The Royal Flame: Secrets of the Palace

Jason Ritchie was wounded while assassins chased him and was dosed with an aphrodisiac. He spent a night with Wendy Young and promised to marry her. He left because he did not want the men hunting him to reach her, and by the time he came back she had gone. Wendy refused to abort the pregnancy and raised their son Joe on her own. Jason travelled back to the palace with the empress dowager for a blessing rite, and Joe turned up along the route. A blood test confirmed the boy was Jason's, which unsettled the ranking of the court. Wendy took work inside the palace to pay for Joe's medicine. Helene Johnson, jealous of her, pushed her into harder and harder positions, locked Joe up and set fire to a disused palace hall with the two of them inside.