Chapter 4

Anya seemed unable to bear the stench of blood in the family shrine, and her brow creased.

Nanny Gwen took the hint.

"Get it out to the mass grave, quickly. Don't let it foul the mistress's eyes."

I watched them wrap Alden in a straw mat and carry him out.

I said nothing.

There was no one here who would ever help me.

The one person who had stood by me when I was punished, Alden, was dead too.

A grief I could not put into words made everything around me go silent.

"The longer this drags on, the more can go wrong. Take him to the princess's manor at first light. Say he has admired the princess for a long while and cannot wait another moment."

She meant to hand me over to the princess at once.

Numb, I let them dress me in the wedding clothes, let them arrange me however they pleased.

Anya looked at the deadened emptiness on my face and came over herself, a small vial in her hand.

She pried my mouth open and poured the sweet liquid down my throat.

She sneered.

"However upright and proper you carry yourself, once you've drunk this, you'll be begging for a woman's touch."

I had many questions I wanted to ask her.

Did she hate me so much that she wished me dead?

But the answer no longer mattered.

"Mother, you will regret this."

Someone would avenge me.

They helped me into the sedan.

The potion took hold. A heat rose from my belly and spread upward.

I lifted a bronze mirror. The man in it had a flush across his face, red enough to frighten.

At least the drug was strong.

"Cough."

I coughed up a mouthful of blood, and the bronze mirror slipped from my hand and fell to the floor.

A body worn through with wounds could never withstand a drug this fierce, and with the fresh injuries on top of it, I was already spent.

"Mother..."

If she knew it was her own potion that took my life, what expression would her face wear?

It didn't matter. I had left her a gift.

I hoped she would still be able to smile when the time came.

Slowly I closed my eyes, my breath growing fainter with each rise and fall.

Before long, the breathing stopped.

Father, Alden, I'm coming to find you.

...

Seated in the marquess's manor, Anya felt a sharp pain in her chest, as if something important had vanished.

She pressed a hand to it.

"That beast must have angered me into it. Another day I'll go to the temple and have a master drive off the bad luck."

Harvey patted her hand.

"You've worked hard, my dear. Howard, hurry now and thank your mother."

Howard fawned over her while Peggy chimed in with teasing, the whole scene warm and merry.

"My lord! My lady! Someone has come from the palace!"

A servant rushed in to report, flustered.

The eunuch had brought a decree.

"By the will of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Cecil Dickerson, Left Grand Secretary, whose learning spans the classics and histories and whose talent reaches into the affairs of the world, is hereby appointed Right Assistant Inspector of the Board of Inspectors, dispatched to Ashford to oversee the grain and provisions and to set the troops and defenses in order."

The eunuch tucked the imperial decree away, smiling.

"Now, which of you is the Right Assistant Inspector?"