24
Hua
Exhaustion warred with determination in Hua’s mind. She wouldn’t let herself fall into slumber, not while inside the palace.
She’d expected to be taken to a prison cell, but instead, the guards stuck her in this ornate room, unfit for someone with plans to kill the emperor. Gold coated every surface from the trim of the wood-paneled walls that had been painted with intricate designs of roses, to the table and chairs centering the room.
It was some kind of sitting room with a wide, blue-velvet settee in front of a gold-rimmed hearth. No fire warmed the chilly room, and at least that discomfort made sense. Prisoners didn’t get to be warm and comfortable; they didn’t get to experience luxuries at the Imperial Palace.
In Piao, those not of the emperor’s council or household weren’t
