Chapter 1: The Seal I Should Not Have Touched

In Chen Qing's defense, the inscription on the bronze jar had said "do not open" in classical Chinese, which she absolutely could read, and she had opened it anyway.

In her further defense, she had a PhD in ancient artifacts and fourteen years of field experience, and she had never once encountered an actual supernatural entity sealed inside a decorative vessel from the Tang Dynasty.

The explosion of golden light that followed was, she would later admit, completely her fault.

When the light faded, there was a man standing in the middle of her excavation site. He was tall. His hair was loose and white as snow. His robes were a thousand years out of date. And he was looking at her with the expression of someone who had woken up from a very long sleep to find a very unwelcome stranger standing on his face.

"You," he said, his voice carrying the particular weight of someone who was accustomed to being obeyed, "have made a catastrophic mistake."

"Hi," said Chen Qing. "I'm an archaeologist."

He stared at her.

"You broke the seal."

"Technically I unscrewed the lid, so—"

"One thousand and forty-three years," he said. He was not shouting. He was doing something worse — he was very, very calm. "I was three months away from completing my penance. Three months. And you—" He stopped. Looked at her hand. At the faint golden light still fading from her palm. His expression shifted from fury to something she could not read. "The contract."

"What contract," Chen Qing said.

"The binding contract that activates when the seal is broken by a mortal." He closed his eyes. "You are now my wife."

Chen Qing stared at him for a very long time.

"I want a divorce," she said.