I spoke each word like a nail driven into wood. "I will not marry you, Lester."

His grip on my wrist tightened. "If not me, then who?!"

He was banking on the fact that the Blacks needed House Vance's support.

And he was certain my heart still belonged to him alone.

I met his furious gaze without flinching. "A peddler. A drifter. A merchant off the street. Anyone would do."

"Anyone but you."

Lester's breath caught.

He closed his eyes and drew in a long, slow breath.

Then he reached into his coat and pressed something into my hand.

I recognized it at once: the gift I'd given him ten years ago, the day he left for the front.

Back then, it had taken me half a year to find the white jade, and another half to have it carved into a ring.

When I placed it in his palm, I'd said, "May we be like this jade. Hearts never parting, forever bound."

The ring looked exactly the same as it had then.

But all I wanted now was to sever every thread that tied me to Lester Vance.

He didn't know what I was thinking. His voice softened. "Norma, I fought on the frontier for ten years, and you waited for ten. Everyone in the capital knows the depth of your devotion."

"Saying you won't marry me now, that's just anger talking."

"This ring is the one you gave me before my first campaign. I'm leaving it with you. On our wedding day, you'll tie it on me yourself."

He thought that lowering his tone and producing an old keepsake would be enough to coax me down the steps he'd so graciously laid out.

Where did he get that kind of confidence?

Lester said his piece and left.

I picked up the jade ring and tossed it into the painter's supply case.

"Miss, this looks far too valuable. I couldn't possibly keep it."

The painter fished the ring out carefully and held it back to me.

I waved him off. "It's yours."

"Do a good job on the portrait. If I'm selected, there'll be more where that came from."

The painter thanked me over and over.

"A beauty like you, Miss, is certain to be chosen."

I smiled and said nothing.

In the days that followed, while I waited for word from the palace, Lester came calling constantly.

Every visit, he brought armfuls of gifts.

Fashionable hairpieces, bolts of the finest silk fresh from the southern looms, and all manner of rare curiosities, until they spilled across my courtyard in heaps.

I stared at the mountain of offerings, lost in thought.

My mother took my silence for hesitation. "Norma dear, are you having second thoughts?"

"Lester is clearly still devoted to you, and you haven't been selected yet. There's still time to fix things. Just say the word and we'll set a date, have a proper wedding..."

I knew my mother had always been fond of Lester.

Growing up, anything she made for me, she made a second one for the Vance residence.

Winter coats, summer shirts, nightclothes, shoes and socks.

All sewn by her own hand, stitch by stitch.

She'd loved him like a second son.

She never could have imagined that Lester would prove so heartless, that he would bring ruin on every last member of our family.

I wrapped my arms around her and said softly, "He has feelings for someone else."

She asked who.

I shook my head. "All you need to know, Mother, is that he is not the right man."

Worry creased her face. "But Les... but Lester has made it known that anyone who dares propose to you is making an enemy of House Vance."

"If you aren't chosen this time, what will become of your future..."

My hands clenched, nails biting into my palms.

Lester wanted to bring home a decorative wife, a marriage in name only.

Every noble daughter in Aurelia was his for the choosing.

Why did he insist on clinging to me?

Was it simply because the Blacks had fallen far enough to be bullied?

Too bad for him. He'd miscalculated.

The summons for the Crown Prince's bride selection arrived, just as I'd expected.

My mother rose before dawn to help me dress.

The palace robes were elaborate, the hairpiece heavy on my head.

She steadied my shoulders, her eyes rimmed red. "Norma, whatever happens, selected or not, your father and I and every last member of this family will stand behind you."

A sharp ache bloomed in my chest. I nodded.

The carriage bound for the palace had been waiting outside the gate for some time.

After saying goodbye to my parents and my sister, I climbed in alone.

Then, outside the Eastern Palace, I ran into Lester Vance.

He was helping Scarlett down from a carriage.

His gaze was indulgent, almost tender. "I've delivered you safely. Satisfied now?"

Scarlett laughed, sweet as spun sugar. "No one treats me better than you, brother."

"But didn't you have plans with Miss Black today? It's all my fault for being so timid and insisting you escort me into the palace. She won't be upset with me, will she?"

Lester waved it off. "Don't worry about that. Your business comes first."

I remembered this day from my past life. Lester and I had made plans to go boating on the lake.

He'd told me something urgent had come up with the Crimson Guard.

I'd waited by the lake all day, watching the water until the sun went down.

So his urgent military business had been escorting Scarlett to the palace.

A bitter smile tugged at my lips.

Lester seemed to sense something and turned toward where I stood.

His eyes widened. "Norma?"

I didn't answer.

His expression froze.

He walked toward me.

"What are you doing here? Did you receive the invitation I sent?"

When I said nothing, he kept talking, filling the silence himself.

He'd already decided what this was.

"You must have received it. And then found out where I'd be, so you dressed up and came here on purpose."

"I reserved a bottle of the new Drunken Lotus from The Pinecrest Pavilion. I was going to share it with you on the lake."

"Since you're already here, that saves me a trip to the Black residence."

Drunken Lotus...

My mind drifted for a moment.

I remembered being a little girl, mistaking Drunken Lotus for tea and gulping it down.

I'd slept for three days straight. The memory pulled a faint smile from me despite everything.

Lester's expression softened. He reached for my hand. "I knew it. I knew you'd like that."

"Norma, you've given me the cold shoulder long enough. Whatever anger you had, surely it's passed by now."

"Let's go back to the way things were. In a few days, I'll petition the Imperial Observatory to set an auspicious date, and I'll marry you properly."

My smile didn't waver. I listened quietly until he finished.

Then I pulled my hand free. "I'm a candidate in the bride selection. You are an outside official, General. This kind of contact is improper."

Lester went still.

He stared at me in disbelief. "What did you just say?"