It began with a rumor.
A servant girl, scrubbing tiles near the eastern gate, swore she saw a red carriage draped in silks pull through the side entrance — not the main one used by foreign guests or visiting nobles. A private return. Secretive.
No banners flew. No names were spoken. But the palace whispered anyway.
"The beauty from the House of Arden has returned."
And only a handful knew what that meant:
Liora's sister was back.
---
Liora heard it at midday, while feeding her daughter with fruit slices soaked in honey water.
A handmaid, trying to act casual, mentioned it offhand. "A foreign-styled carriage came in — maybe from the Marquess's estate. They say the nobleman's favorite died recently. A tragic fire."
Liora didn't react. Not then. She simply wiped her daughter's chin and nodded.
But when she was alone, she let the fruit knife hover for a moment above the wooden tray.
"So she's free again."
The sister she'd maneuvered out of the palace. The girl with beauty like wildfire and ambition just as hungry. She'd been a mistress to the Queen's brother — now gone. And if she had returned…
The Queen might not just tolerate her.
She might use her.
---
Meanwhile, the Queen was dressing in mourning silk again.
Not for her stillborn child this time — but to attend a memorial held by the Marquess's estate. Her brother had perished weeks ago in a hunting accident that turned into a fire — though many believed it was no accident at all.
At her side stood Elira, in quiet attendance.
They had already received the private message from the estate.
"She seeks an audience," the letter had said.
"She brings news. And… a request."
The Queen folded the letter slowly and tucked it beneath the red ribbon of her sash. "A woman once cast out does not return empty-handed."
Elira's fan snapped open. "Nor with clean hands."
The Queen smiled without mirth. "Then let us see what she carries."
---
That evening, Liora did not sleep.
She watched Jun and the other handmaids light incense and whisper evening prayers. She drank tea brewed from red dates and wolfberries. She listened to the faint laughter of children two courtyards away.
And she remembered her sister's eyes.
Cold. Hungry. Always looking past people, toward power.
She remembered the last words she'd said to her before sending her to the noble's estate:
"You'll survive better as someone's secret than as someone's enemy."
Had she?
And if not… who would she try to destroy first?
---
In the Queen's private receiving hall, the woman stepped through the doors just after midnight.
She wore white, not black — a widow's mourning garb, but made sheer and delicate. Her face was veiled, but her voice was unchanged:
"Your Majesty."
The Queen looked her over once, then gestured to the cushion before her. "You've returned from a burning house with no ashes on your hands."
The woman smiled through the veil.
"Some things burn too quickly to leave evidence."
---
Liora's enemies were circling.
And one of them… shared her blood.