The Witch in the Woods: The Transmigration of Hazel-Anne Davis

I didn't bother to sleep last night.

There didn't seem to be much point.

The nobles were still feasting well past midnight—music, wine, posturing. Pretending not to notice when one of their daughters stumbled out of a tent with her hair unpinned and her dress inside out. The Crown Prince hadn't returned to camp, and the Emperor hadn't asked why. And I?

I had work to do.

The hunting grounds stretched for miles, curving along the base of the eastern ridge and sloping gently into thick pine. They'd spent weeks clearing the worst of the brush, setting out bait, and ensuring it looked tame enough for soft men to play hero.

I simply added a few touches of my own.

A noose here. A pressure plate there. A tangle of vines that looked natural until you stepped on them and found your leg caught in a snare strong enough to rip muscle. I didn't even need poison for this part. Pain was enough.

It wasn't about killing anyone. Not yet. It was more about control, and I was very, very good at that.

By the time the sun had barely begun to stretch its fingers across the sky, the camp was already stirring. Servants lit braziers for the nobles to warm their hands. Bowstrings were being checked, quivers counted, swords strapped tight. Even the Emperor was emerging from his tent with a broad smile and a fur-lined cape that dragged over the dirt like it had never known hardship.

A horn sounded once, and the hunt began.

The princes were loud.

Too loud.

Zhao Lianhua, the Third Prince, was doing his best to laugh along with the others, but I caught the twitch in his jaw every time someone mentioned traps. Every time someone chuckled about how 'someone' had gotten caught in the air like a flailing duck. His cheek was mostly healed now, the cut fading fast, but pride didn't scab over that easily.

He looked over at me again.

Dark, brooding. Angry.

Good.

He shouldn't have worried, though. There was going to be a lot more falling into traps today.

After all, it wasn't like I was solely targeting him.

I was all for equal opportunity misery.

The group split into factions, like they always did. The eldest princes headed toward the deeper woods, hoping for a buck or boar to earn the Emperor's praise. Some of the lesser concubines' sons lingered closer to the edge, where rabbits and squirrels could be hunted without much risk to their silk. A few of the foreign dignitaries tried to stick to Deming and Sun Longzi, hoping to gain favor through proximity, but Longzi's stare was enough to make them reconsider.

And then there was me.

I stood at the edge of the trees, my sleeves tied back, my boots caked with old mud from last night's stroll. Shi Yaozu stood behind me, silent as always, but I could feel his attention like a weight between my shoulder blades.

"You're not going with them?" he asked quietly, his voice low so that only I could hear. "The hunt is just beginning."

"Who said I haven't already started?" I replied, a bright smile on my face.

He didn't reply, but I saw the curve of his mouth. A faint, crooked thing that might have been amusement or admiration—or maybe something darker. Yaozu didn't smile for show. He only did it when it meant something.

I took a slow breath and started walking, letting the trees swallow us.

Already, I could hear the first shouts of alarm echoing from deeper in the woods. One of the princes, maybe the youngest, had triggered a log swing trap. Not deadly, but painful. Enough to break a rib if it hit him square in the chest. Hopefully, he wouldn't duck and take the hit like a man.

The Emperor laughed.

Not cruelly. Not loudly. Just a quiet, pleased sound as he leaned back on his palanquin and accepted a cup of wine.

Drunk and injured sons didn't pose a threat to his throne. The more they joked and stumbled and fought over nothing, the easier it would be to pick a puppet later. Someone charming. Someone easy to control.

It really wasn't hard to see where he was going with everything.

He didn't even glance toward me, and I was fine with that.

Let them keep thinking I was nothing but a pretty decoration on the Crown Prince's arm. A woman with strange eyes and stranger pets. It was better that way.

"Three men are trailing us," Yaozu said suddenly.

I didn't break stride. "Uniformed?"

"No. Civilian hunting leathers. But they're armed." A pause. "Not for hunting."

"How far behind?"

"Sixty paces. Fanning wide."

I nodded once and ducked beneath a low branch. "Let them follow. There's a surprise waiting for them in the gorge."

"You left something there?"

I hummed. "More like… something came back."

Shadow had found it first—a den long abandoned by wolves, tucked into the hollow beneath a rock shelf. I'd left a trail of meat and blood last night. Nothing magical. Nothing unnatural. Just enough to lure in a new predator; just enough so that nature could do the rest.

If they made it past the false trail markers, they'd meet it. If not? Well. They'd still learn something.

"Do you think it's a test?" Yaozu asked suddenly, his voice more thoughtful now.

"Whose?"

"The Emperor's. Or maybe the Crown Princess of Baiguang. Sending you on the hunt. Watching who you help… and who you don't."

I didn't answer right away.

Instead, I stopped at the edge of a small ravine and looked down. Below, a few of the nobles were trying to chase a buck into a narrow trap route. It wasn't going to work. The buck would double back and slam into them before they even realized it was gone.

"Everything is a test," I said finally. "But not all of them are worth passing."

He fell quiet after that.

We continued walking, stepping over roots and ducking under old growth. The sunlight was starting to filter more fully now, gold slicing through the canopy, lighting motes of dust and pollen like floating stars.

I saw another trap marker ahead. Red twine, looped twice around a branch.

"Want to watch?" I asked.

Yaozu gave a soft grunt. "Always."

We waited.

A heartbeat. Another.

Then—

A shriek. A thunk. A puff of startled birds.

I didn't even look.

"Shame," I murmured, brushing past the marker. "I liked his boots."

Yaozu chuckled behind me. Just once.

The hunt had begun.

And I hadn't even drawn my blade.