The guard shoved Rosalind aside. "Doesn't matter who she is. She's wronged the concubine, and she'll kneel and apologize for it."
Nana Burke clutched her swollen, reddened cheek and screeched, "Guard! This vicious woman can't bear children yet still clings to the position of principal wife, tormenting our mistress!"
"Once the mistress delivers the heir's firstborn son, she'll surely be elevated to honored concubine or equal wife. Then it's the mistress who'll be the true lady of the house!"
"A barren hen like her should be thrown out of the estate. Go on, hit her! The mistress will answer for it."
Celeste spoke in that soft, fragile voice of hers. "My lady, even someone as high and mighty as you must own up to her wrongs. Just apologize to Nana, and we can put this behind us."
I let out a cold laugh. "Apologize to her? You think either of you are worthy of that?"
Celeste sighed. "If that's how you want it, I can't help you." She shot Nana Burke a look. The old woman lunged forward and struck me hard across the face.
"Forgive me, my lady. This old servant is petty by nature. You don't beat the dog without checking who its master is. Since you hit me first, it's only fair I return the favor."
Celeste nodded. "Nana raised me from infancy. She is like a mother to me. For your lady to strike her is the same as insulting my elder. She took a slap from your mistress, so now they're even. When the heir returns, we'll call the matter settled."
Nana Burke spat on the ground. "You were so pleased with yourself a moment ago, weren't you? Humiliating my lady like that. Now you'll kneel and kowtow to her, and welcome her into the estate with proper respect. From now on, you'll be sisters, nothing more."
Rosalind snarled. "You? You're nothing. How dare you demand our lady kowtow to anyone."
A guard was already moving. His boot caught Rosalind square in the chest and sent her sprawling. Then he seized my wrist, dragged me in front of Celeste, and shoved me down. "Kneel."
I looked up at him, cold and unblinking. "You forget yourself. What gives you the right to lay a hand on me?"
The words had barely left my mouth when something slammed into the backs of my knees. They buckled, and I crashed onto the stone with a crack that shot white-hot pain through every bone in my body.
The guard pressed the flat of his sword against my spine. "Apologize to the lady."