Chapter 2They Should Have Killed Me

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."