A Kingdom's Ruin - Chapter 1

When Yuwen Che found me, I was sharing pastries with my daughter in our fleeing carriage.

“Spring Breeze House sent every pastry they make. Seventy-four kinds in all. Try them and see which you like.”

Yueming looked at the pastries, then at me, and asked with perfect sincerity, “Mother Consort, are you really missing part of your brain?”

That struck a tender spot. My hand paused halfway through stuffing a persimmon cake into my mouth. “Why would you say that?”

“Uncle told me.”

She peered up at me, innocent and puzzled. “Mother Consort, Uncle also said Imperial Brother is hunting us. Why does he want to kill us?”

I pushed a piece of dragon-beard candy into her mouth. “Don’t call him Imperial Brother. He isn’t your brother.”

She pretended not to hear.

“Mother Consort, Yueming doesn’t want to die, and I don’t want to go to that poor, broken-down Mount Yao Retreat Palace. Let’s beg Imperial Brother. I haven’t had enough of the good life yet.”

Yueming did not know that the Chu emperor lay unconscious, or that her uncle in name now presided over the court. Bo Yanxiu was desperate to escort his own sister to safety. Why would he care whether a puppet half sister and her child lived or died?

We had been abandoned from the beginning. Our lone convoy existed only to draw the rebels’ attention. Forget reaching the retreat palace—we might not live another few days.

Little fool. She was the one missing part of her brain.

I touched one finger to her forehead and gave a gentle push. She tumbled off my lap and rolled across the blankets. “No backbone at all. You take nothing after me.”

She was not offended. She struggled upright, threw herself back into my arms with a giggle, and cried, “Again, again!”

I nudged her over once more.

After three or four rounds, she finally tired and sprawled lazily across my legs. “Mother Consort.”

“Mm?”

“What if they really catch us?”

“Then beg him. Beg him to spare you, not to kill you, to give you one tiny corner where you can grow up in peace. He’s a good man. He’ll agree.”

“What about you?”

“Me…” I propped up my chin and considered it. “I’ll be finished.”

“Won’t Uncle and Crown Prince Brother come save us?”

“They’re finished too.”

Her mouth fell open. “Imperial Brother is scary.”

I burst out laughing.

“Aren’t you scared?”

I never got to answer.

The moment she finished speaking, an arrow hissed past her cheek and punched through my sleeve into the carriage wall. Yueming flung herself into my arms. Her hair had come loose, several severed strands drifting to the floor.

I slowly turned my head and looked straight ahead.

There was nothing to fear.

The winner became king; the loser became a bandit. The worst ending was merely death. After coming this far, any ending would be a release.

The carriage ground to a halt.

A long-fingered hand lifted the curtain, revealing a face I had not seen in years—fair as carved jade, eyes deep and cold as winter pools.

When the Chu emperor fled the capital, he had ordered several convoys to scatter as decoys. By some stroke of fate, Yuwen Che himself had found mine.

“What touching devotion between mother and daughter.”

He studied Yueming with a smile that was not quite a smile. Only after a long while did his gaze meet mine. His lips curved, but there was no warmth in his eyes.

He was nothing like the boy I remembered.

“I trust you’ve been well…

“Mother. Consort.”