Chapter Eleven
Jian
Jian was a fool.
He’d thought normal was something he could have after his mission in Koulland, but maybe normal had never been a possibility for the bastard brother of the emperor. His secret parentage was like a weight around his neck. If his men found out the truth, they’d never look at him the same way. The mother he’d never known betrayed the emperor she was sworn to serve as consort.
And Jian was the product of that betrayal. He didn’t know who his father was.
Was he an officer like Jian himself? Was he a good man before losing his life? Jian liked to think he was. He had to have known what would happen if anyone found out he was in love with a consort. As Jian lay in bed, he imagined a great love story resulting in his birth.
A smile tilted his lips. There
