Sometimes, I wasn’t even sure which side of the line I was on.
Though I strongly considered polishing off the wine, better judgment reluctantly won out. I set down the half-full bottle with a longing look and dragged myself out of my cozy hideaway when a familiar voice caught my ear.
“What do you want, Iléana?”
My heart must have recognized him before my brain did, because a rush of familiar calm washed over me before I pieced together what I was hearing.
“No one is buying that she’s really a Corbois, Luther. Your servants do talk, you know.”
The fleeting moment of peace vanished. I spied a flash of golden hair through the crack of a slightly open door, where Luther and Iléana were talking in a nearby room.
What I should have done was leave.
Or at the very least announce my presence.
But I’d used up all my good behavior on the abandoned wine. I pressed myself into the shadows near the door.
“You cannot be serious,” Iléana said archly. “She’s a half-breed. She shouldn’t even be alive.”
“She is your Queen.”
“You’ve been preparing for this role your entire life. You earned it. That Crown belongs to you.”
“The Crown belongs to whomever Blessed Mother Lumnos chooses. She chose Diem, so Diem is who I serve.”
“Not for long. She’ll never survive the Challenging.” Iléana smiled and wet her lips. “Maybe I’ll Challenge her myself and claim you as the spoils of my victory.”
Wisps of light sparked in Luther’s pale blue gaze. “If you Challenge her, you will not survive it. No one will. Her power is stronger than any Descended I’ve ever met.”
“Is this why you left me?” she snapped. “Is this why you can’t stop fawning over her like she’s the fucking Blessed Mother herself?”
Luther’s mouth went tight. “Jealousy does not become you, Iléana.”
“I’m a Hanoverre, Lu. I have no reason to be jealous of that uneducated, ill-mannered trash, whether she sits on a throne or not.”
I despised the feelings of insecurity her cruel words aroused. I was proud of my family, prouder still of my mortal upbringing, but this pedigree-obsessed Descended world of wealth and propriety made it easy to feel defined not by who you were, but what you were.
“Maybe I underestimated you,” she said bitterly. “Maybe when you didn’t get the Crown, you decided you’ll get to the throne any way you can. Tell me, has she already spread her legs for you? Have you already got that whore down on her knees while you—”
“Watch your mouth,” Luther thundered.
“Am I wrong? You were happy enough to bed me before that little tramp came around.”
I failed miserably at fighting back the mental image of the two of them making love, Iléana’s legs wrapped around Luther’s naked body, his lips crushed against hers. Bile rose in my throat.
“I always suspected you never really knew me,” Luther growled. “Now I realize how right I was.”
Undeterred, Iléana moved closer. “My grandmother looked into her mortal family, you know. We know all about them. She grew up in some pitiful hut out in the swamps. Someone like that, sitting on the throne—it’s vulgar. She’s a threat to what the Twenty Houses have built.”
I flinched at the sting of Luther’s silence.
“We both know she isn’t going to do what needs to be done to put those terrorist rebels in their place,” Iléana pushed. “Do you really think the Houses will allow that to go unchecked?”
She stepped up to Luther and laid her palm against his cheek. “Her days are numbered. Do yourself a favor, Lu. Don’t get attached.”
A shadow caught the edge of my vision, and I whirled to see Eleanor staring at me with a frown. “Diem, Aemonn’s looking for y—”
I clamped my palm over her mouth and raised a single finger to my lips.
“Just this once, Iléana, I’m going to ignore that you just spoke of treason in front of the Keeper of the Laws.”
Eleanor’s eyes flared wide as she recognized Luther’s voice. She peeled my palm away and hurriedly nestled beside me.
“Treason is putting a mortal-loving half-breed on a Descended throne,” Iléana snarled.
“Tread carefully. I will not overlook it a second time.”
Iléana scoffed. “You would choose her over me? Over all that we shared together? All that we planned?”
“Those were your plans, not mine. Diem is my Queen. I will choose her over everything.”
“You didn’t choose Ulther over everything.” Iléana tilted her head and gave him a critical glare. “You weren’t so loyal to him.”
Eleanor’s eyes bulged as they locked with mine, and I wondered if I had made a reckless mistake inviting her to listen in. I started to pull her away, and she yanked me back into place.
“I’m not an idiot, Luther. I saw the ways you worked around the King. Sometimes you even disobeyed him outright. What has this girl done to earn your loyalty that Ulther didn’t?”
I strained my ear closer, pressing it as far into the open door as I dared.
Luther’s silence was deafening.
“Oh Lu,” Iléana sighed. She smoothed down the lapel of his jacket. “This will all be over soon enough, and once she’s out of the way and you take the throne like you were meant to, I will forgive this little indiscretion. Then you and I will finally be the King and Queen this realm deserves.”
I flinched and moved back toward the corridor. As I brushed by Eleanor, she pulled me in by the waist. “Wait,” she whispered.
“I’ve heard enough. I should get back to the ball.”
“Wait,” Eleanor insisted.
Luther’s voice rumbled out of the room, carrying in its low timbre a hint of the deep vault of power that lay inside.
“Let me make myself extremely clear. If you or anyone in your family makes a move against Diem, it will be the last thing you ever do. I will see to it personally that House Hanoverre is destroyed.”
“Is that a threat?” Iléana hissed.
“It’s a promise.” He paused, his voice turning dark. “And you know I always keep my promises.”
Eleanor bit her lip as a smile threatened to break through. “Now we’re done.”
“My darling Diem,” Aemonn bellowed loudly at my return to the ballroom. “It’s time for our first dance.”
He strolled—pranced, really—over to me with one hand extended, the other fanning out the thick fabric of his feathered cape.
I threw a pleading look to Eleanor. “Save me?”
She laughed and shoved me toward him. “It’s a ball. This is supposed to be the fun part.”
Before I could protest, Aemonn snagged me into his arms and curled a hand around my waist. I begrudgingly slipped a shaky hand into his. My skin went clammy, red splotches rising along my chest.
“Nervous?” he teased.
“I can’t dance,” I mumbled, staring down at my feet. “This is going to humiliate both of us.”
“We’ll be fine.” He gave my waist a quick squeeze. “Relax and follow my lead. Are you capable of that—letting someone else take control?”