Chapter 1

My elder half sister secretly exchanged love letters with a penniless scholar and made me deliver them for her every time.

On the day I attended the Crown Prince's bridal selection, that scholar burst into the hall and accused me of abandoning him.

"She promised to marry me before year's end, but now she's throwing me away. Your Highness, please give a poor man justice."

Even my sister stepped forward to support his accusation.

Her eyes reddened as she wept. "Elowen, how could you be so foolish? I begged you to end things with him, but you refused to listen."

The entire court erupted.

No one listened when I tried to defend myself, and I was expelled despite having already been chosen for the royal household.

My father was so furious that he struck my name from the family rolls and ordered me out of the capital.

The night before I fled, my sister finally told me the truth.

"You never guessed, did you? I wrote those letters in your name on purpose."

"You're only the daughter of a household consort. What right did you have to compete for the Crown Princess's place? I was always the proper choice."

Five years later, I returned.

By then, my sister was a queen - and she was the one kneeling before me, begging for mercy.

Chapter 1

"A disgrace to this house!" my father snarled. "I raised a daughter without honor."

"Father!" I caught at his sleeve. "I didn't do it. I swear I didn't. Please believe me."

He tore himself free, turned toward Crown Prince Cedric and the king, and dropped to his knees. "My household failed in discipline and produced this shame. I accept whatever punishment the Crown commands."

Crown Prince Cedric looked at me once, his expression cool with displeasure.

"Elowen Fairfax has deceived the court and disgraced the selection. Remove her from the hall at once."

"Your Highness!" I cried. "I'm innocent. Those letters are forged. I don't even know that scholar."

No one listened.

A quarter hour earlier, Cedric had appeared pleased with me and named me a junior consort of his future household.

I had thought that appointment might finally lift me above the rank I had been born into. I never imagined Rosamund, my own elder half sister, would destroy me like this.

With only a few carefully chosen words, she had placed her own secret correspondence with the scholar in my hands and made the scandal mine.

Two royal guards seized my arms and dragged me from the chamber.

In the end, I was thrown beyond the palace gates.

The square outside was crowded with people who had come to watch the noble bridal selection. They pointed the moment they saw me.

"That's her? Pretty face. Rotten character."

"I heard she was caught trying to run away with some starving scholar."

"House Fairfax will never live this down."

My legs felt filled with lead as I made my way back to Fairfax Hall.

What waited for me was a pair of locked crimson doors.

My hand shook as I struck the iron knocker. "Open the door. Let me in."

A side entrance creaked open, and Bram, the steward, looked at me without warmth.

"Miss Elowen, stop knocking. Lord Fairfax has ordered that the house no longer recognizes you. Your name has been struck from the family rolls."

"What?" My knees gave way and I sank onto the steps.

Then a rough, damp hand clamped around my wrist.

"Heh. Come on, Elowen. Time to go home with your new man."

I turned in horror. It was Corbin Ash, the same penniless scholar who had disrupted the bridal selection.

He looked me over with open hunger.

"Let go of me. What are you doing?" I fought to pull away.

Corbin laughed and waved a deed in front of my face. "Your family decided you were too much trouble. They transferred you to me before sunset. Ten silver marks, and now you belong to me. Be sensible and come home."

"No. I'm not going anywhere with you. Let me go." I bit down on his hand as hard as I could.

He shouted, struck me across the face, and knocked me into the mud.

Cursing, he reached for a cord at his belt to bind my wrists.

At that moment, the main doors of Fairfax Hall opened again.

Rosamund stood high on the steps, looking down at me.

"This is what happens when you reach for the Crown Princess's place."

She descended slowly and stopped in front of me. "Did you really think a pretty face and one royal appointment could overturn everything? You're the daughter of Father's household consort. What right did you have to compete with me?"

Then she turned and walked back through the gates.

"Move." Corbin grabbed my hair and dragged me toward the dark lane beside the house.

Blood from my forehead ran into my mouth, and the metallic taste ignited something fierce inside me.

I would not die face down in the filth. Not like this.

Under cover of darkness, I tore the long pin from my hair and drove it into his neck with everything I had.

He screamed and collapsed, clutching the wound.

I scrambled to my feet and ran for the city gates without looking back.

I did not know how long I kept moving. Eventually my legs stopped obeying me and I fell.

As consciousness faded, I sensed someone approaching.

A low, cold voice spoke above me. "Interesting. Take her with us."

Chapter 2

Five years later.

A delegation from Corveth rolled slowly through the gates of Evercairn, capital of the Empire of Thalenor, while citizens crowded both sides of the avenue to watch.

From the city wall, I saw that the envoy at the head of the delegation was Crown Prince Cedric.

He sat rigidly in the lead carriage, his face dark. Rosamund sat beside him with her head lowered.

Five years had thinned her. Her chin was sharper, shadows lay beneath her eyes, and even heavy powder could not hide the exhaustion.

When I stepped into the road before the palace gates, both of them stopped as though struck.

"You..." Rosamund's voice shook. "You're alive?"

I smiled and inclined my head in the formal greeting owed to visiting royalty. "Crown Princess, it has been a long time."

She swayed and nearly lost her footing.

Cedric caught her arm, then stared at me with such intensity that his voice came out hoarse. "How are you here?"

"Why shouldn't I be?" I kept smiling.

"Corveth has come to offer tribute to Thalenor. As Thalenor's Lord Marshal, I am naturally here to receive you."

"Lord Marshal?" Rosamund's voice rose to a shrill pitch. "You? By what right?"

"By decree of the Dowager Empress, by the young emperor's favor, and by the thirty thousand cavalry under my command."

I adjusted one cuff. "Does the Crown Princess have an objection?"

Rosamund's lips trembled, but no words came.

Cedric's gaze cut like a blade. "Elowen, what game did you play to get this far?"

"Game?" I laughed. "Your Highness gives me too much credit. I arrived in Thalenor with nothing. The empire needed soldiers, and I happened to survive long enough to win a few campaigns."

"Campaigns?" Cedric sneered. "What victory could a ruined woman possibly claim?"

"The battle that broke Corveth's northern frontier was mine," I said calmly. "I took three of your cities and brought thirty thousand surrendered soldiers under Thalenor's banner. If you doubt it, ask the prisoners whether they remember my face."

Cedric's expression changed completely.

Of course he knew those battles.

Corveth had agreed to tribute because an unknown northern army had shattered three cities in rapid succession and left the court scrambling to respond.

"The hour is late." I stepped aside. "Crown Prince. Crown Princess. Please. His Majesty and the Dowager Empress are waiting in the audience hall."

I turned and walked ahead, leaving them behind me.

I did not need to see their faces to know how bitter the sight of me had become.

Inside the great audience chamber, the imperial throne stood empty, and a tall screen of gilded latticework stood between it and the assembled ministers. Dowager Empress Seraphine sat behind the screen.

Cedric and Rosamund knelt in the center of the hall while Corveth's envoys presented the state letter and tribute register.

A herald read the list aloud while the court listened in silence.

"One hundred thousand gold crowns, two hundred thousand silver crowns, five thousand bolts of silk, three thousand bolts of brocade, and two hundred warhorses - offered by Corveth in tribute to Thalenor."

When the reading ended, the hall remained still.

The Dowager Empress's measured voice came from behind the screen. "Corveth's sincerity is noted. Accept the tribute and lodge the envoys in the royal guesthouse."

"Thalenor has our thanks." Halden Rook, Corveth's senior envoy, bowed repeatedly, visibly relieved.

Cedric and Rosamund prepared to rise as well.

"Wait."

Chapter 3

I stepped out from the ranks and bowed at the center of the hall. "Your Majesty, I ask leave to question Corveth's envoys."

There was a brief silence behind the screen. "Granted."

I turned toward the delegation. "Why does Corveth's tribute register omit the three frontier cities it seized from Thalenor five years ago?"

Halden Rook went pale. "Lord Marshal... I was charged only with delivering tribute. The question of cities is beyond my authority."

"Beyond your authority?" I smiled. "Then carry this message home. Thalenor will have those cities back. Return them willingly, and we will reduce the tribute by one third. Refuse, and I will come for them myself."

"Elowen!" Cedric shot to his feet, face livid. "This is a diplomatic settlement. What place does one woman have threatening war in the middle of court?"

I looked at him with a faint smile. "When I broke your frontier army, one of your commanders asked much the same question. He died on my blade before he got an answer."

The color came and went in his face.

The envoys behind him were trembling. Rook bowed almost double. "Lord Marshal, I will deliver your words exactly. I swear it."

"Good." I returned to my place and bowed toward the screen. "I have finished."

A quiet laugh came from behind the screen.

The herald announced the end of court.

Ministers filed out. Cedric and Rosamund were being helped from the chamber when Rosamund suddenly caught my sleeve.

"Elowen..." Her voice broke. "Can we talk?"

I stopped, looked down at the hand gripping my sleeve, and slowly pulled the fabric free.

"Crown Princess, remember yourself."

Then I walked from the hall without looking back.

Her muffled sob followed me.

I did not slow. I headed directly toward the carriage waiting outside the palace gates.

My deputy commander, Lucan Greaves, leaned against the wheel and looked up as I approached. "How did it go?"

"Everything is in place. Now we wait for the last piece to move."

Chapter 4

The Corveth delegation was lodged in Evercairn's royal guesthouse.

That evening, Rosamund came to see me.

She arrived without a carriage or attendants and wore a plain wool dress.

Five years ago, Rosamund had never appeared without jewels in her hair and embroidered silk on her back.

Now her dress had been washed nearly colorless, she wore no ornaments at all, and exhaustion had hollowed her face until she looked like a cut flower left too long in the vase.

She stood at the door of my study, looking at me. Her lips moved several times before sound came.

I set down the treatise on tactics I had been reading. "Sit."

She hesitated, then lowered herself into the chair beside the desk, twisting the edge of her skirt between both hands.

I spoke first. "Why are you here?"

"Elowen..." Her voice was rough. "I came to apologize."

I said nothing.

"What I did five years ago was wrong." Tears ran down her cheeks. "I know that now. About the three cities... could you ask the Dowager Empress to show mercy?"

She wiped her face with the back of one hand, crying harder. "Cedric said that if you agree to help us, he can make you Crown Princess."

"Crown Princess?" The idea was so absurd that I laughed.

I rose slowly and walked toward her.

"Rosamund, has living in Corveth rotted your judgment along with Cedric's?" I caught her chin and forced her to look at me. "I command thirty thousand cavalry. The Dowager Empress trusts me with the empire's defense. His Majesty receives me with every courtesy his court can give, and every minister in Thalenor addresses me as Lord Marshal."

I watched fear spread through her eyes. "What exactly does your defeated prince think he can offer me? The Crown Princess's chair in a court that came here to kneel and pay tribute? He isn't ashamed to offer it. I'm disgusted to have heard it."

Rosamund shook violently, tears falling onto my hand.

"No... Elowen, please..." She stumbled over the words. "Cedric truly regrets what happened. He said that if you would only spare us, Corveth would set you on its throne as queen."

"Stop performing." I released her with disgust, wiped my fingers on a handkerchief, and dropped the cloth into the brazier.

"You didn't come dressed like this because you suddenly grew a conscience. Cedric sent you, didn't he?" I looked at her coldly. "Corveth lost the war, ceded wealth, and now its king is furious. Cedric's place as heir is probably hanging by a thread. He has run out of doors to knock on, so now he remembers me."

Rosamund's face turned bloodless.

I had guessed correctly.

"Do you think I am still the powerless junior daughter you crushed five years ago?" I bent close enough that only she could hear. "You and Cedric destroyed my name with a sentence, threw me into the mud, and handed me to a man who meant to use me as property."

"Corbin Ash didn't live out the night. I put my hairpin through his throat and his blood went all over me." I looked at Rosamund's horrified expression and smiled without warmth.

Rosamund collapsed onto the floor, covered her face, and sobbed. "I was wrong. I was really wrong."

I straightened. My voice hardened. "Guards. See the Crown Princess out."

After she left, Lucan entered carrying a bowl of hot broth and set it in front of me.

I drank it in one swallow, wiped my mouth, and put down the bowl. "Tomorrow I'm going to the palace."

"To plead for them?"

"No," I said. "To prepare a gift for my sister and her prince."