A history stitched in blood―return to the world of the Hugo award-winning Singing Hills series by USA Today bestselling author Nghi Vo. A celebration of the life and reign of the notorious Empress of Salt of Fortune has brought the Cleric Chih and Almost Brilliant to the Palace of Gleaming Light in Anh, where Chih becomes intrigued with the forgotten stories of the little wives of the women’s quarter. Amid a forest of priceless robes and the seamsters’ chatter in the Hall of Needles, they learn of an attempt by one such wife to assassinate the empress during the tumultuous early days of her rule. Who was Sei of Ue County, and what could have driven her to so desperate and treasonous an attack? Was it jealousy over the stolen affections of another wife? Or revenge by the daughter of a conquered country against a tyrant? What begins as a line of embroidery on a discarded robe deepens into a mystery as Chih digs further into the labyrinthine politics of the women’s quarter―and the empire of Anh itself. The novellas of the Singing Hills Cycle are standalone stories linked by the Cleric Chih, and may be read in any order.