What's the name of this book!?!? Fairly popular fantasy novel!?

Alright, for some reason I can only remember a snippet of the book and it's driving me crazy! I There is a sub-plot about a young priestess who worked in a temple that took care of bees. One day, the leader of their country comes and decides he's going to have another wife, so he takes her for his bride. Her parents are ecstatic because they're going to be getting money/honor. She gets sent to this enclosed palace where the emperor's other wives live, with only eunuchs as their servants. All these women try to poison one another, and there's one head wife who I think is nice to the ex priestess? Anyway, one of the emperor's generals falls in love with the girl because she used to be nice to him when he was a child, and he thinks it's fate that they met again. He sets up secret meetings with her and is helped by his cousin, who secretly loves him/is also a cross dressing eunuch. The cross dressing eunuch also pretends to like the girl, but he's jealous.

It's been bugging me for a while now. I remember thinking that the sub plot didn't seem that important to the story but it I thought it was so interesting! Like a soap opera.