Chapter 1

I had the dream again.

As always, I was in an unfamiliar bedchamber, the candlelight dim and the quilt warm.

A man gently kissed my temple and called me by my childhood name.

“Jiaojiao. Jiaojiao. My Jiaojiao.”

For reasons I could not explain, he felt familiar to me in the dream, and I instinctively wrapped my arms around him.

The room was pitch-dark. I could not see his face, but from the fabric and embroidery beneath my palms, I could just make out that he seemed to be wearing a neat set of official robes.

Only when he drew closer did the dim light reveal a pale red birthmark on his chest, shaped like a tiny peach.

The dream was like the warm orange glow at the very end of a lamp’s flame.

Comforting beyond words.

And slow to fade.

When I opened my eyes, the familiar furnishings of my own room stood before me.

People said you never knew you were dreaming while a dream held you. It was true.

Hearing me stir, the maid on night watch hurried in with a hand warmer. She had barely lit the candle when she exclaimed, “Miss! Have you caught a chill? Why is your face so red?”

I pressed my lips together and covered my face.

I was unmarried and not even betrothed. How could I have dreamed something so wanton?

I would take this secret to my grave.

After breakfast, my brother still had not come to pay his respects to our parents.

Father snorted. “That wretched boy. Who knows where he’s gone carousing now?”

My thoughts finally broke free of the strange dream, and I began to worry.

I knew my brother. For all his usual flippancy, he was kindhearted and deeply devoted to our parents.

Even if he stayed out all night, he would send word home.

I set down my chopsticks. The more I thought about it, the more uneasy I became.

Fortunately, Mother shared my concern. She summoned the maids and servants who usually attended him, learned why he had gone out the day before, and sent a carriage to find him.

The search led to the government jail.

The previous day, my brother had supposedly gotten drunk, made reckless comments about affairs of state, and insulted His Majesty. The authorities had arrested him.

Many people had attended the banquet. Soldiers had since detained more than a dozen young noblemen, one after another. The case had grown so serious that it was handed directly to Li Jici, Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review.

His investigation dragged on for days.

I had heard that Li Jici was ironhearted and ruthless.

He and my brother had once been schoolmates, but Li Jici had placed first in the imperial examinations on his first attempt. Their lives had diverged long ago.

Proud and aloof as he was, he was unlikely to honor an old friendship.

The charge could be treated as grave or trivial. When scholars picked words apart in search of an offense, everything depended on their mood. In a generous mood, they could make a great matter small. If they wished to destroy you, they would always find the words to do it.

I was frantic, but Father and the other officials implicated in the affair had all been summoned to the palace for questioning. Mother was devastated and too distraught to think.

So I put on a veiled hat and plain clothes, ordered a carriage, and went to see my brother in prison.

The jail was cold and damp, filled with wails.

The sounds made my heart pound. When I finally saw my brother, he was sitting dejectedly on the ground, though thankfully he had not been injured.

“Brother.”

At my voice, he looked startled, delighted, and furious all at once. “How could you come to a filthy place like this? This is no place for an unmarried young woman.”

As he spoke, he frowned at the jailer behind him, whose leering gaze roved over me.

The jailer sneered and turned away.

I reached through the wooden bars and took my brother’s hand. “You’re freezing. No one can live in a place like this. You’ll fall ill if you stay here.”

He gave a bitter laugh. “Never mind falling ill. I don’t even know if I’ll still have my life tomorrow.”

Lowering his voice, he said, “You must believe me. I never said a word against His Majesty. My only regret is accepting a friend’s invitation that day and walking straight into the Second Prince’s trap.”

His voice dropped further. “Most of the men at yesterday’s banquet support the Crown Prince. The Second Prince had us framed because he means to wipe out the Crown Prince’s entire faction. He prepared false witnesses and evidence for everything. But if every man arrested supported the Crown Prince, the scheme would look too obvious, too deliberate. So he used intermediaries to invite a few unlucky outsiders as well. Your brother is just an innocent fish caught in their net.”

His smile grew more bitter still.

At last, he stroked my hair. “I haven’t even found you a good husband yet… What a shame.”

I could not bear to answer words that sounded like a final farewell. Holding back my tears, I said goodbye.

Outside the cell, I took out some silver and respectfully offered it to the nearby jailer, hoping he would look after my brother.

The jailer reached for it, but his fingers closed hard around mine.

Startled, I snatched my hand back.

He tossed the silver in his palm and, without the slightest shame, hinted, “Miss Song, this is no small case. Do you know how many people have come to buy favors these past few days? They’ve offered far more than this.”

I stepped back.

The jailer scoffed. “Take my advice, Miss Song. Once the Court of Judicial Review takes a case, almost no one gets out. Do what you can now, and you might at least win your brother better treatment. Wait until your family is stripped of its property and you’re working in a brothel, and you’ll be giving it away for free…”

I slapped him, cutting off his filth.

The jailer flew into a rage and was about to retaliate.

My hands shook as several household servants moved in front of me.

“What is going on here?”

A cold voice rang out.

I turned toward it and saw Li Jici in his official robes, frost in his eyes and effortless authority in his bearing.

A belt hung with jade drew tight around a narrow waist as straight as a sword.

He turned his head slightly and looked at me, his eyes fathomlessly black.

Strange. I had not been afraid while confronting the jailer, yet a single glance from him sent a shock up my spine and made me tremble.

I lowered my head.

Then I heard Li Jici say, “With that foul mouth and your habit of taking bribes, you have no right to serve at the Court of Judicial Review. Men, strip him of his uniform, give him thirty strokes of the cane, carry him out, and bar him from office for life!”