The Concubine Who Was Supposed to Die in Chapter Three novel · Chapter 19 of 24
Chapter 19: The Price
By morning the physician had been up for three hours and had run out of words.
He stood by the bed with his sleeves rolled to the elbow.
On the Emperor's bare chest, from collarbone to ribs, a net of fine gold lines had burned into the skin.
They ran in every direction.
"It is a thread-scar," said the physician. "I have read of it in one book, and the book was wrong."
"What does it do?" said Zhiyao.
"Each refusal leaves a line. The more Heaven has to be refused, the deeper it burns."
"And at the Rite?"
The physician looked at the floor.
"At the Rite, the thread goes through his heart. Every thread. Not only the Maiden's. All the court's. If he refuses Heaven before them, they come out of him together."
Wuyan sat up against the pillows.
He was gray under his tan.
"I am three thousand years old," he said. "I know pain."
"It is not like any pain you know, Your Majesty. I would not say you will die of it." The physician swallowed. "I would not say you will not scream."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of The Concubine Who Was Supposed to Die in Chapter Three are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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