The Empress paced furiously in her chambers, her silk robes rustling against the marble floor. The news of Elian, Marcelo's bastard, being brought under royal protection had reached her ears, and it left her seething with rage.
Worse yet, the Emperor had lifted Izan's house arrest, with no intention of stripping him of his crown prince title. She couldn't understand what had gone wrong.
Her plans had been perfect, meticulously laid out to ruin Izan's reputation. She had funneled vast sums of money into spreading rumors about Izan frequenting a brothel, making sure every noble court in the empire buzzed with whispers of his debauchery. But somehow, those rumors had amounted to nothing. Izan was still standing, untouched, undiminished, and now the emperor had taken Elian under his wing.
