As I went on, my thoughts snagged on Bastian and his stiff shoulders as he’d disappeared.
He wasn’t the same person who’d taken me to the party in Riverton Palace or the one who’d laughed with me in a cave, drenched in rain. This man looked tired all the time. He carried a weight I couldn’t fully understand, only that it seemed like a heavier version of the one I’d held when the estate was under threat.
Messages arrived for him in the middle of the night—pounding on the doors woke me. A couple of times I’d padded to the sitting room door to listen to the quiet voices. I’d heard enough to understand that he was about to hurry back to his room and get dressed, ready to deal with whatever his court and queen demanded.
Golden hair caught the light and a laugh rose above the others. Prince Cyrus. Head back, arm around a woman’s shoulder, he poured drink from a bottle into another man’s mouth.
Mostly in his mouth, anyway—his laughter sent plenty spilling over his chin and cheeks.
As Cyrus lowered the bottle and his friend spluttered, he met my gaze.
I held my face still, not allowing myself to wince as inwardly I chanted: Don’t come over. Don’t come over. After his behaviour last time, I had the feeling he wasn’t going to take no for an answer when it came to dancing.
With a smirk, he nodded, but otherwise made no approach.
A total idiot and capricious, it seemed.
Lucky for me.
A voice came at my shoulder. “Despite being a Day Prince, His Highness’s attentions wax and wane like the moon.”
I spun on my heel and found Caelus, chestnut hair gleaming like the sun was upon it, even now in the dead of night. “Just who I was looking for.”
His eyebrows flicked up. I didn’t miss the pleased smile that ghosted on his lips. “And I was looking for you—the guest of honour. Join me?” He gestured along the loose path that opened up through the guests, and I fell in at his side.
“You know they held a ball just before I left Lunden, but without you there, it was entirely dull.”
“Oh, you mean no one interrupted any important rituals or smashed priceless glassware?”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “I believe one glass was broken, but not a single ritual was interrupted by anyone taking poison.”
“How boring.” That’s it, put him at ease. I eyed his drink as I swirled mine. Somehow I had to get arianmêl in there.
“Even more boring—your uncle spent the whole time trying to ingratiate himself with your queen. Kept going on about how you were his niece and had saved the country. It was quite embarrassing.”
My throat tightened, and I went to tug at the necklace that was no longer there. Uncle Rufus could embarrass the Ferrers name for all I cared, just as long as he stayed far, far out of my life.
“I’m sorry—it looks like I shouldn’t have mentioned anything.” Caelus wore a pained look as we passed a set of doors leading out into the gardens.
You’re meant to be tricking him into spilling what he knows about unCavendish, not making him feel bad.
I needed to get the hip flask of arianmêl out of my garter and pour some in his drink. Somehow.
So I waved him off and forced out a breezy laugh. “He is a fool. But aren’t we all fools, sometimes?”
“I think perhaps I was at the last party we both attended.”
My breath caught at the reminder of him asking if I would share myself with him as well as Bastian. He’d seen Bastian make me come undone, and that made my face burn, but perhaps it opened up an opportunity…
He winced. “I should never have—”
“Maybe I was the fool.”
His attention honed in on me, as focused as the pressure at a blade’s point. I made myself wait—one, two, three—before turning and giving him a meaningful look.
Lips parted he held my gaze and there was such hope in them that for a moment I hated myself.
But only for a moment.
Because I needed to know about unCavendish, and if that meant crushing Caelus’s heart—well, so be it.
The changeling had helped destroy my heart—in some warped way, it felt like a fair exchange.
“You know,” I went on, voice lower, “we never had a chance to drink one of those shots together at that party. What were they? Ariammel? Aria—？”
“Arianmêl.”
“That’s it!” I touched his arm, my glove keeping him safe. “They had shots of it at the door, didn’t they? I swear that stuff was responsible for…” I looked away and focused on the memory of him watching me, hoping the heat in my cheeks translated to a blush. “Well, me getting up to all sorts of things. We could remedy that now.” Slowly, I bent over, conscious of how it emphasised my cleavage—the only skin I had on display.
Caelus’s stare burned into me as I pulled up the hem of my dress and retrieved the hip flask.
I waited long moments before letting the hem down again, letting him get a good view before I waggled the hip flask in front of him.
His eyes narrowed as he eyed it, then me. Not convinced. Suspicious, even.
Maybe if I…
I opened the top and took a sip, keeping it upturned for a while after so it seemed like I drank more than I did. Still, it went down smooth and warm, sweet and lulling, like this was a wonderful idea. I held out the hip flask and purred, “Your turn.”
His canines flashed as he gave a short, huffing laugh. “How can I say no?” He accepted, taking a long draught while my head swam.
I couldn’t lie, but I could dance around the truth like fae did, and it would make him more forthcoming with the truth. I had this all under control.
He made a soft sound as he licked his lips and passed the flask back. “That’s good stuff.”
“Isn’t it?” I secured it back in place before we set off.
I kept to flirtatious small talk initially—no need to make him suspicious by leaping straight to the necklace.
“Look, over there…” He gestured towards a woman with hair the colour of starlight—a silvery blue. “That’s Bastian’s mother.”
I blinked at her, then looked away as she turned, not wanting to be caught staring.
“She was attacked by an unseelie and fell pregnant.”
That was how he’d been conceived.
“She gave him up?”
Caelus nodded. “So I understand it. As soon as he was born.”
That explained why he’d never mentioned her, only the fathers who’d raised him. If he’d come from that kind of assault, I couldn’t blame him for wanting to separate himself from that. I squeezed my glass, overwhelmed by the urge to find him and hold him.
Still, I was meant to be charming Caelus, not reminding him of another man, so I didn’t ask anything more and busied my fingers pushing my hair back over my shoulder.
He sipped his drink and watched the motion, gaze catching on my throat. He frowned. “Your necklace—it’s gone.”
Perfect.
I opened my mouth to say the clasp had broken, but… I couldn’t speak.
Arianmêl. No lies.
“I’m not wearing it tonight.” Obvious, but true, and a kind of explanation. “It’s a shame, since I know you like it so much.” I tilted my head, exposing my throat as Ella had shown me, and his attention skimmed down it, continuing to my chest.