Chapter 1

My mother was the most virtuous stepmother in all of the imperial capital.

When my sister ran wild and split open the head of the Prime Minister's little granddaughter, my father wanted to punish her.

My mother stopped him.

"An elder sister stands in a mother's place. If Alma Henson did wrong, it is because her sister failed to set the example."

She had the servants strip off my outer robe and forced me, back bared, to go and beg forgiveness.

I knelt outside the Prime Minister's gate for three full days before they agreed to let the matter with my sister drop.

My mother remembered every wrong my brother and sister ever committed. But she only ever punished me.

"The twenty-third year of Daqing, the tenth day of the second month. Ulysses talked back to his tutor at the schoolhouse. The elder sister, Loretta Fox, failed in her duty to discipline him. Fifty strikes to the mouth."

"The first day of the fifth month. Alma fought a vice minister's daughter over a jeweled hair ornament and disgraced the noble house. Loretta to kneel in the family shrine for one night."

"The thirteenth day of the eighth month. Alma and Ulysses slipped off to the pleasure barge, behaving without shame. Loretta failed her duty as elder sister. Sixty lashes to the calves."

Every time I was punished, my brother and sister always stood by and watched.

Disciplining her stepchildren without ever taking a single blow herself, my mother's virtuous name spread far and wide.

Until, by accident, my sister crossed the notoriously cruel Prince Blake Sparks.

My mother handed down her verdict, cold and unbothered.

"Alma has behaved shamelessly and drawn the eye of an outside man. Loretta, since you are her elder sister and failed to teach her better, you will marry in her place."

To make sure I went to the wedding without a fuss, my mother slipped me an aphrodisiac drug.

My body already weak, I breathed my last inside the bridal sedan.

What my mother did not know was that I had long since struck a bargain with the most exalted man in the realm.

The imperial decree naming me Noble Consort was already on its way.

...

The betrothal gifts Prince Sparks had sent sat sprawled across the front courtyard.

Not one person could bring themselves to smile.

My sister most of all, her face bloodless, swaying as if she might fall.

The reason was simple. Everyone knew of the Prince's cruelty. He had taken three wives, and every one of them had died within a month.

The concubines who had died were beyond counting.

A fallen noble house had no way to refuse a prince of the blood.

My father, furious and heartsick both, lost his temper with my sister for once.

"Do you not know what kind of man Prince Sparks is? Once you marry into his household, it won't be long before they're holding your funeral!"

At his words, my sister could hold herself up no longer and crumpled to the floor, tears streaming down without end.

"I... I only gave him my handkerchief because he was handsome. I truly didn't know he was Prince Sparks!"

Her voice was thick with regret.

My father's face went iron-hard, and he turned his fury on my mother.

"Look at this fine daughter you raised! I knew it. She isn't yours by blood, so you never cared. Passing tokens to a man in secret. What girl from a good family would do something so shameless!"

My father tore into my mother's pride without mercy. The noble house may have fallen on hard times, but it still stood far above her own family.

My mother could barely keep her dignified composure, but she soon thought of a way out.

She looked at me.

"Kneel!"

I dropped to my knees on reflex.

My knees struck the cold ground, the hard floor grinding into them until it ached, but I was used to it.

After all, whenever my sister or brother did wrong, my mother would make me kneel and take the punishment.

My mother stood and took the disciplinary ruler a servant handed her.

First she stood before my sister, looking down on her, and scolded her.

"Do you understand where you went wrong?"

My sister only wept, unable to get a word out.

My mother swung the ruler backhanded across my back.

The force of it was so great you could hear the ruler cut the air.

Where it landed, the skin burned with a fierce, stinging pain.

"Ah!"

The cry tore out of me, but under my mother's warning glare I swallowed whatever came after.

My sister was too frightened to speak.

"First. Matters of marriage are decided by your parents. Who gave you leave to meet an outside man on your own?"

As she spoke, she brought the ruler down on my back again.

I bit down hard on my hand and tasted blood.

I could not make a sound while my mother was teaching my sister, or the punishment would only grow worse.

"Prince Sparks is not a man to reason with. Since he has sent the betrothal gifts, if we do not hand our daughter over obediently, the noble house is in mortal danger."

"And that is your second wrong."

The ruler cracked down twice more.

Cold sweat poured off me, and the pain sent the world swimming black before my eyes, over and over.

My mother's face gave nothing away. Each stroke fell heavier than the last.

My father turned his head away and said nothing.

At last, my sister admitted her fault.

"I was wrong!"

My sister stared, trembling, at the ruler in my mother's hand.

She set the ruler down and gently gathered my sister into her arms.

"My child. To know your fault and mend it is the greatest good of all."

"Your mother settled on a way to handle this long ago."

My sister looked up at her, delighted.

But a bad feeling had already taken hold of me.

I heard my mother say, one word at a time:

"An elder sister stands in a mother's place. Since Loretta could not keep her sister in line, then let Loretta be the one to marry."