept. She pinned him to the bed, her fingertips gliding over the bridge of his nose and the hollow of his throat before coming to rest on his chest. Her nails dug into his flesh, drawing tiny beads of blood.

Leaning close to his ear, she laughed.