Read Golden for Free Online Page B

and respect our ways. I would not shame my family, but I would certainly stoop to using flattery and truth with hidden barbs.
    “Such a small room!” Empress Lei exclaimed. “My dear, I insist you move to more spacious and comfortable rooms befitting your station.”
    Which station would that be? First wife of the Crown Prince or current favorite consort to the Emperor? I knew which she meant, of course, but she would not say it aloud and gain me any attention, however slight, from the servants and attendants eagerly following in her wake like hungry ducks hoping for a carelessly dropped crust of bread.
    I bowed low. “Thank you, Your Majesty, but please do not concern yourself with such a trivial matter.”
    The Empress smiled and her beauty struck me like a blow from forged steel. Golden butterflies danced in her high-swept hair and fluttered across the brilliant red silk of her gown in painstaking detail. Even her eyebrows, plucked and repainted in indigo, resembled wings. Butterflies were her personal symbol, and no one would be trusted to stitch those prized wings but her.
    She waved her hand, indicating I could rise. “Nonsense. These rooms are cramped and dingy.” She eyed my loose, unadorned hair, plain sleeping cot and my nurse’s at the foot of mine with exaggerated horror. “Why, you don’t even have a decent place for your servant to sleep! This is wretched, my dear. Please, let me select a new room for you closer to mine.”
    I barely suppressed a shiver. “Please, no, Your Majesty. I would feel out of place among such magnificence. I’m much more used to simple living. My delicate sensibilities will be overwrought if I had to manage more than myself and my beloved nurse.”
    She inclined her head slightly and her attendants backed out, leaving her in my humble abode. My nurse ignored that subtle shout from her regal head, pretending age-dulled senses and dense peasant sensibilities. It would be beneath the Empress’s notice to make an order to my elderly servant, and so she merely sharpened her smile and sat across from my now-empty cup, ignoring my nurse entirely.
    “I hope I didn’t interrupt your tea.”
    I sat, too, without her invitation, and smiled at her with wide-eyed innocence. “May I have the honor of serving you, Your Majesty?”
    As though she would ever dare to drink a single drop prepared by my hand. “No, thank you. I took the liberty of bringing a delightful tea for us to share.” Raising her voice, she called and the screen slid back to allow two servants to enter, carrying between them a wooden tray. “We should get to know each other better, dear. I’ve been so busy that I neglected my son’s wife most dreadfully.”
    Ping was no more her son that I was the Emperor’s daughter, but I gave her the wide, happy smile she seemed to expect. In the first weeks of my new marriage, it would have been nice indeed if she’d bothered to have this talk with me. The only reason she came now was to decide how dangerous I might be as a rival for the Emperor’s affection. “Then I should call you Mother as he does.”
    Her left eyebrow rose sharply. I had landed a hard blow to her pride.
    She still managed a small smile, but sweet acid dripped from her words as she poured two cups of tea. “That would be delightful, Daughter. You are such a sweet child! Please do try these pastries. Cook is only allowed to prepare them for me, and His Majesty, of course, though the Emperor doesn’t have the taste for sweets like I do.”
    No, His Majesty’s taste tended to the sharp, hard and bitter. Pain, sweat, and blood not sugared tenderness and honeyed words. I shivered with a soft inhale of breath, unable to hide my intense reaction. I couldn’t guess what she might make of it.
    I allowed her to place one of the flaky crusts on a plate for me, but I made no move to taste it. “Your gown is lovely, Mother.” Another twitch of her eyebrow. “Who stitched all of those lovely butterflies? Such