Corina suspected he would kill her, Peony had written. She wrote to tell me she feared it might happen, but by the time I received the letter, word soon followed that she’d given birth to you early. Mere days later, I arrived at the palace gates to discover I was too late. Molkan sent me away with a warning that should I speak a word of my asinine beliefs, then he would see that it was the last thing I did.
