He laughed under his breath. “My dear brother doesn’t plan on his wives being killed, Lady Farrow. Besides, I think you might be his favorite,” he said with a wink.
I scoffed. “Surely an entire ballroom full of capable, powerful fae would know who has assassinated not one, but three newlywed princesses.” My words were bold but my nerves had finally settled. I was desperate for answers now.
I needed a plan.
The music changed, and Adonis pulled me closer to his chest as he transitioned into the next dance. I was close enough to feel his breath on my face, but I wasn’t going to back away. They wanted me to be afraid. They wanted me to back down.
That sure as saints wasn’t going to happen.
I lifted my chin to face him, finding nothing but amusement strung across his face.
“Am I wrong?” I urged.
“Careful, Lady Farrow,” he whispered in my ear. “You’re in a room full of men who won’t like what you’re implying.”
“And what am I implying, exactly, Adonis?”
A flash of something crossed his face. Anger? Annoyance? But it quickly disappeared. “You want to look out for yourself, I understand that,” he said. “It’s respectable. Especially in a house full of fae. But every time Malachi is wed, his wife is assassinated. If we knew who was doing it, we would stop it. Malachi would stop it. I don’t think he quite likes weddings enough to repeat them every few years, to be honest with you.”
I glanced back to our table to find Malachi staring at us, watching our every move. Watching Adonis’s every move.
I looked back to his brother. I didn’t trust him, but he knew something. I could see it in his eyes.
“I like you, Lady Farrow,” he continued. My eyes widened. “The other humans have been so…boring. And it’s been a while since we’ve had some excitement in this castle. So, I’m going to help you.”
My eyes nearly rolled out of my head. “How can you help me?”
“Three doors to the right from here, there’s an unlocked room. Meet me there at midnight and I’ll tell you everything I know.”
My heart was pounding. Adonis kept tugging me across the dance floor. “But what about Malachi?”
Adonis glanced at his brother before returning his gaze to me. “I know you think you can trust him, but be very careful. You don’t trust me,” he said, “and that’s a wise choice. You shouldn’t. You shouldn’t trust anyone in this room, Lady Farrow.”
“You tell me not to trust you yet you expect me to mysteriously meet you at midnight?”
He smiled. “Someone is going to try to kill you tonight. I think it might be your only option.”
If Adonis noticed the chill that ran down my back, he didn’t show it. As he continued guiding me across the dance floor through the sea of people I couldn’t trust, I began to realize the depth of the situation.
I couldn’t trust a single person here. Not the person I was dancing with. Not Adeline, who had been so nice to me.
And not even my husband.
CHAPTER 6
Malachi
“It’s not polite to stare,” Adeline said. She bounced back toward the table and took Jade’s empty seat next to me.
“I’m not staring, I’m observing,” I corrected.
“Well, it’s creepy. Adonis won’t do anything to her, and you know that,” she said in a low voice so only I could hear.
“I’m not too sure about that,” I replied, mostly to myself. “Did you find anything?”
Adeline took a long drink from her glass and tossed a glance at my brothers, who were still lingering at the table.
She leaned toward me and whispered, “Just like you thought, Mal. Apparently our dearest father hand-picked each guard on duty tonight. The same guards will be guarding your rooms later tonight, also.”
She didn’t say anything else. She didn’t have to. Everything she was saying confirmed what I had been thinking all along.
My father was anticipating Jade’s assassination just as much as I was. All that talk about being able to trust my family…what shit.
My father didn’t trust them, either.
“It’s going to be okay,” Adeline said after a few moments. “We’ll keep her safe. I don’t care if I have to stay up all night.”
I smiled. Adeline was one of the only people in this world I trusted with my life. With Jade’s life, also.
Trust was a rare quality in Rewyth. Adeline had been by my side since we were kids. Except she didn’t act any different when she learned that I was going to inherit the throne. Perhaps it was because as a female Fae, it was impossible for her to take the throne anyway. The others saw me as competition. Without me, Lucien would have the throne.