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It felt very A-student to me. As if she were called out by the professor to stand next to him in front of the class, and she was committed to proving to everyone that not only could she converse with him, but she could also impress him.
It was incredibly draining, and I didn’t even have to keep up my end of the conversation the way Kosandion did. I kept hoping she would run out of clever, but more kept coming and coming, until finally after an hour, she was forced to exit.
Now I was escorting her to her quarters through a long hallway, with Beast leading the way. Nycati was next. He had also chosen the gallery, and I would pick him up as soon as I dropped her off. Normally either Tony or Sean would’ve brought the candidate to me while I remained with Kosandion, but Amphie’s date was broadcast in its entirety, and they both had to babysit the delegations in the various dining halls.
Hopefully nobody would get poisoned this time.
I had sealed the gallery with Kosandion inside to give him a few minutes to relax. The inn was watching him, but I was still paranoid.
“How do you feel it went?” Amphie asked.
“It’s not my place to offer an opinion,” I told her.
“You are with him all the time. You’ve earned his trust. Does he talk about me?”
She was barking up the wrong tree. “Gertrude Hunt prides itself on confidentiality.”
Amphie’s eyes narrowed. The hint of a different person shone through, a driven, cut-throat woman focused on her goal.
“You sit in on their strategy sessions. There are no cameras here. Nobody would ever know if you chose to share a few drops of information. Help me, and I promise to compensate you. If I become the spouse, I will have unprecedented influence on the Dominion. You and your inn won’t regret it.”
I stopped before the door to her rooms. “We’ve arrived.”
She gave me a frustrated stare. “You truly don’t know what’s good for you.”
I flicked the door open.
“Will you tell him?” she asked.
“I keep the confidence of my guests. All of them.”
Amphie marched through the doors, and I shut them behind her. Beast woofed once softly by my feet.
“I agree,” I told her, and we headed down the hallway to Nycati’s quarters.
I never fully bought Amphie’s earnest act. Every selection candidate was extraordinary in some ways, the best each delegation could offer, and the Dominion was a place of nuance and political maneuvering. Amphie was projecting an earnest sincerity that bordered on naivete, which was absurd because nobody would send an innocent into this process. The preparation for selection began as soon as the Dominion realized that Kosandion would be able to keep his throne. Even if she had started as a sweet young flower, years of education and preparation would have shaped her into a clever, ruthless political operative.
Amphie was ambitious. There was no question about it. She didn’t want Kosandion, but she definitely wanted the power that came with being the spouse and the mother to the future heir. And she wasn’t above holding that future power over my head. Being blacklisted by the Dominion would damage Gertrude Hunt’s standing.
I had no idea what Nycati wanted.
We were still nowhere near figuring out the identity of the hidden assassin. At first, I thought Pivor was it, so I breathed a sigh of relief. But then it occurred to me that a hidden assassin would’ve been less sloppy. Kosandion’s information indicated that the assassin was a highly skilled professional. Pivor had barely covered his tracks. I’d asked Kosandion’s thoughts, and he agreed with me. Pivor was a curveball out of left field. Someone still wanted to murder Kosandion.
And we hadn’t heard anything more from Wilmos’ kidnappers. I felt like a skier midway up the slope of a steep mountain, eyeing the buildup of snow at its apex. Eventually it would break and become an avalanche, and I wasn’t sure we could dodge it.
I didn’t want anything bad to happen to Kosandion, and not because we would lose Gertrude Hunt.
Nycati had chosen a white robe that floated around him like a cloud, a striking color against his amber skin. A silver ornament, shaped like a melting snowflake, rested on his long hair. He gave me a brisk nod, and we proceeded down the hallway without a word.
Gaheas royals lived dangerous lives, and they remembered debts, those of others and their own. I knew his secret, which gave me power over him and made me his least favorite person. He would retaliate to reclaim that power. I just didn’t know how or when. He had requested a game of Dominion chess with the Sovereign. Dominion chess was played on a twelve-sided board with 60 different pieces. It was insanely complex, and a single game took forever. Maybe his revenge was to bore me to death.
