TWENTY-ONE
Yun woke to birdsong. A screeching chorus that no man could withstand. He cracked open one eye and wished he hadn't, for the sunlight beat down on him mercilessly.
"I thought you would sleep all day," Mother's voice remarked.
He could not ignore the Empress.
Yun levered himself up into a sitting position, rolling his shoulders to rid them of stiffness. He should not have slept on a bench in his mother's private garden. Yet where else in the palace could he find peace?
"Did you make a poor choice of wife?" Mother asked.
Yun wanted to argue that both she and his father had pushed him into the marriage, but he knew that the decision had still been his own. He thought of the lovely Princess Ava, probably still asleep in his bed.
"No." He sighed. "She is lovely and obedi
