Page 200 of Sworn to the Shadow Throne

“The way you say undress…” I crossed the room and gently used two fingers to lift her chin. I kissed her once then pressed another to her temple and forehead. She made a small, satisfied sound and leaned into it. I’d faced down battles with less self-control than I needed to resist the urge to lift her from that chair and carry her to the bed.

“You were singing,” I said.

“I do that occasionally…poorly.” She scowled.

“Not poorly. I’ve always loved it.” I pulled up a chair and sat beside her, close enough that our knees touched.

She caught my eye, telling me without words that she appreciated my sincerity. Then she set down her quill and turned to face me fully, red curls disheveled.

“I was writing to Anwen,” she added, almost offhand. “If she won’t ask for allies, I will.”

As our hands met on the chair’s arm, her fingers wove into mine, a motion as natural as if we’d known each other for a lifetime, though we were barely beginning.

Behind us, Muffin lost his battle with the curtain and dropped into a heap of offended fur.

Lunette glanced over my shoulder. “I can’t figure out how to keep him off those.”

“He’s committing a series of escalating crimes,” I said, pointing at the delinquent in question.

“Maybe he needs a lady veska to keep him busy?” she suggested. “That worked out pretty well for you.”

Visions of my room being torn apart by two little demons flickered through my mind. But she was smiling, so I said, “I’ll arrange it.”

“That was too easy,” she said. She narrowed her eyes at me. “You have a look. Did something happen during the council?”

I didn’t want to cause her any anxiety, yet I was unwilling to deceive her. “My bannermen aren’t optimistic about Anwen’s success in Gelida.”

“They’re never optimistic. Especially not about women. It’s a character defect of most men.” She set the quill aside. “Except for you, Camrick, Richart, and Nisien…” She scowled again. “I’ve ruined my point, haven’t I?”

I shrugged, avoiding the trap. “Actually,” I said, “I think Nisien may be the one to surprise us all.”

She tilted her head. “If you don’t expect to be surprised by him, you haven’t been paying attention.”

It was my turn to scowl. Reina had said nearly the exact same thing.

Lunette scoffed. “You surround yourself with smart people.”

“We both know that includes you.”

“It absolutely includes me,” she said pleasantly, and held out her hand. “So stop being surprised when they prove it.”

I pulled the letter from my doublet. Darreth’s blood-red seal had been pressed beside Gelida’s royal blue one, the wax edges touching as if someone had done it deliberately—and with a truly unbearable amount of confidence.

I passed it over.

Luna read the first page. Then the second. Her eyes widened, the small surprised exhalation turning into a gradual curve of her mouth. “Well,” she said at last, setting it on the desk beside the forgotten tiara.

Nisien, who’d spent the last fifteen years leading every party in Darreth, who’d charmed every person in every room and left without a single enemy and approximately zero consequences, had apparently been paying very close political attention the whole time.

I knew he was clever. He’d saved my reputation. But this was on a different scale. He’d been underestimated his entire life. It was only just occurring to me that he’d been counting on everyone doing exactly that.

Lunette was quiet for a moment. Then soft, genuine laughter bubbled up as she raised the letter, her hand giving it a little shake. “Anwen might kill him before this happens. But if she doesn’t…”

She didn’t finish the thought, but I heard it anyway: they were two stubborn people circling something inevitable and calling it everything but what it was. I knew that story rather well. And just like it had for us, their union might be the thing to save Gelida.

I took the letter back, folded it, and slid it into my coat. Outside the window, snow was dusting the bare branches again. Selmont would be nearly unreachable by now, its roads buried and its people shut inside their homes until the thaw.

But winter didn’t last forever. I’d already begun making secret arrangements for spring. We’d have a modest escort that would bring us to Selmont before rumor could catch up to us leaving the Tir. Lunette could see that her former home was thriving and more importantly see how far beyond their judgment she’d grown.