Chapter 4

I did not attend the grand ceremony where the new consort received her coronet.

Hazel paced the room. "My lady, if you stay away, the whole court will say you are consumed with envy and do not know your place."

I leaned against the window, listening to the distant strains of music that drifted across the palace grounds. I said nothing.

Envy? In my previous life, I had been queen. I had witnessed every spectacle the court could devise. Why would I stir myself to attend something as ordinary as the anointing of a royal consort?

I was wondering what…