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Odette stared up at him, her eyes afire. Pain and rage and emptiness fought inside him at once. Damn. He still wanted this woman. And that made her betrayal hurt all the more.
“Where’s Zoya?” she demanded.
“What do you mean—”
“She’s in danger, Rothbart. Shut your mouth and tell me where she is.”
“In more danger than you're about to put her in by having Torsten break the swan curse?” he snarled.
She held up her wrist, displaying the mark there, her eyes flashing. “Here’s something you may not have picked up on your studies, but I can tell you, there is no concealing the target of a skull pact with magic. I see through every disguise, every cloaking spell you cast on her. I knew Zoya stood behind you at the gazebo, but you didn’t give me the chance to warn you. Now,where is she?”
He blinked, a tremor running through him. That was why the swans acted so weird. Why Elna and the other swan tried so hard to get Zoya alone with them. Rothbart’s spells to conceal his sister had never worked on them.
And that meant if Zoya’s intended killer was here, they’d see through her disguise as well. He looked around at the guests, people from all over the world, but also the members of the royal court. The repeating strains of the music blared through his head, speeding his heart rate. He’d brought her right into the viper’s nest.
He looked to the door she’d passed through some time before, and Odette followed his gaze. At least he knew where she was at the moment. “She’s in with the queen.”
Her eyes widened, and she spun toward the door, trying to pull from his grasp.
He didn’t release her. “Odette, what is going on?”
“She’s going to kill her, Rothbart!”
“Who?” He grappled with her, dropping her mask. A few people standing nearby gave them annoyed glances and moved away.
She stopped pulling and looked him straight in the eyes. “Queen Emiranda is the one who hired my mother, hired all of us, to assassinate your sister.”
The queen? He laughed out loud. That was preposterous.
Suddenly, she shoved into him. Her skirts were moving, and he saw them lift. They brushed his waist. Rothbart jerked back.
“Are you mad?” he growled, anger mixing with the heat in his blood.
Odette released her own growl as she dropped her dress and slapped a piece of parchment into his hand. Her other fist gripped a small book.
He reluctantly let go of her to unfold the parchment. “What is this?”
“As you see. Ida Stellyta married Prince Albert.” She stared at him. “They had one child, the last surviving heir of the Salian line. And the woman in that room with your sister will do anything to keep that information from getting out.”
Rothbart read his stepmother’s name on the marriage certificate, uncomprehending. Stellyta, the wife of Prince Albert? Zoya, his stepsister… a princess?
An impatient sound came from the back of her throat. “I don’t have time to wait around and let you process all this.” She shoved the small book into his hand. “The earmarked pages in Helga’s diary will explain everything. Your sister is about to die, and I need to get in there and stop queen Emiranda before it is too late.”
If what she said was true, then they needed to act. His hands grew sweaty, and he studied her through narrowed eyes. But could he trust her? Shit. He wanted to.
But what if she was playing him again?
Zoya’s life could be on the line. He didn’t really have a choice. She was right, time was short. Reaching into his pocket, he felt the amethyst there. “We must get past the guard. I may have something that can help, but it’ll leave me weak, and will only stop those with magic.”
Odette nodded, that fiery determination that he couldn’t get enough of flashing across her face. “I’ll take it from there.”
He folded the parchment and handed it, and the book, back to her. His pockets were full. Stuffing them with anything else would make it obvious he was hiding things, and that was the last place he wished to draw attention.
“If you’ll keep holding onto this for now?”
She took it from him and again moved close. He wasn’t sure if her movements were drawing any less notice, but the objects disappeared and an instant later she smoothed her skirts back into place.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
