Chapter 1

I was born with a curse. Whenever I said someone would die, they really did.

For Halbert Fowler, I stayed silent for ten years, acting like I couldn't speak until everyone believed it.

The year Halbert joined the army, the guys in the barracks laughed at him for marrying a mute nobody like me.

I heard every word, but I didn't even try to explain myself.

On the march, when I spotted assassins lurking, I frantically gestured to warn him. My throat was so strained that it started bleeding.

Ten years later, he became a general and came back home with all the glory.

But that very same day, he pushed me aside to be just a concubine and ushered Unity Bowen into his bedroom as his official wife.

Unity walked in with a bowl of tonic soup, smiling sweetly. "You've had it rough all these years, Lizzie. This is a nourishing soup Halbert asked me to bring you."

I stared at her fake smile and finally broke my silence. "So, tell me, do you think someone in the general's estate will die tomorrow?"

Her face went ghostly pale in an instant.

*****

Unity walked into my yard, carefully carrying a bowl of herbal tonic.

The brocade hem of her dress shimmered in the sunlight, flowing like molten gold.

She came right up to me and set the bowl of pitch-black tonic down in front of me.

"Lizzie, ten years have gone by, and you're still the same as ever," Unity said.

Her lips curved into a smile, but her eyes practically gleamed with pride.

She went on, "Halbert's a general now, so we're all one family from here on out.

"He specially found this recipe for you, it's meant to help you recover and stay healthy."

I stared at her.

I'd been pretending to be mute for ten years, all for Halbert.

I was born with a curse. Whenever I said something bad would happen, it actually did.

I once said that leaning tree next door should be chopped down, and the very next day, it toppled over and smashed half their house.

I warned the butcher who lived by the village gate not to walk at night, and that same night, he fell into a ditch and broke his leg.

My mom told me to shut up.

She said I was something unnatural.

The day I met Halbert, he'd been beaten within an inch of his life and left in an alley.

I thought that he was a goner.

But I kept my mouth shut.

I dragged him home and kept him alive for three months straight.

When he finally woke up, he asked me my name.

I wrote my name, Lizzie Fowler, on the table with my finger.

He took my hand in his.

"Lizzie, what a beautiful name. When I'm back on my feet, I'll marry you," he said.

On our wedding day, I swore to the heavens that for his sake, I would never speak again.

He went off to join the army.

The guys in the barracks mocked him for marrying a useless mute like me.

But in his letters, he told me he didn't care one bit.

I knew he'd faced death time and again at the border, barely surviving each time.

Once, the deputy general delivered a letter to me, saying Halbert was trapped in a mountain valley.

I was so desperate. I frantically gestured, and my throat filled with the taste of blood, but not a single word escaped me.

I used my own blood to draw the terrain on paper, sketching the only escape route.

He made it out alive.

Ten years later, Halbert came back as a big, swaggering general.

Yesterday, the very first thing Halbert did when he came home was hand me a divorce paper.

It wasn't a divorce. It was an official letter demoting me from wife to concubine.

He said Unity had waited for him for ten years, and he couldn't betray her.

He told me to settle for being his concubine, promising that he would provide for me for the rest of my life.

And now, Unity was standing there, acting all concerned.

She nudged the bowl of herbal soup even closer to me.

"Lizzie, drink up before it gets cold. It'll lose its effect if you wait," she urged.

Her voice was syrupy sweet.

"Halbert had this specially prepared for you. He said you're too weak, so you won't have to go through the hassle of bearing children anymore," she added.

It was a soup meant to make sure I'd never have children.

I got it now.

I looked at her pretty face.

For the first time in ten years, I wanted to say something.

I slowly parted my parched lips.

A hoarse, broken sound escaped from my throat.

Unity paused, then flashed a smile.

"Lizzie, what are you trying to say? I can't understand you," she said.

I cleared my throat, and it felt like two rusty pieces of metal scraping together.

It hurt like hell.

I looked her straight in the eye and spoke, each word slow and clear. "Tell me, if someone dies from this soup tonight, will the general's estate be mourning or celebrating?"

Unity's smile vanished in an instant.

She looked as if she'd seen a ghost.

"You can talk?" she gasped.

I ignored her.

I continued.

"Unity, is your right hand going to break soon?" I said.

She instinctively hid her right hand behind her back, her face turning ghostly pale.

Unity shouted, "What the hell are you talking about?"

Unity let out a piercing scream, completely losing her composure.

She spun around and dashed out.

Her foot caught on the threshold.

She tumbled forward, crashing to the ground.

The bowl of tonic went flying from her hand.

The bowl shattered.

Dark herbal soup splashed all over the floor.

Her scream grew even more shrill.

I watched as she tried to get up from the floor.

But her right hand was twisted at an unnatural angle.

White bone was piercing through her flesh.

The maids and servants in the yard were scared stiff.

The whole place erupted into chaos.

Some hurried to help her up.

Someone started yelling, "Quick, get the doctor.

"Get the general!"

I just sat there, not moving a muscle.

I kept staring at that puddle of black soup on the floor.

I wanted Halbert to know that I finally spoke up.