"Rise, Empress," the priest said, and the word went through me like a blade that had been warmed by the fire first.
It didn't hurt.
It made something within me snap into place.
The doors to the hall opened on that, and the outside answered back. The drums to the east picked up the pattern that meant come and see; the bells echoed from the west; the banners stirred like the wind had remembered its job. The ministers lowered their foreheads to the floor as if they had practiced it all morning, which they had.
Mingyu held out his hand. He didn't make me use the steps down to the dais the way a proper woman should have. I stepped off the last inch of stone and onto the ground beside him, a small, bright violation that would make the gossips itch and the loyal feel taller. He didn't let go. His thumb traced the line of my knuckles like he was counting something only he could hear.
