He’d also been my first big crush and first kiss. I’d seen little of him over the past couple of years but was glad to see a familiar, friendly face now.
As we strolled further into the room, we weaved through the growing crowd of attendees. Many had thrown themselves into dancing and socializing with far more enthusiasm than me, but I forced a smile and stopped to speak with the few who greeted me.
After my mother’s arrest for failure to pay taxes, I hadn’t expected anyone to talk with us, and while most turned their backs to shun us, some didn’t. Most of them were from neighboring farms and were struggling like us.
They probably feared it would one day be them in a prison carriage and hoped that, if it was, we wouldn’t turn away from them either—something my mother and I would never do.
I was fairly certain the earl hadn’t chosen to invite us, and the duke had a hand in bringing us here—something seemingly confirmed by the number of amsirah who turned their backs or stuck their noses in the air when they saw us.
It didn’t bother me; these weren’t the type of amsirah I wanted to associate with, but though my mother kept her chin high and her smile in place, I knew their rejection of her would cut deep. She enjoyed these events, and while I was sure she hadn’t considered many her friends, she had liked socializing with them.
I contemplated sending a bolt of lightning up all their too-tight asses for upsetting her in this way, but I gritted my teeth and kept my increasingly fake smile plastered in place. I now understood why the servants all looked like they’d rather gouge out their eyes than be here. These amsirah werehorrible.
The king had already arrived and sat on the higher dais across from where Callan and the other musicians played. Ivan sat on his throne, with the Earl of Oakley to his right in a far less elaborate chair. The earl’s two sons sat to his right; they looked remarkably like their father with their dark hair and piercing green eyes.
The earl had never married, but I’d heard he had a good relationship with the mother of his sons, the Countess of Halsbad. Her family’s estate overlooked the cliffs of the Halsbad Sea, the largest ocean in all of Tempest.
They’d made their wealth by fishing the sea and transporting their delicacies to the lands far from the oceans. I didn’t see the countess in the crowd, but I was sure she was there with the rest of her rather large family.
During the Ghoul War, the sea villages of Tempest were cut off from the landlocked towns. After the war ended, travel between the distant communities was impossible without a portal, as most roads were destroyed.
Ivan had at least used some of our taxes to fix those roads, and travel, without portals, had openly resumed between the communities. It made the exchange of goods a lot easier, as opening portals to constantly do so was tiring and not always feasible.
Before getting too involved with the other guests, we had to see the king and thank the earl for his invite. Every new arrival was expected to greet the king before dancing.
I tried not to fidget as we waited in the winding line, but I couldn’t keep my fingers still as we moved steadily closer. My heart battered my ribs when we stepped onto the stage.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Ellery
I hadno idea what to expect from these men and dreaded every step I took closer to them. Thankfully, my growing terror was for nothing, as everyone on the stage barely acknowledged us.
In the shadows behind them, discreetly hidden, were a dozen or so of the king’s and earl’s guards. They stood to the side of a door in the wall, and I’d bet more guards waited behind it in case something went wrong.
Talking with one of the guards was the Sheriff of Nottingshire. My blood ran cold at the sight of the man who had ransacked my house and would gladly take my head, but he didn’t notice me as he was on duty tonight.
And then I realized the man he was talking to was his father. I’d seen him at Ivan’s coronation, as he was captain of the king’s guard.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I turned away and restrained myself from running as I descended the stairs. The last time I saw the king, he’d made me feel dirty and gross, but he didn’t seem to recall it.
He was more fixated on gazing sullenly over the crowd than acknowledging us. That was fine by me.
Once off the dais, I drifted away from my mother to speak with some merchants and fellow farmers. When one of them asked me to dance, I couldn’t refuse, but I spent most of the dance looking for Ryker and then cursing myself.
I still loved him, I always would, but I had to get it through my head that he didn’t feel the same way about me. If I didn’t, he would continue to break my heart until it destroyed me.
After nearly an hour passed, I ran out of the amsirah who would talk to me and retreated into a corner of the room. I sipped some water while I watched the dancers.
I much preferred the shadows and was starting to relax when a murmur went through the crowd and heads turned toward the door. I didn’t have to see them to know who had arrived.
Almost all the guests were here, but it didn’t astonish me that the duke had decided to make an entrance. Ivan would have been the first to arrive, so he could stake his claim as the most important person in the room.
The duke had decided to be one of the last to arrive to show how little he cared about anyone else in this realm. The earl was beneath him, and he was making that clear.
Despite my every intention to avoid Ryker, my heart lurched with excitement. I almost stood on my tiptoes but refrained from peering over the crowd to see him.
I don’t care if he’s here. I don’t care if he’s here.
