Episode: Three months of find a king

The war maps were still bleeding when Elder Mo gave Li Zhanyi a death sentence.

_“Three months,”_ he said. Voice like a grinding stone. Like the edge of her lightning sword when it met bone. _“Find a king. Marry him. Or the 7th Kingdom dies with you.”_

Zhanyi stood in black battle leather. Not silk. Not crown. Not princess. _General_. The war had stripped all that from her two years ago when Father’s body came back in pieces.

Behind her, her sisters flanked her. Li Nan, elder twin. Kind eyes, diplomat’s hands. Li Mei, older twin. Healer’s touch, peacekeeper’s voice. Both looked like she’d worn something. Like grief was a dress they expected her to put on.

She didn’t.

Incense choked the Ancestral Hall. Father had been dead two years, but the smoke still smelled like his funeral. The kingdom would split by spring. The generals waited like wolves at the border, ready to carve us apart. Each one thinking he could be king. Each one wrong.

_“No ruler may sit in Li throne unless she presents a king,”_ Elder Mo continued. The law was old. Older than the Li bloodline. _“A man capable enough to hold the border or to sire heirs who can. The kingdom will not follow a woman alone. Not after what happened to your father.”_

What happened to Father was betrayal. What happened to Father was Wei Liang. General Wei Liang, who smiled while he fed Father’s army to the enemy at Black River. Who was supposed to be #17 on her list, until she cut his throat at Autumn Pass.

_“I am capable,”_ Zhanyi said. Her hand went to her sword. Lightning hummed under her palm. _“I held the border when Father died. I hold it now.”_

_“And when you die?”_ Elder Mo said. _“Your sisters are kind. Too kind. Li Nan would give the kingdom away to end a war. Li Mei would heal our enemies before our soldiers. You are lightning, Zhanyi. Lightning burns out. A kingdom needs a storm that lasts. A king.”_

Li Nan stepped forward. _“Elder Mo, there must be another way. She is—”_

_“She is bold,”_ Elder Mo cut in. _“And cruel, when she needs to be. The whole kingdom is loyal to Zhanyi, not to us. Not to the council. To _her_. That’s why they will die for her. And that’s why, when she dies without an heir, they will die _with_ her. Three months, Princess. Find a king. Or we bury the 7th Kingdom with your father.”_

Three months. To find a man capable for king. A man the kingdom would accept. A man the wolves at the border wouldn’t eat alive.

There were none. Not in the 7th Kingdom. Not in the six others. The generals wanted her throne, not her. The princes wanted her sisters, soft Li Nan or gentle Li Mei. No one wanted the lightning. No one wanted the cruel.

So she went looking for someone who wasn’t a man.

The Ghost Market opened only at the dead of night. Past the Black River, where the water ran cold even in summer. Where Father’s army had drowned. Where Wei Liang had smiled.

She found him there.

Not a man. A king.

Zhang Wei Yuan. King of Ghosts.

He sat on a throne of bones. Crown of rusted iron. Eyes like graves. He’d been dead longer than Father. After his death, he became king of the dead. His own kingdom killed him. His own brother drove the sword through his back. Now he wanted revenge from his bloodline.

_“You’re looking for a king,”_ he said. Voice was winter. Voice was 300 years of cold. _“I’m looking for revenge.”_

_“I don’t need a ghost,”_ she said. _“I need a husband. One capable enough to hold my border.”_

He stood. Towered. Not human. Not warm. _“And I don’t need a wife. I need a war. One capable enough to burn my old kingdom to ash.”_

The deal wrote itself in the air between them.

_“You become my husband,”_ she said. _“And I will help you in revenge.”_

_“You help me kill my brother,”_ he said. _“My old kingdom. My bloodline. And I will be the king who holds your border. I will be the storm that lasts.”_

He held out his hand. Cold. Dead. But strong enough to hold a sword. Strong enough to hold a kingdom.

_“The kingdom won’t accept a ghost,”_ she said.

_“Then make them,”_ he said. _“You’re bold. You’re cruel. Make them kneel.”_

She took his hand.

Lightning met winter.

The 7th Kingdom had a king.

The King of Ghosts had a war.

*End Ep 1.*

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