I unfolded grandfather’s letter and got the shock of my life. It was a letter giving me permission to have the Grand Empress dowager put to death for her crimes.

I read the list of crimes grandfather had had investigated in secret and my blood ran cold. My brother’s words came back to me. The deaths now all seemed suspect.

Had she murdered my father, my Princess? Pain like a knife cut through me and I buckled over in my seat. Eunuch Van came running from his place in the ...