Page 144 of The Cost of Blood and Bonds

“Gem.” He says it too loud, voice cracking, and I watch three nobles stop mid-conversation to stare. He doesn’t even register them. “I found her breaking into Father’s chambers, Rye. It was all a lie. Everything she told me⁠—”

“Hayes.” I tighten my grip on his shoulders, forcing him to focus on me. “Stop. Not here.”

His eyes are still wild. “I trusted her. I thought she was my friend⁠—”

“I know.” I keep my voice low and calm, even as my heart hammers against my ribs. “I know. But you need to stop talking. Right now.”

The whispers are spreading. I can feel them rippling outward through the ballroom like poison in water. The crowned heir…Gemma…the swordmaster…

Finn leans close to Rosie, murmuring something I can’t hear. She nods once, and her face pales. Then slips away toward the terrace doors, going down to the gardens, toward Grier. Good, she’ll warn them and get Ella out.

“Library,” Finn says quietly, appearing at Hayes’s other side. “Now. Before this gets worse.”

We flank him and guide him through the crowd. I smile at a servant who looks too curious while Finn claps a confused lord on the shoulder and makes some joke about too much champagne.

The library door closes behind us, and Hayes falls apart. He sinks into a chair by the cold fireplace with his head in his hands.

“Tell me what happened.” I crouch in front of him. “All of it. From the beginning.”

He drags his hands down his face and takes a shuddering breath.

“I was—I needed air. Rosie and Finn were…” He shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter. I left, and I was walking, and I saw Gem heading toward the east wing. I thought I’d catch up to her. Talk to her. She’s always been there for me…I thought she was my friend, Rye.”

“I know.”

“I followed her, and I finally caught up to her outside Father’s chambers, and she had her back to me. I reached for her hand, and there were these metal tools, lockpicks, and she tried to play it off. Tried to—” He laughs, hollow and broken. “She tried to flirt with me. Suggested we take a walk in the gardens. Like I’m stupid, like I wouldn’t notice where we were standing.”

Finn is pacing by the window with his jaw flexing and his hands clenching and unclenching at his side.

“What did you do?” I ask carefully.

“I panicked. I used my magic, used vines to restrain her. And I—” He swallows hard. “I put her in the dungeons. I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t know who to trust. Everyone’s been lying to me, Rye. Everyone.”

The dungeons. He put her in the dungeons. I have to get to her; I have to fix this before Father finds out, before everything collapses.

The library door swings open.

Father stands in the doorway. His eyes sweep the room, taking in Hayes crumpled in the chair, Finn frozen by the window, me crouched on the floor, and his face goes cold.

“I heard the most interesting whispers just now.” The gentleness in his voice is the most terrifying thing I’ve ever heard. “Something about the swordmaster and my chambers.”

“Father—” I start.

“I wasn’t speaking to you.”

Father steps into the room further, closing the door behind him with a soft click, and his gaze falls on Hayes. “Hayesland, you’ve outdone yourself tonight. Making a scene in the middle of the Contender’s Ball. Shouting a servant’s name for all the nobility to hear.”

“She’s not a servant, she’s⁠—”

“I don’t care what she is.” Father’s voice goes sharp. “I care that my heir is making a scene in public over some common whore with a sword.”

Hayes flinches like he’s been slapped.

“Now.” Father clasps his hands behind his back. “Someone is going to tell me what’s going on. And you’re going to do it quickly before I lose my patience.”

Silence stretches, and Hayes’s jaw sets. He’s not going to talk. Despite everything—the betrayal, the heartbreak—he’s not going to give her up.

“No?” Father draws a slow breath in through his nose and tilts his head. “Very well.”