Desire of Dragons (Forbidden Bonds Collection #3)

Chapter One

Mu Fanqing

Of the three schools of magical arts, only one truly utilizes cultivation that actually leads to spellcasting.

I think the reason for that is because it takes decades of study and honing your inner core to even be able to cast a simple spell. It takes even longer to memorize the spells you can cast. And it takes a lifetime to refine your skills in a special form of magic.

And even after all that, one must rely on talismans to aid in their spellcasting.

I suppose most people decide to just turn their energy inward to themselves to either enhance their bodies or their minds and become an alchemist or an auger than to take on the most difficult form of cultivation of all.

Because to become a scribe one must enhance both their mind and body, it is twice the work and twice the training.

I am not “most people” though.

I knew when I started down this path that it would be difficult, but nothing could deter me. I’ve worked hard, I’ve studied and applied myself at the academy since I left home, just working on boosting my cultivation and learning every spell I can.

I am certain that the emperor would be hard pressed to find a more dedicated and capable cultivator scribe when the time comes. I will join the first family as an imperial scribe. I just need a few more centuries to perfect my skills.

I squint as my brush glides over the strip of parchment I am turning into a talisman.

On the desk to my right is the silk pouch I keep my talismans in, its drawstring undone revealing the scraps of paper inside.

It may not look like much to the unskilled eye, but casting specific spells is done through the written word.

Which is why cultivators are also commonly referred to as scribes.

These scraps of paper and these carefully written characters are imbued with my energy.

They are “quick spells” to use the somewhat flippant term of my classmates.

I also carry a bamboo scroll with me to write out more complex incantations.

Which while necessary for spellcasting is not beneficial in a situation where the magic is needed quickly, hence why I need to prepare these talismans ahead of time.

My pen makes the final stroke as the character begins to glow before fading back to ink. Flame. That will come in handy, I’m sure. Someday, when I actually get to practice my skills in the real world instead of spending my days holed up in here, reading and refining my inner core.

Suddenly, the door to the study bursts open, causing me to jump.

My ink brush swipes across the character, and it glows red, informing me that the spell failed to take effect.

I twist my mouth into a frown before I turn to see who walked in so rudely.

Don’t they know that people need quiet while studying in here?

It’s one of my fellow classmates Gong Liang, standing there with his hair looking disheveled, his face is flushed and he is panting as if he just ran a great distance. “A eunuch from the imperial palace is here,” he says, gasping for breath.

I’m on my feet in a second. I take two steps after Liang, but then I remember my silk pouch.

I quickly grab it and tie it to my waist next to my rolled-up bamboo scroll and slide my ink brush into the hanging sheath I keep for it.

I brush at my hand as I notice a bit of ink smudged there.

However, Liang steps forward, grabbing my hand and yanking me after him.

“Come on.”

I stumble after him, struggling to keep up with his long strides. “Why is he here?” I daren’t ask the most important question even though it is the first one to bubble up within me. Is the emperor recruiting new scribes by an imperial edict?

That is not how things are usually done.

But if it will elevate me to serve the imperial family then I certainly won’t argue.

I hurry after Gong Liang, however we both skid to a stop across the carefully polished wood floors as a man in the dark robes of a eunuch rounds the corner, followed by the imperial guards, dressed in their black armor and red robes each with their hands resting on their swords.

I slam into Liang’s arm before I drop to my knees hard, quickly folding my hands over each other and bowing my head. Whoever carries the emperor’s words, carries his authority. In the eunuch’s hand, I spy the decorative scroll in his hands, the edges shimmering golden. An imperial decree.

“Are you Mu Fanqing?” the eunuch asks, glancing me over.

I keep my head lowered. “Yes.”

“Then hear his majesty’s words,” the eunuch cries, unfurling the scroll. I dare one panicked glance Liang’s way. Is this edict for me?

For a brief second, I can’t breathe as my mind whirs and I’m left wondering if something happened with my family.

Were they complicit in a crime and now I’m to be punished alongside them?

I can’t think of anything they would do, my family has always been law abiding citizens who took our duty to the emperor seriously.

We did not covet things outside of our reach.

My father is a low-ranking official who has never once plotted to further his own ends.

We never even stole or withheld funds to grow in our riches.

My father, the patriarch in our family is an upright and meticulous man. He would never have allowed it. He always said that the Mu family will rise and fall based on our own merits and nothing more.

“Mu Fanqing the first daughter of the eighth-rank Mu family is known for her beauty and her refined talents. Carrying all the traits expected of a lady of a noble house, in spite of her low birth, she is also a devoted cultivator. Top of her class, ahead of her peers.”

I feel myself glowing inwardly as the eunuch’s words echo through the halls. Is his majesty truly going to summon me to join the imperial scribes without any selection competition?

“For these outstanding traits as well as her family’s reputation, his majesty has decided that she will marry into the Fourth Family, by wedding their patriarch Xiao Shu, and henceforth become a spirit catcher like all Xiao’s in name.

The auspicious date for such a union has already been chosen, the fifteenth of the month. ”

I forget myself and whip my head up, looking at the eunuch shocked.

My ears are ringing, so much so that I almost convince myself that I must have misheard him. The eunuch surely misspoke.

I am to marry who? The Fourth Family is the fourth most powerful family in all of Da Xian. I am just the daughter of a lowly eighth-rank official, a humble minister in the Bureau of Justice.

The fifteenth is only three days away. How could this possibly happen? I went from a student studying magic to engaged to be married in a matter of seconds.

I suppose that only goes to serve and show just how quickly your whole life can fall apart. I want to go back in time, go and finish working on my talismans. I want to make it so I never left the library. I should have hidden from the eunuch. He could never deliver the edict if he can’t find me.

Beside me, Liang is still as stone.

The eunuch licks his lips, folding the scroll and holding it out to me. “Do you accept this edict?

I hesitate a second, even though I know full well that I cannot refuse. To refuse an edict from the emperor is paramount to treason. My whole family could be executed for this slight, and yet I still can’t bring myself to respond. So, I just stare blankly at the scroll that I’m supposed to take.

The eunuch clears his throat. “Cultivator Mu, his majesty has spoken. Do you accept the edict?”

I draw in a shaky breath as I force myself to lower into a bow, folding my hands and pressing my forehead to them.

“I accept,” I say, my voice weak. As I rise out of my kowtow, the eunuch hands me the scroll.

My hands are trembling as I accept it and I’m not sure if I would be able to stand if Liang did not grab my arm and help guide me up.

I still can’t seem to be able to grasp what is going on. Marriage? That was never in the plans for my life.

I keep a hold of the scroll as the eunuch leaves, I drop my hands to a less formal position, bunching up the skirts of my robe.

According to this edict I was chosen for my skill and dedication as a cultivator.

Which means his majesty has heard of me.

His majesty singled me out and selected me.

I was so close to my dream that I can almost envision it as if this royal edict said something else and was instead summoning me to the palace.

I was selected for the wrong thing.

All my hard work and dedication that I always hoped would help to elevate my rank to becoming an imperial scribe, is actually what doomed me. Because now his majesty has decided that I will be best suited to serving him as a member of the Xiao family as a Spirit Catcher.

It’s a noble profession, I’m sure. Necessary too. If not for the Spirit Catchers, who would protect us from the malevolent beings that roam amongst us, inhabiting bodies like they are elves and yet not carrying a soul within them?

But why me? I have my own plans, someone else can be a Spirit Catcher. I intend to serve the emperor and the realm as a scribe. And why to Xiao Shu of all people?

Where my family has a reputation of being upright, his reputation is quite the opposite.

There are those who say that the Fourth Family is untouchable. That is due to their secret techniques for spirit hunting that have been passed down from generations, no one else could take their place as the next spirit catchers.

This has granted them a powerful standing in the hierarchy of families; it has also led to the emperor turning a blind eye to the rumors of scandal that always follow the Xiao family. Namely Xiao Shu, the head of the family.

He is a rake, a scoundrel, and a miscreant who has no care for propriety and engages in extortion over those he saves. These are rumors, of course. If they were actually proven, then the emperor would have no choice but to seek action against him.

What have I done to incur his majesty’s wrath that he would choose to force me to marry a man like that?