2
After speaking, I felt myself slipping into darkness. But a sharp prick from a healer’s needle jolted me back. “My lady, you cannot sleep,” he urged, wiping sweat from his brow. “If you sleep now, you may never wake. Think of your husband, your child! They are waiting for you!”
The King’s voice joined his. “Yes, yes, that’s right. You have saved the Crown. When you recover, I shall name you Lady Protector of the Realm, and you will want for nothing. And your child! If it is a girl, she shall be betrothed to my son, the Prince. If a boy, he will be granted a great title. You must hold on! I’ve already sent for Lord Valerius!”
I managed a weak, bitter smile. I was no fool. The moment that blade entered my womb, I knew my child was lost. As for Valerius… he would not come.
Just then, the messenger the King bad die
the floor.
The King’s brow furrowed. “Where is Lord Valerius?”
The page trembled. “My lord… Lord Valerius refuses to come. He said… he said not to use such cheap tricks
to gain his sympathy.”
The boy’s head hit the stone floor with a dull thud. I knew Valerius must have said far worse, things the page
dared not repeat in the King’s presence. Of course. In Valerius’s heart, I was worth less than a single hair on
Elara’s head.
And yet, I was his lawfully wedded wife. Elara was merely his mistress. He had abandoned his post, abando-
ned his King, to chase after her. That signal flare… I had knelt and begged him for it before he left.
in my last life, I lit it, and he called me ambitious. In this one, the King himself summoned him, and he ignor-
ed the call.
If he loved Elara so much, why had he ever married me?
Rage surged through me, and I coughed up another mouthful of blood.
The healer, his cap askew, glanced nervously at the King. “Your Majesty, the Lady’s emotions are too volatile. If she does not have family by her side at this critical moment, I fear she will not survive!”
The King looked at me, his jaw tight with fury, but he swallowed his anger. He pulled a heavy, carved jade pendant from his belt and threw it to the page.
“Go. Tell him it is a command from his King. If he does not come, I will have his head!”
He was truly enraged now. He was surrounded by guards, yet on this day, the one who mattered most was gone. I had nearly died for him, yet he could not even summon my husband. For a man of his absolute pow- er, it was a profound humiliation.
My condition was too fragile to be moved. The healers could only keep me alive with needles and potions while they brewed a stronger draught. When the page returned again, I was still conscious enough to hear his report.
This time, he was not alone.
With great effort, I opened my eyes. I saw a face I knew all too well from my past life: Elara’s handmaiden, Leah.
Leah had originally been my maid. But after I became pregnant, she had started poisoning my food. By the time it was discovered, I was on death’s door. I had been about to have her executed when Valerius had walked in, Elara on his arm.
I still remember the way he looked at me–with such coldness, as if I were not his wife, but his mortal ene- my.
Elara had been weeping clutching Look
Chapter 1
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Elara had been weeping, clutching Leah’s hand, her eyes pleading with me. “My lady, how can you be so cruel? You are not dead. Why must you take this girl’s life? It is monstrous! Valerius, my love, perhaps you could give her to me? Though I am only your mistress, surely I have the power to save one small life.”
