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“Clover,” Kerrigan offered.
Darby sighed. “They’re really not. But no one else is like Clover.”
“That’s a fact.”
“How is she? I never see her anymore.”
“Do you blame her?”
“Of course not. I was the one who ended it,” she whispered sadly. “I just haven’t seen her or Hadrian much for that matter. I heard what happened at the protest but not even from their mouths that they were there. I had to hear it from you.”
“I’m sorry. I wish it could all be how it had been when we were still in the House of Dragons.”
Darby sighed. “Me too. It was much easier then.”
“Shockingly, yes.”
“And what about you? March?”
Kerrigan wrinkled her nose. “I’m breaking it off tonight.”
“Really? Because of Fordham?”
A small smile came to her face at that question. She didn’t even know how to hide her affection for him any longer. And after tonight, she would no longer have to. “He asked to court me properly after I end things tonight.”
“Oh my gods, Kerrigan!” Darby squealed. “Wait… can you do anything proper?”
She nudged Darby. “Hey!”
Darby giggled. “Gods, I have missed you so much.”
Kerrigan couldn’t even describe how much she had missed Darby. They’d been roommates in the mountain since they were little. That bond didn’t just evaporate overnight. She could sit in this room with her all day and giggle like schoolgirls and have more fun than at the party. But that wasn’t their life anymore. Darby was a Bryonican noble. Kerrigan was very nearly a member of the Society. Their absence would be noted.
“Come on. We can’t stay here forever,” Darby said, coming to the same conclusion.
Kerrigan rose to her feet and followed her friend to the door. “Oh wait, one more thing!” Kerrigan dashed back to the table and retrieved the brooch her father had given her this morning. “Would you help me attach this?”
Darby’s eyes rounded into saucers. “Wherever did you get this?”
She took the ornament in her hand and gently affixed it to Kerrigan’s Parris original gown. The diamonds glittered like star beams, somehow bringing the whole look together.
“My father gave it to me. It’s the House of Cruse livery.”
Darby clasped her hand. “Oh, Kerrigan. I know how much this means to you.”
Kerrigan swallowed and nodded. They didn’t have to say anything else. Years together meant that everything had already been said.
“Together?” Kerrigan asked.
Darby smiled. “Together.”
They stepped out of Kerrigan’s room and headed toward the ballroom as a unit. Music and laughter and chatter filled the hallways as they approached. Audria, Fordham, Roake, and Noda were waiting for Kerrigan near the entrance.
“Took you long enough,” Audria said with a laugh. “I mean, I would want to make an entrance if I had that dress too.”
Kerrigan turned in a circle. “Right?”
Darby squeezed her hand. “I’ll go first. See you in there.”
“Good luck.”
Darby was announced behind them as Fordham stepped forward. He held his hand out to her. “My lady.”
She swallowed, meeting his gaze. They were the foggiest of gray today. His face all sharp edges, but those eyes… those eyes were only for her. Something had shifted between them, and she never wanted to get it back. She put her hand in his and turned to face the ballroom.
A gasp came from the room as they were announced. Kerrigan could understand why. They matched in every sense of the word. Parris had designed her dress in the House of Shadows black and silver. The plunging neckline reached nearly to her navel with a shimmer mesh over the décolletage. A matching exposure was visible in the back as well. The same mesh covered her arms and tied off tight at the wrist and waist. The skirts were lush and full with hints of the silver shimmer throughout, as if he’d imbued the very material with his artist’s magic so that they glimmered all on their own. And with Fordham in a black-and-silver suit, complete with a black cravat, they were a vision together. As if they had always been meant to be.
Their titles were called before the court, and all eyes turned their way. In the crowd, nearest the throne, Kerrigan could see Ashby March narrow his eyes.
Her heart skipped as the enormity of what she was about to do came over her. She had to break off this engagement. And she had to do it with a man who had demanded a dragon rider take him into the mountains without explanation… and actually accomplished it. Somehow, he’d known that she and Fordham were together. Which meant he must have had spies at Waisley. That thought turned her stomach. How much did he know? And how much more difficult would it make this if he did?
March left the queen’s side, bidding his great-aunt adieu, and then walked right to her. “Lady Kerrigan, may I have this dance?”
She had steeled herself for this moment and nodded. She forced herself not to look at Fordham as March whisked her away. One dance, and then she’d end things. She didn’t need to be here any longer than was necessary.
