Chapter 2

The bridal veil was rather heavy.

I quietly pulled it off to look around.

Red silk wound around the beams. Candles burned on the table.

The worn wood and old-fashioned designs told me the furnishings were ordinary, even cheap.

When I was the eldest daughter of the Lin family, I would never have spared them a glance.

I remembered what my lady had said.

A captain of a hundred men held a very junior post.

Property was expensive in the capital. Buying even this small home had probably swallowed all his pay.

Lu Yan. I repeated his name silently.

Before long, heavy footsteps sounded outside.

I hastily replaced the veil and tried to steady my breathing.

The footsteps drew closer, until at last he stood before me.

With my heart pounding, I raised my head as he lifted the veil.

I met a pair of dark eyes.

The man before me was tall and broad-shouldered. When he bent his head slightly, he blocked the candlelight.

For all his size, his face still held a trace of boyishness.

I had not expected Lu Yan to be so young. He looked no older than seventeen or eighteen.

My lashes trembled. Softly, I called him,

“Husband.”

The candle flame flickered. After he had held me and kissed me for a little while, I whispered,

“Husband, you caught my lip. It hurts a little.”

The hand at my waist suddenly grew awkward.

Lu Yan’s voice was strained.

“I—I’m sorry.”

He carefully lifted me onto the bed, his cheeks a little red.

“I joined the army at fourteen. I grew up fighting and scrambling my way through camp. I only turned seventeen last month.”

“All the men around me are rough soldiers. I’ve never met anyone like you before.”

I was curious.

“Me? What am I like?”

Lu Yan blushed more deeply.

“Your skin is so fair. Like—like a pearl.”

Before the wedding, my maid had made inquiries for me.

A soldier of humble birth, without connections or anyone to back him.

In an army tangled with powerful families, where noble sons took nominal posts and claimed other men’s victories, rising through the ranks was no easy thing.

I might have seemed calm, but I had been afraid all along.

Afraid the captain I married would be coarse, violent, impossible to speak to.

Even with my lady looking out for me, I feared an unhappy life.

But Lu Yan seemed even more nervous than I was.

He was too young to have learned to hide his feelings.

His callused hands were so rough that my wrist reddened beneath them, though he had used hardly any force.

Flustered, Lu Yan tried to let go. I caught his hand instead.

I drew him down beside me on the bed. The wedding rites had left me exhausted.

“My birthday is in the third month. I’ll be sixteen in two months.”

Talking like this eased some of the tension in Lu Yan’s body.

“You’re still very young.”

He noticed my pale face, and his voice softened.

“Don’t be frightened. I won’t do anything. Go to sleep. I won’t disturb you.”

I edged closer to him.

“Husband, could you hold me while I sleep? I’m a little cold.”

It was an ailment left by my time in the woodshed. Ever since then, I had dreaded the cold. My hands and feet were always icy.

His chest was firm and warm, comfortable to lean against.

I rested there for a while, then opened my eyes again.

“Husband, why is your heart beating so fast? It’s so loud I can’t sleep.”

He had only just promised not to disturb me, and now I was asking him this.

Lu Yan looked thoroughly embarrassed. He opened his mouth and made a poor attempt to cover it up.

“I’m not trying to keep you awake. I was thinking about something.”

I turned over, no longer sleepy, and looked at him with curious dark eyes.

“About what?”

My movement startled him. He quickly looked away.

“I come from a poor family. My parents died when I was young. To be honest, I never thought I would marry.”

“For someone like me to command a hundred men—that’s already more than many men in the army could hope for.”

His gaze moved over the old, gray furniture and ceiling beams.

“I even earned enough in rewards to buy this little place in the capital. I’ve always been content with that.”

Leaning against his shoulder, I said softly,

“Of course, husband. You’ve done so well.”

I was not lying. I meant every word.

“But now I think I want more.”

Moonlight spilled into the room. My pale face looked out of place amid those surroundings.

At last Lu Yan looked at me, his dark eyes intent on my face.

The heartbeat beside my ear gradually steadied. He held me closer, and I grew warmer.

Lu Yan said,

“Command of a thousand men. Ten thousand. Even a general’s rank, with real power.”

“I want to try for those things, too.”