“Yuelan, that song you played was so beautiful!” Zhou Xiuya sighed as the food was served and they started to eat. “Did you see the looks on some of the Madams’ and Misses’ faces? They looked absolutely green.” The left prime minister’s daughter giggled. “After having to listen to them talk about how unrefined you were and how there was no way you had any sort of high birth the slap you gave them was so satisfying!”

Liling laughed. “It’s much more unrefined to gossip behind someone’s back out of jealousy,” she replied, her voice loud enough that some of the women who had been doing just that could hear it. Their faces turned red, but none of them dared to say anything.

Yuelan smiled. “I don’t need them to believe in Kilin or that my father is a prime minister. I have good friends who care about me and that’s what matters.”

The first princess’ eyes sparkled and she nudged Yuelan. “What about your fiance?” she asked. “Third brother would feel sad if he wasn’t included in the people that matter.”

Yuelan’s cheeks turned red. “What about him? It’s not as though I can spend that much time with him. He’s busy with other matters.”

“What do you think, Xiuya? I think Yuelan is complaining that third brother doesn’t spend enough time with her,” Liling teased.

“That’s what it sounds like to me,” Xiuya agreed, grinning.

Yuelan’s blush deepened.

The banquet continued after everyone had eaten. The young ladies from various families displayed their artistic abilities while the young men put on displays of prowess in their own areas of expertise. A winner was chosen from each category and presented with a reward by the emperor or empress. Even though the princes and princesses performed, they were not included among those who could receive an award and neither was Yuelan.

Xiuya won the painting category with an elegant depiction of a young woman surrounded by blooming chrysanthemums in several colors. Almost as soon as her painting had finished and her award given her parents were surrounded by men and women putting out feelers to arrange for her to marry their sons.

Not far away, Yuelan could see the second prince, Xiong Guanghong, frowning in the direction of the people surrounding Xiuya’s parents. She smiled, amused, and turned away.

***

Her head throbbed and she could feel herself being carried like a sack of potatoes over someone’s shoulder. When she opened her eyes it was dark and stuffy. She couldn’t see anything around her and it took a moment for her to register her head was in a sack of some sort that was tied around her neck. Her hands and feet were tied as well.

Yuelan tried to move, but her muscles didn’t respond at all. It seemed all she could do was blink. She’d probably been drugged. All the clues pointed to her being kidnapped. That wasn’t good. Her reputation was bad enough in Longuo with her past being questioned just because nobody had ever heard of Kilin (and why should they have? It wasn’t even on their world).

Forcing her brain to try to work through the pounding in her skull, Yuelan thought back. She remembered leaving the banquet. The empress had watched her with satisfaction in her eyes before returning to her own palace. A knowing look covered by a flat, round fan and a twinkle in the eye that didn’t bode well for Yuelan. It had made Yuelan’s spine tingle.

After leaving the banquet, Yuelan had gone home and Laurel had given her some tea. The tea had tasted different, but when Yuelan asked about it, Laurel said she’d added lavender to help her relax. Had it really been lavender? Or had Yuelan been betrayed? She didn’t want to think about it.

The bouncing stopped and Yuelan felt herself thrown to the ground. She bounced once on the stone and tried to cry out in pain, but couldn’t make a sound. There was something wet on the stone as well. Water? It smelled like water. At least it wasn’t urine. That would have been disgusting.

Yuelan couldn’t move, so there was no way for her to check if any of the pain she was feeling was because something was more than bruised. Fortunately, she remembered taking off the fire opal accessory set. She could feel the black jade bracelet Guangfeng had given her on her wrist still, too. That was good.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sack covering her head being yanked off suddenly. A rough hand grabbed her hair and pulled her up. A pained, muffled whimper came out of Yuelan’s throat, the first sound she had been able to make since she woke up. The sound of something metal hitting the stone rang in her ears as she was forced to look at a man with a scar that went from above his right eye across his nose and left cheek and down to his jaw.

“Well, ain’t you a pretty one?” the man growled before pushing her back to the ground and spitting right next to her face. “Too bad you ain’t mine to play with.” The man stroked her cheek with a heavily calloused finger, sending a frightened shiver down Yuelan’s spine.