Chapter 3 · free to read
The whole hall had turned to statues. Only two people were still standing. Me — and the most powerful man in the empire.
Rule one of my kitchen: never plate a dish you can't stand behind. I'd swapped the pot an hour ago.
She'd survived this court for ten years. She forgot he could hear a lie the way I can smell almonds.
I'd caught a saboteur, drunk poison for sport, and dazzled an emperor. And I still lost.
Artwork and narration generated with AI.