Nanowrimo 2022 - Day 22 Word Count and Best Bit (Patreon)

Today I added 2,987 words to my project, bringing the total to 38,637! Hopefully I will be able to keep this up and make a big sprint to the end this week!

Five sets of eyes stared her down, analyzing her words and her body language. Again, someone searched for the sincerity behind her words. Could they find it behind all the lies she'd just spewed? How much of what she said would they believe, and what? The silence made her desperate. She had this one chance to make this peaceful. If she left empty-handed, she would never be able to return peacefully.

She pushed away from Bai Xue's arms, ignoring the sweet, questioning way he called her name. She stood, striding forward with determination and clarity of purpose. Yu Nuan leapt towards her, drawing a sword from underneath her cloak.

"You will come no further," she growled.

But Jin Xia did not need to. Instead, she once more dropped to her knees, her eyes keeping hold of the high king's blue gaze as long as she could as she leaned forward until her forehead rested against the cold stone of the floor. A sharp gasp reached her ears, but she could not tell from who it came. Though the west was far more egalitarian than the empire, even they had to know the significance of her prostrating herself in such a way. No member of the imperial family bowed so low to anyone.

"I beg you, High King of the West," she said, her voice the steadiest it'd been all day as she spoke the only full truth she'd uttered since arriving in the west. "Entrust your people to me. Let me save them from the bloody end my brother and father envision for them. Let me protect them in the way I would protect my own. Let me shield them from the cruelty of my father in the way I have not been."

She kept her head down, eyes staring unblinkingly at the grey stones below her. The chill of them bit at the skin on her forehead and knees, but she knew it would be nothing compared to the bite of a blade.

Heavy footsteps echoed in the heavy silence, a shadow engulfing that little she could see out of the corners of her eyes. A warm hand touched her arm, urging her to sit up. The high king knelt before her. At this closeness, she could see where his white hair was turning grey at his temples, his brows heavy with the lines of leadership.

"Stand, Imperial Princess Jin Xia," he said, his voice heavy with the sense of duty that came with rulership. "And humor this old man by passing a test for him."