Golden Read Free Page A

punished. I need outer pain to take away my inner pain. Only you—”
    “Your punishment has been fulfilled,” he broke in before I could finish. “Your workmanship is exquisite. I require nothing else from you.”
    I bowed lower, hiding my face with shame. Tears wet my hair and cheeks. How could I face the monotony of palace life without even these weekly visits to brighten my dreary existence? Day after day dressing in my finest silk and painting my face, only to sit in my chambers alone while my husband ignored me and the man I yearned for with every fiber of my being denied my existence.
    In a voice I scarcely recognized as my own, I whispered, “Heaven endures, the earth comes to its end, while my unending sorrow goes on and on forever.”
    He didn’t gather me into his arms or utter a word of protest. I had accused his son of possessing a fickle heart, but it was for the father’s love that I wept. I had nothing left, no shred of hope for my future. My arms ached for the golden-eyed prince I’d been dreaming of for years, but he would never grow in my womb. I would become just another forgotten consort pining away for a single touch from the Emperor.
    Pride steeled my spine. I had not suffered the general’s training all those years to wilt at the first sign of opposition. The battle and the war had both been lost. I had best find a new war with which to occupy myself, even with a broken heart and a ruined dream. I refused to wither away in silence for a man who could not love me.
    “I understand, Your Majesty. Please forgive any embarrassment I have caused you. I shan’t trouble you with my presence again.”
    I scrambled to my feet and fled.
    “Jin!” His voice thundered after me with the authority of generations of Emperors before him. “I didn’t dismiss you.”
    I jerked to a halt, unable to disobey him despite the humiliation churning my stomach at his rejection. However, I refused to turn and face him. I couldn’t bear to see that disgust and self-loathing on his face again.
    “Perhaps I made a mistake in giving you to my son. I should punish him for failing to take you into hand.”
    The Son of Heaven did not make mistakes. Others might die for his misjudgments, but they’d never make any accusations against the Emperor for fear their entire clan would be executed. Did he hope to entrap me into making a fruitless accusation against him? So be it. Let him execute me and put me out of this misery.
    “We agree that I make a poor wife for your son.” I whirled to face him, chin high. “I’m like malleable metal primed for the master’s blows to pound me into his desired shape. Do not punish the Crown Prince because he’s no blacksmith. He has no idea what to do with me.”
    The Emperor stepped closer, his tread the steady prowl of a hunting tiger. “And you think I do?”
    I didn’t cower before him, but his formidable presence made my knees knock together beneath my gown. “You made your feelings on the matter clear, Your Majesty. You require nothing else from me, so you said.”
    Clasping his hands behind his back, he paced a slow circle about me. “I had begun to wonder what manner of core you possessed. Whether a glass bauble that would shatter at the first glancing blow or…”
    Brows arched, he waited for my answer. Staring into his challenging gaze, I fought to keep my breathing even despite my heart’s frantic rhythm. “If you choose to work me into shape, Your Majesty, you could form me into a razor-sharp blade worthy of your finest swordsman.”
    “Let us see, then.” His hand closed upon the back of my neck hard enough his fingers dug into my nape. “Disrobe.”
    My fingers ached with cold. In my desperation, I fumbled to loosen the belt. I didn’t think him so cruel that he’d taunt me with what I couldn’t have, but I’d rather be executed at dawn than accept his rejection once more.
    Silk slid off my shoulders and I stood before him completely nude.
    I was not the