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“Bastien listens to his own conscience,” I said. “You’d have better luck persuading the tide.”

“Which is why I am persuading you.”

I eyed him.

“Tell Roselyn that if he casts his vote for me, I will force Nightfall to accept Lady Natalia as his heir.”

Lady Natalia had been Josse’s heir, but she had been disinherited some years ago. Bastien and Josse had quarreled terribly over it. Now, she served under Bastien’s charge, helping hold the border with the Lawless Lands.

Renaud had the right angle to persuade Bastien, but was it enough? I couldn’t say.

“You really expect the two of us to vote against Marius? We were brothers in every sense before we took the Blood Oath.”

“Am I not your brother too?” Renaud demanded, pounding his fist against his chest. “As a former Witch of the Light.”

He wasn’t wrong, but he also couldn’t understand the bond the three of us shared. The nights we spent in enemy territory. Surrounded by demons and dark magick. Unsure if we would live or die. While young men from rich covens, like Renaud, stayed safely out of the way.

Renaud stepped closer, and his voice dropped.

“You think my desire to be High Prince is vanity. It isn’t.”

No, not vanity. Expectation. He’d always had his sights set on a throne. Renaud had been raised to marry the next leader of his coven. Now that he was a vampire, he could sit on it himself.

It did not escape my notice that twelve men, who had all come from matriarchal covens, now ruled over the peace between them. At the time, the argument had been that men were the stronger sex and would tolerate the transformation better.

Now, at times like these, I wondered if we should’ve argued harder against it.

“Marius’s stubborn adherence to the old law keeps twelve immortal men chained to one love forever,” Renaud continued. “And don’t get me started on the exhausting set of rules around our mate bond. Especially the part about abandoning our duchy to return to the capital. Tell me what sense that makes in a world where witches test our power daily?”

“The mate bond had been the gods’ condition for the spell. Do you seek to undermine their power?”

“I seek to carry out the task they gave us in a way that makes sense for modern times. Five hundred years ago, perhaps all of us needed a mate to temper us. We were hot-blooded men. Half of us were the other half’s sworn enemy. The grave dirt on our fallen family members was fresh. But now, with the experience of time, I daresay we understand life is long and love can find you anywhere.”

I should’ve cut him off there, but I couldn’t force myself to do it.

“Under me, a prince could love freely. Paramours honored at court instead of hidden. Children made legitimate instead of shamed. No more waiting for the gods to send your mate’s soul back to make a woman your lawful wife. Or to give your child a mother.”

I’d prayed for the gods to send Emmaline back to me, if only to help me raise our child. Was this their reply?

“If I were the High Prince, you could have anyone you wished. Openly.” Renaud winked. “Even that lovely new sanguine partner of your son’s. The red-haired one.”

I cut my brother a scathing look, but he only grinned.

“I watched you on the dock, Yves.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “The whole court saw the way you lust for her. You weren’t even trying to hide it.”

Blackness bled at the edges of my vision. Had I been that obvious? Had I been that careless?

“Though I’ll grant you taste. Wicked, that one.” He ran his tongue over his teeth, considering. “She must be demon-blooded.”

My hand closed around an old vine stake, and I yanked it from the ground. My fangs bared. “That,” I said, “is a step too far.”

Renaud raised both hands, palms out, retreating half a pace. His grin told me this was what he wanted, to goad me into a reaction. “I meant no insult to the lady.”

“No. You meant to find a lever to manipulate me,” I said. “You are welcome to keep looking. But hear me, Renaud. Miss Ravenwood is under my protection. She is not a plank in your platform. Speak of her in that fashion again, to me, to your sons, to anyone, and I will beat you like you were never beaten in the field of battle. I will make you wish you had never been turned.”

“So it is like that,” he murmured, delighted. A gleam sparkling in his eyes.

“It is like nothing. She is my son’s blood nanny.”