Chapter 5

"Ms. Sutton." Before Melanie left, I decided to give her a kind reminder. "You were raised in the provinces, and perhaps you have been poisoned by the backward notions of the borderlands.

"But let me be clear. In this capital, there is no law stating that a daughter of illegitimate birth is fit only to be a mistress."

After all, the Great Founder's own queen, Lady Warren, had been born on the wrong side of the blanket, an outcast child of a hidden affair, yet she had worn the crown nonetheless.

Melanie shot a quick look at Edward before nodding…