Bureaucrats that this thief-catcher obediently served.
‘Then there’s also the matter of a stolen shipment of jade and gold.’ He held up her carving. The lamplight flickered over the jade.
‘This is not stolen.’
He raised his eyebrows at her.
She felt a twinge of loss at seeing her sole possession in his hands. ‘It’s mine.’
Han gave the jade a passing glance before tucking it into the fold of his robe. ‘What about all the other missing treasures?’
‘I don’t know what treasures you’re speaking of,’ she said blandly, her face showing nothing.
More raised eyebrows and a disconcerting touch of amusement at the corners of his mouth. That sort of smile in the right sort of light could disarm a woman, but Li Feng only gave him a hard look in return. She was already disarmed and this was definitely the wrong sort of light.
They loved telling stories about Thief-catcher Han in Fujian province ever since he’d defeated the bandit chief known as Two Dragon Lo. Zheng Hao Han had become somewhat of a romantic figure, yet her thoughts were anything but romantic while she was trussed and helpless before him. Especially when he seemed to be enjoying it.
‘Miss Wen.’ He suddenly appeared serious. ‘I’ve been wondering about your sword skill. You say you have no master, but if I had to guess your style, I would say its foundation is from Wudang Mountain?’
She tried not to let her surprise show. They’d had a brief exchange at the tavern, hardly enough for him to discern any particular technique.
He kept his gaze levelled on her, scrubbing a hand over the hard cut of his jaw. ‘From your silence, I think I must be correct. The Wudang forms are known for their fluidity and are often likened to dance.’
Whether or not she hated him, Li Feng had to admit that Han had captured her. Again. He was more than a dim-witted sword-for-hire. He had been carefully tracking her and assessing her abilities. All while she hadn’t given him a single thought. She deserved her defeat.
Li Feng looked at him now with new eyes—as the enemy. His fighting experience, like so many thief-catchers, probably came from serving in the military. His choice of weapon, the straight-bladed dao, confirmed that.
‘The shopkeeper in town told you about me,’ she ventured.
‘You seem to have a fondness for jade shops across the county. Yet you never have anything to sell. I would expect a thief to try to profit from her bounty as soon as possible.’ He was watching for her reaction. ‘I considered that you might be gathering information for more underhanded activities, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.’
‘I told you, I didn’t take any of the jade.’
He wagged a finger at her. ‘So you had accomplices. Don’t try to be clever with your words, Miss Wen. I’m wondering why, after such a grand take, you are not enjoying newfound riches? A falling out with your comrades, perhaps?’
‘If I told you, would you release me?’
‘No.’
‘I don’t suppose begging for mercy would do any good either,’ she remarked drily.
He paused at that. ‘No,’ he said finally, his expression inscrutable. After a tense silence, he spoke again. ‘If you are indeed guilty of the theft, you must accept the consequences. You might be sentenced to time in the cangue for theft. At worst, you may suffer a public beating. Most likely you’ll be sentenced to servitude to make up for your crimes.’ Han listed off the punishments as if reading from a code book.
‘Are you certain?’ she challenged. ‘There was quite an expensive amount of jade stolen … as I hear.’
‘The magistrate will be lenient seeing as you’re a woman.’
‘I’ll be shown mercy after I confess under torture.’
A frown creased his brow. It was clear he was disturbed by her directness, but said nothing to refute her claims. She may have lived for most of her life away from the affairs of the world, but she’d learned very quickly about how justice truly worked. Some magistrates were crueller than others, but none, by the very nature of their position, was particularly kind.
‘I will do my best to see that you are treated fairly,’ he said, though it was a faint promise. He apparently thought having her head and arms locked in the cangue or publicly beaten was ‘fair’.
‘Why would Thief-catcher Han want to help a suspected criminal like me?’
‘Because you rescued me.’ He wasn’t pleased to admit it.
She sat up straight, confused. ‘I did no such thing.’
‘On the rooftop, you could have let me fall.’
Li Feng recalled reaching out for him, her hand closing around his wrist. She hadn’t even remembered the incident until he brought it up. ‘I acted on instinct.’
‘Most criminals only have the instinct to save themselves.’
They regarded one another across the tavern. There was an undeniable connection between them. Like Han, she didn’t particularly like it. Li Feng didn’t believe in fate, but if she hadn’t caught him, he would have fallen. Perhaps he would have broken an arm or a leg. It would have been very difficult to pursue her while restricted to the use of one leg.
‘What are you smiling about?’ he asked warily.
She thinned out her lips. ‘Let me go and you can consider your debt repaid.’
‘No.’
‘But I’m a helpless woman.’
‘Justice is justice, for man or woman.’
She exhaled in exasperation. He spoke the words with such conviction, but she found it hard to believe him. A mercenary didn’t care about justice or injustice. He only cared about his reward.
‘Did you promise leniency to Two Dragon Lo?’ she asked.
His expression darkened and his light, casual demeanour disappeared. Everyone knew the story. Two Dragon Lo had murdered every other thief-catcher who had gone after him. His gang had even defeated a constable and his entire squad of hired swordsmen. Yet Zheng Hao Han had ventured alone into the forest that was Lo’s stronghold and had killed the notorious bandit with his own hands.
‘Two Dragon Lo was a different matter.’
Tension gathered in his shoulders as Han came forwards and wrapped a hand around her ankle. His touch was firm, but oddly gentle. She considered kicking him out of spite, but their gazes locked and he gave her a sharp and pointed look that was full of warning. In brusque, efficient movements, he coiled another length of rope around her ankles before extinguishing the lamp. She heard the sound of him settling on to the ground not too far away.
She didn’t know if Han deserved his reputation for being the god of thief-catchers, lowly god that it was, but he had thwarted her on her one
