AllFreeNovel
Share Us
If I try to walk away, she’ll follow me and be tenfold more persistent, so I humor her with a smile and cautious sip. “Thank you.”
“Of course! Always thrilled when I’m not the only Yuenen lady in the room. Could you have predicted this, Miss Lune?” A splay of her fingers shows off her candy-colored rings. “Such a rushed wedding. Shame if this is all we’ll have—I am hoping we get a more extravagant one after these beastly affairs are over—if Cyrus and Raya stay together that long, that is.”
She pauses, as if to allow me space for an opinion. I have none.
“You’re an astute girl who knows more than she lets on,” she continues, tapping my glass with hers. “What do you say of the success of this couple? I think they don’t quite have that…thatspark,but that’s just me.”
“If they seem nervous, it’s probably the evil witch out to get them,” I deadpan, drawing deeply from my glass. Ziza ought to know: she’s been publishing lengthy articles aboutthe Witch of Nightmares—speculating over the witch’s origins, goals, even her birth constellation—in order to compare her to Raya and to question whether Raya’s love will be enough to save us. “All that pressure dampens the romance a little.”
“True, true. Orheightensit, depending on who you ask, oho! Youareyoung—cherish these times, before you wrinkle like I have.” Her skin is flawless. “I hear the mostinterestingthings about Our Highness, and I wonder if his reputation is true. That he may be Prince Charming on the streets, but he’s a conqueror between the sheets—”
I choke on my wine. Toady hell, I have to stop drinking things during conversations.
“—lustful and demanding of the things he wants. Girls nowadays do love a bad boy. Perhaps it’s all fantasy, but a little bird told me that you might know.”
“Me?” I don’t like where this is going.
“In my observation, feelings as passionate as hatred and ardor are two sides of the same coin. One bleeds into the other remarkably quickly, given the correct circumstances. More sparks fly from friction than cooperation, after all. Sometimes you hate someone so much, you fall in love.”
And maybe if I start a hot enough fire, it’ll start shitting ice cubes. “You’ve had too much to drink, Lady Ziza.” I start walking away.
“I’m perfectly sober…. Ah, well, a little tipsy, perhaps.” She totters forward after me, then leans in close enough for her lips to graze my ear. “Better to tell me the truth yourself,” she hisses, “instead of having me dig it up in the worstway possible. You and the prince have been spotted close together—behind closed doors, even.”
My heart hammers. “If you’re not drunk, then you’re delusional.” I keep my stare level, even as a flush warms my cheeks, worsened by the alcohol. “Leave me before I have you thrown out of here for harassing the Seer.”
“We don’t have to get messy, Miss Lune. I am merely offering you a chance to divulge details on your own terms. Successful ladies such as we ought to support each other. But perhaps we can discuss this again at a more private time.” Ziza’s smile only grows, and it isn’t until I turn around that I see why.
Cyrus has emerged from the side doors of the ballroom. He’s dressed in swan white, his suit sweeping along the lines of his body, swirls of beads and embroidery unfurling from the hems. A single loose curl droops across his forehead, making him even more handsome, and below that are his envy-green eyes—looking straight at me.
Werelooking. I barely meet his stare before his attention shifts elsewhere.
Toadyhell,wearethat obvious.
Around the room, people are shuffling to their seats. The harp swells with a romantic tune. Meanwhile, Lady Ziza awaits my answer with plucked, arched brows.
“Excuse me,” I say with my most acrid glower. “I have to be on the stage.”
Dropping my wineglass on the platter of a passing server, I stalk away from the gossip and her drunken guffawing.
As soon as I get closer to the stage, I realize why thisside of the room is so empty—it’s so heavily secured, the Imperial Guard may as well be the wallpaper. No one wants twenty pairs of eyes on them as they knock back wine.
It’s a sign that we don’t really have a plan for if the witch arrives. What do they expect to do—snatch a raven out of the air if she appears? Whatcanwe do in the face of dark magic that this land has never seen?
Still, she doesn’t know me as well as she thinks. She’s studied future threads and I’ve managed to surprise her anyway. I refused her help. The kingdom is closing in on her.She’sthe desperate one.
I climb the carpeted steps to bow before King Emilius on his throne. His gray hair is newly dyed and trimmed, and his gold mantle is piled around him, gleaming under the lights. The smile he gives is as genial as a father’s, but I don’t find comfort in that today.
“You will speak after me and before the officiant,” he says. “I trust your words will be very wise.”
Nodding, I take my place on the side of the stage.
And the traitorous thoughts begin again.
What ifI don’t follow the king’s orders and instead say that after this wedding, Cyrus should ascend? Would King Emilius deny my words, or will the damage already be done? Surely I could trust Cyrus enough to shield me against his father’s wrath. Or do I justwantto trust him, which almost feels the same?
I am antsy as the ceremony creeps closer by the minute, and after confronting Ziza Lace, I want to do something reckless just to prove I can.
The crowd hasn’t quieted yet. I don’t see Camilla orDante still. Nadiya better not have gotten cold feet at the last minute.
