Chapter 4

My mother rushed into the courtyard.

She pulled Rosalind off the broken porcelain and held her like a wounded child.

"Rosalind. Where are you hurt?"

Rosalind threw herself into her arms.

"Aunt Cordelia, she was going to cripple my hand."

My mother turned and slapped me.

Hard.

"Rosalind spent her whole childhood lost from us and suffered more than you can imagine. We took her in because we owe her. What's wrong with giving her a little more?"

I tasted blood at the corner of my mouth and licked it away.

"That one was on her account?"

Mother's expression stayed cold.

"And if it was?"

I nodded.

"Noted."

My father stepped toward me.

"Release His Majesty. Kneel and beg the Empress's pardon."

"And if I don't?"

His voice turned hard.

"Then House Ashbourne casts you out. From this moment, whether you live or die is nothing to us."

I laughed.

"When you took the Shadow Guard seal, it wasn't nothing to you.

"When you emptied her dowry vault, it wasn't nothing to you either."

Father's eyes shifted.

Then he forced the anger back into his face.

"The Shadow Guard were Mara's rebels. She was cruel and dangerous. She deserved what she got."

Mother pointed at me.

"If your sister were alive, even she'd be ashamed to see you attacking the Empress."

My smile grew.

So I'd deserved it.

They'd cried very differently three years ago, on their knees, begging me to disappear.

Rosalind, with both of them beside her, found her nerve again.

"If you kneel and admit what you've done, I'll ask His Majesty to spare your life."

She sniffed delicately.

"I'll even have the Winter Wing repaired so you don't freeze or starve."

I looked at her bleeding knees.

"Didn't kneeling suit you the first time?"

Her face went white.

She ducked behind my mother.

Mother snatched up the whip and struck at me.

This time I caught it.

One pull sent her stumbling forward.

I wound the whip around her wrists and tied her to the leg of the table.

Father charged.

I kicked a heavy stool over onto his foot and leaned down slowly with my boot.

His face went gray.

I smiled at him.

"Before you throw me out of the family, Father, you should settle what you owe."

Lucien shouted to the guards.

"Cut the tendons in her hands."

More than a dozen soldiers drew their swords.

I let go of the whip.

Then I bent and picked up a long blade.

Rosalind smirked from behind my mother.

"Without House Ashbourne behind you, you're nothing."

I ignored her.

I turned the sword once in my palm.

A second time.

On the third turn, I ran my thumb slowly along the flat of the blade.

It was a habit.

A very old one.

When Elara and I were children, someone pushed her into an iced-over lake on purpose.

I'd turned a blade three times exactly like this, and then broken that person's arms and legs one at a time while our parents watched.

My mother's anger went out like a candle.

The color drained from her face.

Father forgot the pain in his foot and stumbled backward.

I walked toward them with the sword hanging loose at my side.

"Father.

"Mother."

My voice was almost affectionate.

"Three years is a long time."

I stopped in front of them.

"Did you miss me?"

Neither of them answered.

I smiled.

"Then maybe one of you can finally tell me—where is my sister?"