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Luz’s lips thinned. “Perhaps you won’t wish to join our group. However, you could take your money—the gold Lennox gave you, and your pay for completing this job—and find a spot in Prasanna territory. It’s a wonderful place to live.”
“Where would I go there?”
“Sirens live in Prasanna lands. They’re not all bad.”
I scoffed, but the idea wasn’t terrible. The thin line of ice melted and dripped onto the carpet. At least in fae lands, I wouldn’t have to worry about hiding my magic. If I had all that money combined, even if I didn’t enjoy living there, I could always move into human territory again. “What if I’m not useful?”
“I already told you, Sai said he’d pay you your fair share, regardless.”
“I don’t want his pity money. I’m not a prostitute.” My teeth clinked as I clenched them hard.
“Sai doesn’t feel that way about you if it helps to know. He cared about protecting you as much as this job.”
“Which is it then? Does he want me protected or for me to join this dangerous job?”
“I want you to join this dangerous job.” They leaned against the wall. “Will you do it?”
I bit my lip, and my heart stuttered a few beats. I had broken the group out of jail. Potent magic whirled through me even if I barely knew how to use it. My song and ice had always come to me most naturally. Plus, Luz had been right before. I’d always told Mother I wouldn’t kill because it was wrong. I wanted to do the right thing, and this was an opportunity for me to act on my words. So often I’d stood back when Mother did something immoral and bit my tongue. I should have spoken up. I should have acted when I had the chance. Now another opportunity presented itself for me to prove with my actions what I said I believed. Shaan should have his zevar back and Luz deserved the globe that belonged to their people. “Okay,” I said before I could think more about it.
“Excellent.” They pushed up from the wall. “I’ll see you in the ballroom, then.”
When they left, I considered what I’d just agreed to. I couldn’t decide if I was being brave or foolish. Maybe those were two sides of the same blade. I sighed and pushed up, straightened my posture, and raised my chin.
If I was attending a ball, I was going to attend it properly.
I’d spent my entire adolescence learning how to comport myself, and it was rare I got to use those skills anymore. I doused the lamp, stepped into the hall, and walked downstairs until I found Lennox standing with his hands behind him, his expression blank. Every time I saw him, I thought of his wrinkled eyes and stretched out smile in the charcoal portrait. Who was that man? Not someone I’d ever meet.
“Prince Lennox.”
He turned and gasped, his eyes dashing to his father who stood speaking with a handful of people. He grabbed my elbow and steered me away from the others, whispering. “Lira, what are you doing here?”
“I thought about it, and I realized it would get you in trouble if I disappeared before the gala. I don’t want to make your life any more difficult than it already is.”
He groaned. “You’re going to kind yourself to death. You need to go.”
“I’m staying.”
“You should leave because—”
“Lennox.” The King stared at us, his gray eyebrows raised, his lips pinched down. “Will you and our guest lead us into the ballroom?”
Lennox hesitated a moment, his eyes sweeping back and forth like he calculated something before he sighed and bowed. “Of course, Father.”
I swept a curtsy. “Your Highness.”
He turned back to his party without acknowledging us. Lennox offered his arm. We had dressed in similar but opposing color schemes. Lennox wore a blue coat with silver details and gray slacks. “I’m sorry,” he said as guards opened the doors.
For what?I wished to ask but didn’t get the opportunity. We stepped onto a grand staircase that poured into a ballroom decorated with bare trees glittering in lights. A wall of candles along the back illuminated the space in a warm glow, and glimmered over hundreds of attendees dressed in silver, ivory, gray, and blue. I didn’t notice the crowd at first as I took in the thousands of candles lighting the space, but then I shifted to a couple watching me like spiders waiting for a fly to land against their silk.
Mother smiled at me, her eyes sparkling with magic, as the wispy ice-blue feather in her fair hair trembled. Margo stood at her side, her lips parted.
I stumbled a step, and Lennox rested a hand on my arm to steady me.
His eyes met mine—those perceptive, soulful eyes that spoke so much without words—and I could hear what he was thinking.You should have run.
CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT
SAI
