Scorned by the Emperor for Ten Years, I Burned My Way to Freedom

I was about to speak when I looked up and saw Cassius standing behind Eloise.

Those cold, imperious eyes, unchanged in ten years. Not by a fraction.

When I didn't respond, Eloise ground her teeth and snapped:

"I knew it! You've been playing hard to get this whole time! You say you don't want anything, you don't compete for anything, but the second I tell you to go to the Cold Palace, you won't do it! Liar!"

"Eloise."

Cassius said her name, just once, and every sharp edge on her smoothed out in an instant. She burrowed into his arms, small and pitiful.

Even though I had given Cassius a daughter five years ago, Eloise was still the only child who existed in his eyes.

He'd even sent my baby away the day after I gave birth, afraid that having my own child would make me less devoted to Eloise. A baby I had nearly died delivering.

The agony of labor was nothing compared to the pain of being separated from my daughter.

But for the honor of my family, for my parents stationed on the distant frontier, I had pulled myself together and gone back to pleasing this father and daughter.

Ten years, though.

I was done.

For the first time, I did not bow or greet Cassius. I looked him straight in the eye.

"Your subject Angelica Maxwell has offended the late Empress and failed in her care of Princess Eloise. I request to be sent to the Cold Palace."

Cassius walked toward me, slow and deliberate. Those deep-set eyes betrayed nothing.

"Are you throwing a tantrum?"

"But you did offend the late Empress today."

I knelt and pressed my forehead to the ground. "The fault is mine. I ask Your Majesty to send me to the Cold Palace."

I had called myself "your subject," not "your consort." The same term I'd used ten years ago, before any of this began.

Cassius's brow furrowed tight.

"Eloise spoke out of anger. Why must you hold it against her? Besides, she can't do without you."

"Apologize to her nicely, right now, and I'll pretend I never heard any of this."

He assumed I would do what I had always done: lower my head and beg their forgiveness.

I didn't move.

Eloise, tired of waiting for her apology, balled her fists and charged at me, pounding blow after blow against my body.

"You're the one who wants to take my mother's place! Why won't you apologize to me!"

"You promised you'd never have children of your own besides me! You lied! You're the one who wronged me!"

Her fists struck the exact spot where I'd been injured half a month ago, saving her when she fell from a horse. Pain tore through me so fast my face contorted.

Cassius only looked annoyed. "She's a ten-year-old girl. How hard can she possibly hit?"

Then the blood began seeping through my shoulder, staining the fabric dark.

Only then did his expression shift. He reached out and caught Eloise's arm.

Eloise stared at the spreading red, startled, but she still lifted her chin in defiance.

"You were already hurt. Don't you dare blame me for that!"

I looked at Eloise with a bitter half-smile. "The Princess is absolutely right."

I had no desire to argue with a child. All I wanted now was to get away from this father and daughter as fast as I could.

I had promised Cassius I would never bear a child of my own. Every time I was called to his bed, I drank the contraceptive draught without fail.

But five years ago, Cassius had accidentally been dosed with an aphrodisiac. That night he was relentless, and I couldn't escape him.

I didn't wake until the following evening. I took the draught immediately.

Two weeks later, the routine health check still came back pregnant.

Cassius said nothing at the time, but his brow stayed knotted, and it didn't ease.

The frontier was in crisis then. Morale among the troops had plummeted.

Cassius, still seething, had been withholding supply shipments. To rally the soldiers, to give my parents and brother fighting on the border something to hold on to, I had no choice.

I let word of the pregnancy spread.

Cassius had no sons. For a dynasty, there was no greater vulnerability.

So when news broke that I was with child, the entire empire believed the throne finally had an heir.