Hestia leaves my side once Lord Paulos arrives a short time later. She offers to stay with me and chat, but I shoo her away.
Just because my man is ignoring me, it doesn’t me she should ignore hers.
“You look lovely tonight, Lady Stathos,” comes a voice at my back.
Lady Zervas hasn’t bothered to match my theme. I suppose it would be stranger if she did. I doubt there’s anyone in the world who bears more ill will toward the late queen than the other woman who competed for the king’s heart. The woman who lost.
“You’re not in costume,” I respond, taking in her simple emerald- colored gown that doesn’t bear any added ornamentation.
“I wore green, didn’t I? What says ‘garden’ more than that?” I have nothing to say in response.
“I was surprised to receive your invitation,” she says. “I didn’t think you particularly liked our last conversation.”
“I didn’t, but who could use a ball more than cranky old spinsters?” She laughs at the jibe—a response I hadn’t expected. “I like you,”
she says. “I think you will make a fine queen. I only thought to tell you how to protect yourself when last we spoke.”
“It’s too late for that,” I say, more to myself than to her.
She nods, as though understanding what I mean completely, before walking on.
 |
THE BALL IS IN full swing, and my friends couldn’t be happier. Hestia and Lord Paulos share a dance. Rhoda and Galen are in a corner, talking and giving each other light touches. A few judgmental stares are eyeing them, but Rhoda is blind to them. I’ll have a thing or two to say if anyone tries to interrupt my friend’s happiness.
Petros has a new lord in his arms, and the two are the most elegant dancers in the room, I’m convinced. Meanwhile, Rhouben is eyeing a lady over the rim of his wineglass. Even Leandros has found a dance partner, a pretty girl in lavender.
The guards are quiet sentinels at the edges of the room. All weapons have been checked at the entrances.
And Kallias—
Kallias is still on his throne, watching me. Not participating, but present. As he always must live his life.
I sigh and turn away. I suppose this is about to become my life full- time. Might as well get used to it. But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy my own ball. Rhouben still hasn’t worked up the nerve to ask the lady to dance, so at the next lull in between songs, I start to stride over to him.
A gentle hand comes down on my shoulder, and I turn. “Dance with me.”
Kallias pulls me into his arms before I can answer, holding me right there for the whole world to see. The song strikes up, and he moves us in time to the gentle thrumming of the violins. He lets his shadows swirl about his face, to let any onlookers know he is still in full control of his powers. But his arms are tangible for our dance, so he can spin me, lift me, clutch me against him. His gloved hands move over my back and arms as he leads me through the steps.
I’m unprepared for the sudden sensation of being on fire. Everywhere his gloves touch burns. I can barely feel my feet—I even trip once—I’m so aware of where his body touches mine.
Damn him.
“What are you doing?” I finally manage to get out. “You don’t get to ignore me all evening only to dance with me now!”
He leans forward. “You’re so beautiful it hurts.” “What kind of answer is that?”
“I kept my distance to keep myself from doing something stupid. Something like this.” He pulls me so close it’s indecent as we go through the next steps.
I can’t even hear the music anymore. All I hear is Kallias’s frantic heartbeats, his warm breath against my hair.
When I dare to look up into his eyes, I realize it’s the wrong thing to
do.
I’m burning. My core goes up in flames. His gaze looks hungry,
heated, desirous. The look of a man who hasn’t had human contact in a year.
Kallias said it himself. No man would give up the power of the shadows except for the deepest and most all-consuming of loves.
Not that I want him to love me. He met me two months ago.
And I used to want to kill him.
But now everything is different, and I want so much more. At the same time, I’m terrified of having more and so glad he cannot touch me, that he will never hurt me because we will never be allowed to get that close.
The music comes to an end, but Kallias keeps one of my hands in his. “Come with me,” he says.
He leads us up to the dais where the throne is. No.
Now there are two thrones. When was the second brought in? Oh gods. It’s happening now.
At some signal from Kallias, the beginnings of another song cut off.
My guests go silent, and all eyes are on the king.
He seats me into the second throne, before dropping to his knees before me and brandishing a ring between two fingers.
It glistens in the light. I don’t take in any details, because my gaze is locked on Kallias’s. Little gasps and exclamations sound throughout the ballroom.
“Alessandra,” the king says in a voice only I can hear. “You’ve made me happy again. You’ve given me hope and become an invaluable confidante and the greatest of friends. A—a woman I could love.”
Love.
Could love. If he let himself. Which he won’t.
Then he raises his voice for the whole room to hear. “Lady Alessandra Stathos, will you be my queen? My equal in all things? A protector and ruler of Naxos and the conquered realms? Will you marry me?”
“Yes.”
An ear-wrenching cheer goes up from the crowd, and I bask in it. In the attention. In the offer of marriage from the most powerful man in the world. In achieving my greatest goal.
He’s mine.
But then a stroke of fear rides in, as I remember someone wants to kill my king. And should we catch this assassin, Kallias will still be a target his entire life. He could be taken from me at any moment.
Kallias is ignorant to my thoughts as he slides the ring onto my finger, a silver band bearing a black diamond cut into the shape of a rose. “A toast!” Lord Vasco says from somewhere nearby. I hate that he
has to be a part of this moment.
Glasses of wine are passed around to all the revelers in just a few short minutes. But those minutes seem to take forever, and dread sinks low in my chest. There are so many people in the room. An assassin could easily sneak in.
He’s safe, I remind myself. We banned weapons from entering the room. All the guests were thoroughly searched, much to their own irritation. No one can get past the guards surrounding the dais.
The council members stand below us. Serving maids spread throughout the room to fill glasses to the brim. Kallias thanks the woman who pours deep red liquid into his cup.
“To the king and future queen!” Lord Ikaros Vasco says, and the crowd repeats the words heartily.
That’s when I see her. Hidden through the crowd, carrying a load of dirty dishes from the refreshment table.
It’s the little girl from the gentleman’s club.
From the place where Kallias was touched. And now, I note with horror, the shadows that had been about his head are completely gone.
He either hasn’t noticed or isn’t using them.
“Kallias, don’t!” I shriek. I bat the cup that’s raised to his lips away. But it’s too late. He already drank.
He immediately falls to the ground and starts convulsing. Liquid foams at his mouth, and he closes his eyes.
Screams go up, and the council tries to rush onto the stage. “No!” I yell. “Everyone stay back.”
The guards close ranks, barring anyone from joining the king and me on the dais. I try to think. I need to keep people from touching him. We don’t know who the murderer is yet and—
Except we do.
It was Vasco who proposed the toast and had everyone’s cups filled.
We knew one of Kallias’s council members had to be in on it.
I’m torn. I have to get the little girl out of here, but I don’t want to leave the king’s side.
And then Leandros, Petros, and Rhouben are trying to get past the guards.
“Let them through,” I order.
The guards part just enough to let the three men by.
“What do we do?” Leandros asks. “He needs a physician.”
“Don’t let anyone touch him!” I shout. “No one. Stay here with him!”
I leap from the stage and kick off my heeled boots before running for that little girl. When I’m upon her, I lift her into my arms and sprint for the exit.
She drops her dirty dishes and grips me for dear life, fearing I will drop her. She makes little protestations, but I ignore her.
Run, run, run.
How far is far enough? What did Kallias say? Fifty yards?
We duck through the kitchens, swerve around overworked kitchen staff, and bound through the back doors. My feet step over rough pebbles and other refuse on the streets, cutting into my skin, but I don’t let that stop me.
I have to get her away from Kallias. I’m not counting my steps. I’m too frantic. I have no clue where I’m going, but I don’t stop until I’m exhausted, which admittedly, isn’t that far away.
It’s not often that I have to exert myself.
We collapse on the ground, and only then do I register that the girl is sobbing, her little hands grasping my neck.
“I didn’t want to be there,” she’s saying. “They told me to. I didn’t know why, but I knew something was wrong. First they had me touch him and then—and then—”
She bursts into more tears, her wracking heaves making it impossible to hear anything else she says.
I don’t want to listen to her crying. I want to go see if Kallias is all right. But I can’t let her get away. She must know or be able to point out who is behind everything.
“Who are they?” I ask. “Who told you to be here tonight? Who made you touch him?”
She can’t get any words out. She’s still so shaken from the way I dragged her away from the party and from the sight of the dying man she must now know is partly her fault.
I want to shake her, to get her to listen. But I know that won’t help. And I know it’s not really her fault. She’s been used by people older and far more powerful than she. I just want her to say Vasco is behind it and have the whole thing done with.
“Alessandra?” It’s Leandros.
“Over here.” I bother to actually look around to where “here” is. We’re in some sort of gap between the stables and a small runoff from
the mountain.
When Leandros comes into view, I ask, “How is he?” “He’s all right, but he’s asking for you.”
I look down at the girl. “I can’t leave her.”
“I’ll stay with her. She’ll be here when you get back.”
I hand her over, and the little girl allows herself to be held by a new stranger, though somewhat reluctantly. “It’s all right,” I tell her. “He’s a good man.”
At those words, she lets her face fall into his chest and resumes her sobbing.
And then I take off again. This time, I actually feel the pinpricks of pain that go through my feet with every step. The scenery is a blur around me as I hurry back in through the kitchens and into the ballroom, a nice streak of brown coating the bottom of my once-yellow dress.
Kallias is standing, his back to a wall, no shadows in sight, but I hope that is a good thing, not a bad one. His council is trying to order about the guards, escorting party guests away.
“Are you all right?” I ask.
Seeing me, Kallias grabs me and pulls me to him. “I’m fine. Look at you! Are you hurt? Where did you go?”
In as few words as possible, I explain about the little girl and how I rushed her from the room. I tell him Leandros is with her now.
“Thank goodness for Leandros and this lot.” He points to Petros and Rhouben, who stand on either side of him. “My councilors kept trying to approach me. Vasco has already been carried off to rot in the cells until I’m ready to talk to him. My father’s best friend…”
I’d forgotten what this means for him. It’s not only about catching the person who is trying to kill him. It’s about obtaining justice for his dead parents.
“There was more than one,” I say. “I couldn’t get much out of the serving girl, but she clearly said there was more than one person involved in this plot. I’ll go back and question her as soon as we’re done here.”
“Someone else can do it,” Kallias says as his arms tighten around
me.
“It can’t be you. You must stay away from her. We need to figure out
what to do with her. But later. For now, we need to know what she knows, and there are too few people to trust. Where are your shadows?” I tack on at the end.
“Once I healed from the poison, I wanted to hit things. Vasco’s face, in particular.”
I resist an eye roll. “You should go upstairs. Rest from this ordeal.
I’ll join you as soon as I have more information.”
Kallias sighs. Then he looks over at the men flanking him. “Go with her. Help her with anything she needs.”
Somehow, my chest warms at the absence of him telling them to protect me. He knows I can protect myself. He doesn’t even need to mention it.
I sit upon the dais and hastily brush off my feet before shrugging on my boots once again. Now that haste isn’t required, I can afford to wear them. Then the three of us return to where I left Leandros and the girl, who appears to have finally calmed down.
I kneel down to her height. “What’s your name?”
“Drea,” she says after a sniffle. “Please, I didn’t know he was the king until today. I never saw him before.”
“It’s okay, Drea,” Leandros says, stroking a hand through her hair, “tell them what you just told me.”
“There were two of them,” she says. “That man, the one who announced the toast to the king and queen. And the lady.”
“What lady?” I ask. There’s a woman involved?
“The one who’s always wearing black. But tonight she’s in green.”
