The Commander Schemes and Plots

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The first half is sweet as she pursues him, the second half is sweet as he pursues her, and the ending is sweeter still! No angst!

(The blurb for my upcoming novel, Deceiving the Emperor, is at the end. Please add it to your collection!)

Blurb:

When Xie Ying was six, she sneaked down the mountain and told her fortune to a little beggar by the roadside. Hoping to swindle some money from him to fill her stomach, she told him he was cursed to be alone, destined to have enemies everywhere.

She had no idea the little beggar didn't believe in any of that. He only gave her more than half his flatbread because she looked so pitifully hungry.

After finishing the bread, Xie Ying pretended to calculate his fate and told him his misfortune had passed.

*

One day, Xie Ying went down the mountain again, dressed as a man.

That same day, Wen Luochuan, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard who had never once failed to catch his quarry, arrested a fake dog thief. Soaked from head to toe, the false thief glanced his way with tearful eyes, and Wen Luochuan felt as if she had stolen something from him.

He decided to keep her by his side. Every day, she called him "my lord" and smiled at him...

Love began to take root, but Wen Luochuan ruthlessly cut it off. He was cursed to be alone, the Jade-Faced Yama. How could he ever fall in love?

Then, one day, as snow fell thick and fast and frost gathered on their shoulders, the blue of Xie Ying's clothes was stained red with blood. At last, she waited for Wen Luochuan to gather her into his arms.

Wen Luochuan looked at the battered Xie Ying, the corners of his eyes reddening, his gaze clouded by the cold.

That day, Wen Luochuan, who had always held himself proud and unyielding, let down his hair, cast aside the embroidered spring saber personally bestowed on him by the emperor, took several arrows to the body, and dropped to his knees.

All to beg for an antidote that would keep her safe.

Innocent and untainted Xie Ying is the moon in the branches to Wen Luochuan, a man with blood on his hands and sins beyond count.

*

On the night Xie Ying's identity as a woman was exposed to his face, Wen Luochuan cornered her against the wall.

"So the little fraud who told my fortune all those years ago was you."

His nose brushed intimately against her ear, his scorching breath making Xie Ying tremble. She tried to explain, but Wen Luochuan covered her mouth.

"I don't believe in fate."

Upcoming novel, Deceiving the Emperor:

[A capricious but ruthless assassin and a cruel but emotionally repressed tyrant]

Bai Feihan is a spy trained by the Yan Kingdom. Since childhood, she has been infected with a heart-devouring gu, taught the art of seduction, and treated as a gift to the ruler of Chu, Pei You, with orders to assassinate him when the time is right.

She is slender and beautiful, and is confident she can complete her mission flawlessly, playing Pei You's heart and body in the palm of her hand.

But the tyrant is sinister and ruthless in every way, except that he has no interest in women. When Bai Feihan approaches, he holds her off with his sword, and when she annoys him too much, he sends someone to deliver her a cup of poisoned wine.

To his surprise, Bai Feihan pours out the poison and beats up the person who brought it.

When the ministers hear about this, they all decide Bai Feihan has dared to defy the throne and deserves to be executed.

But Pei You only thinks the recent days have been unusually peaceful, so he temporarily spares her life.

Who could have guessed that she would grow even bolder, using a potent drug to give the tyrant, who had never known a woman's touch, a taste of pleasure?

The next day, the ministers gather in the court, but the ruler who usually attends every morning audience never returns from his decision to skip court. They don't get the emperor, but they do get an edict naming Bai Feihan Imperial Consort.

The ministers: She's a bewitching consort! A bewitching consort!

Pei You knows Bai Feihan is a fox with honeyed words and a dagger for a heart. He is so greedy for a moment of tenderness that he uses every means at his disposal to keep her by his side. And the fox seems to have fallen for him too, telling him everything about her past.

But a fox is still a fox. The day Bai Feihan wounded Pei You, she fled in fear of punishment. Once Pei You awoke from his severe injuries, he grew even more ruthless and posted a bounty offering a fortune for Bai Feihan's capture or death.

When they meet again, Bai Feihan wears a gauzy dress and boldly hooks an arm around Pei You's shoulder in the golden palace. She breathes warm words by his ear, teasing him without a sound: "Husband, I missed you."

Her red lips brush against him, and the softness in his arms is achingly familiar, yet murderous intent slowly rises in Pei You's eyes.

The ministers cheer: The bewitching consort has walked right into a trap! She deserves to die!

The next moment, Pei You dismisses the ministers, kneels at Bai Feihan's feet, and fastens a string of silver bells around her ankle.

For the next five days, the emperor claims to be ill and cancels court. The sound of silver bells rings throughout the imperial harem. Five days later, Pei You is refreshed and invigorated, and the ministers congratulate His Majesty on getting rid of his greatest enemy.

Half a month later, word spreads that Imperial Consort Bai is pregnant.

The ministers stare at one another: Who's carrying the imperial heir? You mean Bai Feihan?

Theme: The greater good of the realm