General Zhànshì stared at King Rénlóng for several moments without saying a word. King Rénlóng watched him as he did. 

 Finally breaking the uneasy silence, King Rénlóng continued. “I know you’ve sworn yourself, mind and body, to the crown. You vowed to only marry after you are no longer needed on the battlefield. It’s commendable. Your family has long been revered because of your resolute loyalty. I’m calling upon that loyalty now to save my niece. 

 Zhànshì,” the king said in a shaky voice, addressing the general as his friend, “if it wouldn’t raise suspicions, I would kneel before you now. Please, do for her what I cannot. Save her.” 

 General Zhànshì’s eyes grew larger as the king spoke. He had never heard such anguish, such helplessness from this man he used to view as a brother when he played as a child in the palace. 

 “She’s fifteen,” General Zhànshì could only manage to say.

 He would do anything his king commanded, and he would save this poor girl from her suffering without flinching. The age difference bothered him, and he struggled to get passed it.

 “You’re only ten years her elder,” reasoned King Rénlóng. “Shāngrén Yán is almost fifty years old. He wouldn’t be patient, and he’s just as brutal as her father.

 I’m not asking you to have children with her,” he continued to plead his point. “Take her as your wife in name only, if that’s what you need it to be. I’ll grant an honorable end to the arrangement when she’s safe. I only need you to take her away from here, away from him, and give her a safe place to live. 

No one would dare enter your manor with ill intent against your wife. She would be safe, and we would have removed Sōngshù’s best game piece from the board of his rebellion.”

 General Zhànshì drew in a slow breath. He knew the king’s proposal was the best possible answer to this dilemma. He thought of what he had been told of her abuse and her father’s plans for her. 

 There was no reason he couldn’t accept this request, an unspoken order he knew could become a command if King Rénlóng felt cornered. He could take her in and treat her well. He could give her a life of peace away from her father’s reach. As the king also said, he would help to remove her as a viable option for bribing a heavy financial backer for Sōngshù’s scheme. 

 “You know I could make this a royal decree,” King Rénlóng said in the tone of a desperate man.

 General Zhànshì only gave a half-hearted smile at the threat laden with anxious pleading. 

 King Rénlóng smiled a bit, too.

 “You’ll do it?” He blinked at the grateful tears threatening to fall.

 “I’ll do it,” the general answered with a nod. “When were you planning…” 

 “Today,” the king interrupted. “Tomorrow at the latest.” 

 “Jūn, I only returned to the inner kingdom hours ago,” General Zhànshì replied. “I had barely made it to my manor when your men met me at my gate. I only had time to relieve myself before climbing back on my horse to answer your summons.”

 “I know,” King Rénlóng sighed. “I know you’ve been away for half a year. You’re tired and looking forward to relaxing while you can before you’re needed again. 

 You’re here now, anyway. Rest at an inn for the night and go to Sōngshù’s manor in the morning. Mĕilì can accompany you on your way home, a trip you have to make with or without her.”

 “What about her father?” General Zhànshì wondered. “What will he do when you send him your edict?” 

 “That’s why I want to do this quickly,” King Rénlóng replied. “I don’t want to give him time to put her in the situation we discussed earlier. I want you to ride with Eunuch Shîzhĕ and be there when he makes the announcement. Sōngshù will only have time to get her things together and send her out. He’ll have no time for messengers or time for hiding her.

 He won’t be able to argue. It is my right as the king to gift my niece to you for all of your successes. He’ll know that if he complains, his loyalty will come into question from those he still needs to deceive.”

 “You’ve planned this well,” General Zhànshì praised. 

 “So well that you’re the only person to know of it,” the king replied.

 General Zhànshì grinned. “Tomorrow, then,” he agreed.

 King Rénlóng took several breaths to calm his anxious heart.

 “I am forever in your debt,” he replied almost tearfully. 

 “You never owe me for my duty or my respect, your majesty,” General Zhànshì replied. “If you'll excuse me, I need rest so I’m ready for whatever happens in the morning.” 

 King Rénlóng nodded and they stood to walk to the bridge. 

 “I have one more request,” the king said before his personal guards once again joined him. “Please, tell my precious niece I’m doing this for her and that I love her. Tell her I’m sorry I couldn’t help her all this time. I failed her and I’ll spend the rest of my life doing my best to make up for it.”

 General Zhànshì nodded and gave his king a quick pat on the arm before bowing his goodbye.