I returned to the capital with the Dowager Queen after a pilgrimage to Greystone Abbey.

My carriage was blocked halfway by a delicate-looking woman with a swollen belly.

"I beg the heir's wife to grant me and my child a place to stay. I ask for no title, but the baby in my womb is the heir's own flesh and blood. He cannot be left out in the cold."

The heir to the Gilbert marquisate had been married three years without producing an heir of his own. And now, out of nowhere, someone claimed to be carrying his child.

The woman trembled as though she might collapse at any moment, the very picture of helplessness.

"The heir is away from the capital. If his wife mistreats us, if she lets his own flesh and blood be cast aside, does she not fear he'll come home and divorce her?"

Divorce me? This woman was clever, I'd give her that. But she'd gotten one thing wrong.

I was not someone the heir to the Gilbert marquisate could divorce.

——

"Please, I beg the heir's wife to show mercy. Save me."

My carriage had been stopped in the middle of the road. The woman's wailing outside shattered the quiet rest I'd been trying to take.

I had just returned to the capital with the Dowager Queen from our pilgrimage to Greystone Abbey. I'd left the palace and was heading back to the Gilbert Estate when, right at the gates, a woman's sobbing brought my carriage to a halt.

She had a coquettish face, dressed plainly, with only a single white jade hairpin in her hair, and a belly round and heavy with child. Tears glistened in her eyes as she stared at the carriage, looking so pitiful that passersby had already stopped to gawk.

Through the curtain of the carriage, she watched me sit motionless inside and threw herself to the ground, kowtowing desperately. "My lady, please, give Celeste Acevedo a place to belong."

"The child I carry is the heir's flesh and blood. I am alone in this world. I need no title for myself, but the baby in my womb is the heir's only child. He cannot go unrecognized."

"My lady has been married to the heir for years without bearing a child. Surely you would not stand by and watch the Gilbert line die out? I beg you, show mercy."

"The physician said I'm carrying a boy. If I'm allowed into the household, once the child is born, he can be registered under your name. He'll call you Mother."

"I want nothing for myself. But as a mother, I have to fight for my child."

"The heir's wife has never borne a child, so naturally she wouldn't understand a mother's heart."

I watched the tears stream down her face, but there it was, that faint glint of triumph in her eyes. How quaint. These little tricks.

"If you truly wanted nothing, why make such a spectacle of stopping my carriage in the middle of the street?"

"If you wanted a title, you could have come to the estate and discussed it properly. There are ways. So why drag this out for the whole world to see?"

"You're using that child in your belly as leverage to force me into letting you through those gates. Isn't that right?"

The woman called Celeste shook her head frantically, cradling her belly. "No, my lady, Celeste knows nothing of such things. It was the heir who looked after Celeste all along."

"Before he left the capital, the heir promised he would give Celeste a proper title when he returned. But the date has passed and he hasn't come back. My time is nearly here, and I'm terrified."

"I beg the heir's wife to be generous. Give this child a birthright."

"The baby I carry is the heir's firstborn son. He cannot be left outside the Gilbert household."

"Unless my lady, unable to bear children herself, refuses to let any other woman give the heir an heir. Do you mean to let the Gilbert line end?"

Her words set the crowd of onlookers buzzing.

"Well, it's true. The heir's been married for years and there's still no child. That wife of his, not so much as a whisper of a pregnancy."

"You can't just let the Gilbert name die out."

"I heard the heir's wife hasn't even arranged a concubine for him. Jealous type, if you ask me."

"A woman ought to know her virtues. With jealousy like that, how can she manage a noble household? Look at this poor girl, she's about ready to give birth."

Celeste dabbed at her tears, stealing a glance toward the carriage from the corner of her eye.

Nana Burke, the old nursemaid at her side, stepped forward. "Mrs. Ferris Gilbert, bearing children for your husband is a wife's most basic duty. You can't conceive yourself, haven't produced a single child in years, and now our mistress carries the heir's flesh and blood. You ought to be down on your knees in gratitude, welcoming her through those gates with full ceremony."

"She's delicate. The young master never lets anyone cause our mistress the slightest distress. You stand there ignoring her, leaving her to kneel in the dirt. If something happens to the baby because of you, can you bear that responsibility?"

Whispers rippled through the crowd. I signaled my handmaid to draw back the curtain, then fixed a cold stare on the beautiful woman kneeling below the carriage. "How far along are you?"

Celeste answered with a demure blush. "This humble woman was taken in by the heir nine months ago. The child in my womb is eight months along."

I looked at her with undisguised contempt. "So for nine months, the heir hasn't brought you into the estate. Why is that? Is your background too shameful to speak of? Or is the child not his?"

"If he truly treasured you, why would he keep you hidden away as a secret mistress?"

The crowd murmured in agreement. It was a fair point. If a man truly cherished a woman, he would have brought her home and given her a proper title long ago. Why wait until she was nearly due?

Celeste's eyes brimmed over, and she wept aloud. "Only because Celeste had to observe three years of mourning for her late father and could not marry during that time. That is the only reason it has been delayed. Celeste's virtue is beyond reproach. I am not that kind of woman."

"Why must you humiliate me, my lady? Is it simply because I come from a poor family that I must be a woman of loose morals? What do you take ordinary women like us for?"

"She's right. This is too much."

"Just because she's the heir's wife, she thinks she can look down on everyone?"

"So high and mighty, and she can't even lay an egg. The heir ought to divorce her and be done with it."

The crowd's mood shifted, fed by Celeste's words, turning hostile toward me. People always resented the wealthy. Now that someone had made this about rich versus poor, they were all too eager to see the privileged brought low.

Celeste wiped her tears again and spoke. "Now that the three years of mourning are complete, Celeste finally dares to come before my lady and beg entry into the household. The heir's firstborn son cannot be born outside these walls. If he were, the child's legitimacy would forever be questioned. Surely that would only invite ridicule."

Heads nodded throughout the crowd.

My handmaid Rosalind looked ready to breathe fire. "What a shameless little fox! My lady, say the word and I'll drag her out of here. She can't even find the right house to grovel at, and here she is running her filthy mouth."

I motioned for Rosalind to pull the curtain aside fully. My face, half-veiled behind gauze, appeared before the onlookers.

I stepped down from the carriage, slow and deliberate, and came to a stop before her. Nana Burke took one look at the veil covering my face and let a sneer curl across her lips. "So that's why the lady of the house won't let our mistress through the door. Afraid that once a younger beauty moves in, she'll steal whatever affection the heir has left for you."

"You are a few years older than our mistress, after all. Men prefer a pretty young thing in their bed. That's just the way of the world. Every household has its share of wives and concubines. Why cling so stubbornly to something you've already lost?"

Celeste shuffled forward on her knees until she was right at my feet. She tilted her face upward, lovely as carved jade, and gazed at me. "I beg my lady's mercy."

The moment the words left her lips, she tugged the hem of my skirt from an angle no one else could see, then threw herself backward. Her hands flew to her stomach and she screamed, "My lady, please, spare my child! Don't kick my stomach!"

Agony twisted her features. She crumpled to the ground, both hands pressed tight over her belly, tears streaming down her face.

Nana Burke shrieked. "Mistress! What happened to you?!"

Then she whipped around and glared at me, eyes blazing. "Even if you are the heir's wife, that gives you no right to lay hands on a person! She's about to give birth! You strike now, and you'll be killing two lives. Is that what you want?!"

"The heir isn't in the Capital. You think you can act this brazen without consequence? You don't think he'll come back and settle the score?"

Settle the score with me? If he didn't come looking for me first, I'd be looking for him. Keeping a secret mistress, dragging the Gilbert name through the mud. The heir to the Gilbert Estate, stooping to something so disgraceful.

Rosalind charged forward and slapped Nana Burke clean across the face. The crack rang out sharp and loud. "Insolent old hag! How dare you speak to my lady that way. How dare you slander her."

Nana Burke shrieked. "You dare strike me? Mistress, you must stand up for this old servant! Have the heir cast out this vicious woman at once!"

"Otherwise, once you enter the household, who knows what torments she'll put you through."

I let out a cold laugh. "Have the heir cast me out? My status is not something the heir has the authority to revoke."

Celeste bit her lip and stared at me. "If my lady wishes to beat or kill someone, direct it at me. Why strike my nursemaid? Are you truly not afraid the heir will punish you when he returns?"

"Cruel as you are, the marriage may have been decreed by the King, but if you harm the heir's child, he can still divorce you all the same."

I smiled. "Miss Celeste puts on quite the performance. Perhaps she should join the Southside Theater Troupe."

"If the heir wants to champion your cause, by all means, send him to me. I won't run from it."

The crowd of onlookers grew indignant. "You've gone too far! Just because her station is lower than yours, she deserves to be humiliated?"

"Exactly! She's seven or eight months along, about to give birth. A kick like that could kill her!"

"She knows the King's decree protects her from being cast aside, so she acts without fear."

Celeste straightened up, trembling, and looked at me through her tears. "I know my station is lowly. I came specifically to beg my lady's mercy. I never imagined she would try to end my life."

"The heir told me that while he was away from the Capital, no matter what I had to do, I was to protect myself at all costs. Even if it meant overstepping."

"Since that's how it is, my lady, don't blame me."

Celeste rose to her feet with Nana Burke's help and shouted, "Guards!"

Several armed guards emerged from behind her. Celeste pointed at me. "Bind her. I want to see whether the heir, once he learns his own wife tried to murder his child, will divorce her or not."

I jabbed a finger at my own nose. "Divorce me? Does the heir have the nerve? Tell him to try."

The lead guard approached with a stony face. "My lady, why must you bully a helpless woman?"

"The heir gave orders. No one, not even his wife, is to mistreat his concubine. Forgive the offense."

He moved to seize me.

Rosalind threw herself in front of me. "You wouldn't dare! Do you have any idea who my lady is?"

The guard shoved Rosalind aside. "Doesn't matter who she is. She's wronged the concubine, and she'll kneel and apologize for it."

Nana Burke clutched her swollen, reddened cheek and screeched, "Guard! This vicious woman can't bear children yet still clings to the position of principal wife, tormenting our mistress!"

"Once the mistress delivers the heir's firstborn son, she'll surely be elevated to honored concubine or equal wife. Then it's the mistress who'll be the true lady of the house!"

"A barren hen like her should be thrown out of the estate. Go on, hit her! The mistress will answer for it."

Celeste spoke in that soft, fragile voice of hers. "My lady, even someone as high and mighty as you must own up to her wrongs. Just apologize to Nana, and we can put this behind us."

I let out a cold laugh. "Apologize to her? You think either of you are worthy of that?"

Celeste sighed. "If that's how you want it, I can't help you." She shot Nana Burke a look. The old woman lunged forward and struck me hard across the face.

"Forgive me, my lady. This old servant is petty by nature. You don't beat the dog without checking who its master is. Since you hit me first, it's only fair I return the favor."