Page 62 of Revels on an Angel’s Grave

She stopped at the stairs to the Council House—multiple tiers leading up to the esteemed government building with its grand pillars and thirteen ornate statues topping it—and twisted her opal ring around her finger.

“You good?” Lola asked, nudging Emmeline with her shoulder.

Emmeline took a deep breath, slowly releasing it. The others climbed ahead of them, only Graves and Eston lingering at their backs, the former excessively grouchy after Emmeline snuck away this morning.

Between their hovering presence and the gossiping attendants, Emmeline hadn’t had a moment alone, nor a moment with solely Lola since they found the scroll last night.

Graves cleared his throat behind them. “We should head inside.”

Emmeline glanced back, her guard’s hard stare sweeping the square at the foot of the Council House and landing on every person who wandered through, gawking at her. Eston nodded in agreement.

“I’m okay,” Emmeline told Lola, forcing a trembling smile. As she made herself place one foot before the other, she whispered, “He’ll be here, right?”

“Yes,” Lola confirmed.

“It’s going to be hard.” To stay away from Roremar, to deter his advances as she’d been unable to last night, to not let him declare to the world that she belonged to him, because, Fates, she knew in her heart a part of her did, but she’d rather he live without her than die to have her.

His parting words last night rang through her memory as they had all day: Tonight gave me a reason to win.

Exhaling, Emmeline added, “Please, don’t tell him that.”

Lola was quiet for a moment, the only sounds their heels on the stone and the clink of their guards’ polished armor, the highest quality for tonight’s event.

“Knowing my brother, he’ll see it without being told. He won’t care about the other men.”

Because Roremar Silventa bled devotion, and perhaps for her he’d bleed most of all.

“We can’t let him do anything reckless.”

“It’s not that easy.” Lola sighed.

At the top of the stairs, in the shadows of the pillars and with Valyn spread before them, Emmeline halted. The clatter of voices and drinks being served flooded through the open doors to the Council House ballroom, but she turned to face Lola, ignoring Graves’s grunt of annoyance.

“I know.” It wouldn’t be easy to convince Roremar they couldn’t be together nor to convince the Governors of his innocence.

Not if she didn’t play her part perfectly.

Inside, a bell rang. The crowd fell silent.

“You really should be getting to your seats,” Eston insisted, almost reluctantly. His concerned stare lingered on Lola, but she plastered on a mischievous smile.

“Let’s go see your suitor, Emmeline.”

And though the idea twisted her gut, Emmeline didn’t miss the fact that Lola had said suitor. Not plural.

The ballroom of the Council House was as grand as the exterior, walls inlaid with frescos and silver plating, the entire ceiling a mural of the Fates’ Dawn, one of the many myths that guessed how the celestial beings were created.

Faceless forms emerged from the stars, surrounded by constellations and artful renditions of the symbols associated with each. An immense chandelier hung in the center, twelve arms reaching out dotted with mystlights, each pointing toward a different Fate on the mural.

Of course, the twelfth was dimmed, the stars bleeding into a swirling crimson pattern.

Emmeline studied the artwork from atop a dais at the front of the room, her spine tingling at the Fates forming above.

Only the highest ranked Starsearchers were invited to the Presentation. They filled the room, talking enthusiastically among themselves as they waited for the competitors to arrive.

On one side of her, seated at the long table overlooking the crowd, was Rocarri’s future Master of City Planning, Simon Missovette. Emmeline made polite conversation when she was first shown to her seat, but she quickly learned he wasn’t someone she’d be able to convince of Roremar’s innocence.

His endless, booming comments barely gave anyone else room to speak as he toiled on about how the tournament was going to benefit the territory and how the latest arrival of the criminal competitor was only increasing funds wagered by citizens.