They Should Have Killed Me

Elowen Fairfax is summoned to the Crown Prince's bridal selection, only for a penniless scholar named Corbin Ash to burst into the hall and accuse her of abandoning him. Her elder half sister Rosamund weeps and supports the charge, and Crown Prince Cedric orders Elowen dragged out, though he had named her a junior consort moments before. Her father, Lord Fairfax, strikes her name from the family rolls and bars her from Fairfax Hall.

Rosamund then admits she forged the letters in Elowen's name to claim the Crown Princess's place. Corbin arrives with a deed showing the family sold Elowen to him for ten silver marks; when he drags her away, she stabs him with her hairpin and flees the city, collapsing as a cold voice orders her taken along.

Five years later, Elowen returns as Thalenor's Lord Marshal, commanding thirty thousand cavalry, to receive Corveth's tribute delegation led by Cedric and Rosamund. Before the Dowager Empress Seraphine, she asks why Corveth's tribute register omits three frontier cities seized from Thalenor five years ago.