Nana Burke shrieked. "You dare strike me? Mistress, you must stand up for this old servant! Have the heir cast out this vicious woman at once!"

"Otherwise, once you enter the household, who knows what torments she'll put you through."

I let out a cold laugh. "Have the heir cast me out? My status is not something the heir has the authority to revoke."

Celeste bit her lip and stared at me. "If my lady wishes to beat or kill someone, direct it at me. Why strike my nursemaid? Are you truly not afraid the heir will punish you when he returns?"

"Cruel as you are, the marriage may have been decreed by the King, but if you harm the heir's child, he can still divorce you all the same."

I smiled. "Miss Celeste puts on quite the performance. Perhaps she should join the Southside Theater Troupe."

"If the heir wants to champion your cause, by all means, send him to me. I won't run from it."

The crowd of onlookers grew indignant. "You've gone too far! Just because her station is lower than yours, she deserves to be humiliated?"

"Exactly! She's seven or eight months along, about to give birth. A kick like that could kill her!"

"She knows the King's decree protects her from being cast aside, so she acts without fear."

Celeste straightened up, trembling, and looked at me through her tears. "I know my station is lowly. I came specifically to beg my lady's mercy. I never imagined she would try to end my life."

"The heir told me that while he was away from the Capital, no matter what I had to do, I was to protect myself at all costs. Even if it meant overstepping."

"Since that's how it is, my lady, don't blame me."

Celeste rose to her feet with Nana Burke's help and shouted, "Guards!"

Several armed guards emerged from behind her. Celeste pointed at me. "Bind her. I want to see whether the heir, once he learns his own wife tried to murder his child, will divorce her or not."

I jabbed a finger at my own nose. "Divorce me? Does the heir have the nerve? Tell him to try."

The lead guard approached with a stony face. "My lady, why must you bully a helpless woman?"

"The heir gave orders. No one, not even his wife, is to mistreat his concubine. Forgive the offense."

He moved to seize me.

Rosalind threw herself in front of me. "You wouldn't dare! Do you have any idea who my lady is?"