JingYi stilled.
The woman’s tone smoothed again, returning to its signature chill. “You are the only Omega High Princess of the Tsaiqun Veraya line—the bloodline that has given emperors to Xûen-Sarai for generations. Do not insult me by feigning ignorance.”
“My sister, LinXin, is also?—”
“That one bears no trace of Tsaiqun blood,” the Dowager snapped.
JingYi pressed her lips together. The Dowager knew, then? How long? But she couldn’t know about the Moonfire, else she’d have turned LinXin into a weapon, too.
“As the First-Ranked High Princess, your duty is to secure your brother’s reign. Do not mistake his generosity in placing you in Magnolia Palace as indulgence. This is no idle retreat. If you think you will enjoy the same fate as Princess MeiLüo, you are gravely mistaken.”
The Dowager settled in her seat. “Now, answer me plainly. Have you lain with that Northern lord?”
The brazier cracked softly. JingYi kept her gaze even. “Dowager, I fail to see how that is relevant to the matter at hand.”
“Are you a virgin, or have you taken him into your body?”
Jing Yi narrowed her eyes. She knew what the Dowager was really asking: Was she still pure enough to be traded again? Did she have any worth left at all?
To answer would be to let this viper into the sacred space of that night. His reverent hands in the dark. The whispered words that held as much tenderness as passion. She would not defile it by offering it up as evidence of her worth.
Her fingers curled into her palms. “I travelled to the North because of the crown’s bidding, but what passed in my marriage bed is none of your concern.”
For a moment, the Dowager didn’t move. Slowly, she leaned back, an oddly smug expression on her face. “So, you slept with him.”
“I said no such thing.”
“You didn’t have to.” Her gaze swept over JingYi, scrutinizing, lips curling into a sneer. “You gave yourself to him, and still, he let you go.”
JingYi’s throat tightened, but she held her silence.
The Dowager’s voice turned silky. “Alphas are creatures of appetite. Even the dullest of them can be stirred by the scent of an Omega in Heat. It takes effort to displease an Alpha in Rut. Yet, he left you unbonded.”
She spoke as if it were a vulgar, shameless thing. But JingYi’s body remembered all the tender moments, the breathless ache, Alexander’s protective weight atop her as her Heat reached its crescendo. Then, the press of his forehead to hers when it was over.
The Dowager could try to stain it, but she would never understand it.
“Nevertheless.” The woman’s tone shifted again, returning to its chill. “An Omega, even a damaged one, is still a precious commodity. You’ve returned and left us with the burden of finding you . . . use. The Empire does not squander assets, especially not a highborn Omega carrying the Tsaiqun name.”
She tilted her head. “You will serve, Xûen JingYi. One way or another.”
“Ihaveserved,” JingYi said, rising so fast the brazier wavered with her shadow. Her left foot struck the floor to brace the weaker one. “I’ve served on my feet. On my knees. With blood on my hands and in my mouth.”
Her eyes met the Dowager’s, unflinching. “And now, you would have me serve on my back as well?”
The reply was expressionless. “It is your duty.”
“So I am a broodmare, then.”
“An honoured vessel. Do not mistake your value. Even damaged goods have purpose when the blood is right.”
JingYi inhaled, her fists forming at her sides.
“My body is not yours to assign,” she said, “nor my future. I do not owe this court anything, not after what you did to my mother. And not after the years you let me rot.”
For a breathless moment, neither of them moved.
The Dowager’s smile thinned. “So, she did pass on that tongue of hers, after all.”
