“We’d do it gladly,” Lamont said. He looked to Nyx. “Wouldn’t we, Brother?”
Nyx wondered if he could run fast enough to get Nadia out of the palace. He knew most of the guards—they were off-duty soldiers; perhaps they could be convinced to look the other way. But no. It would be impossible. They were too far from the entrance. Their only hope was to go along with Lamont’s bluff.
If it was one.
“Yes,” Nyx said. “We would.”
There was a brief, horrible second when Nyx thought Andor would call the guards and find some bastard child to elevate. But he smiled, leaning back on his mountain of pillows.
“Good,” he said, his voice a rasp. “That, boy, is enough ambition. You may have your wife.”
Lamont smiled and bowed, and Nadia bowed hurriedly after him, still staring at Nyx in shock. They left the room, Lamont practically sauntering with Nadia’s hand in his, and Nadia sagged against the wall when they closed the door behind them.
“Lamont!”
“I had to!” Lamont’s voice was a sharp hiss. “He would never have agreed to it if he didn’t know I was willing to kill for it. Iknowhim, Nadia, he raised me. You know the stories. You know what he used to say to me about my own mother.”
Nyx glanced at Nadia, intrigued, but Nadia shook her head minutely. “I know. I know, but warn us next time. What if Nyx hadn’t agreed?”
“Then he would have doomed us all. Which he wouldn’t. He loves you, at least.” Lamont flashed Nyx a nervous smile. “I’m not a fool. I know there’s no love between us.”
“Not at the moment,” Nyx snapped, and to his shock, Lamont laughed.
“Sorry. I was an ass. I know you won’t believe me, but I don’t like who I have to be in front of him, to get what I need.”
“Well, you have it.” Nyx sighed. “And I’m going to drink until I forget that happened.”
“That,” Lamont said, wrapping an arm around Nadia’s waist, “sounds like a very good idea.”
“Maybe I should talk to Nyx, though,” Nadia said, as they started down the stairs. “To explain things. You’re sure your father won’t change his mind?”
“You’re sure you still want to marry into this family?” Lamont asked, laughing again. “Go on. Talk to your commanding officer. But we’ll still meet in the library tonight?”
She sighed. “Only if you make up for that scare, Lamont.”
He nodded and kissed her knuckles. “I’ll charm the hell out of you,” he said, and Nadia smiled at him. He smiled back, glanced at Nyx, and turned away to walk down the stairs ahead of them.
Nyx waited until he’d closed the door to his room to speak. When he rounded on Nadia, she was already holding up one of his bottles of wine with a sheepish grin.
“Sorry?”
“Are you being coerced? Is he forcing you to do this?” Nyx took the bottle from Nadia, who huffed and sat down on his desk chair. “What possessed you, Nadia?”
“People aren’t wholly good or evil, Nyx,” she snapped, dominance threading through her words. “He likes me. I like him—who he really is, under all the bullshit he learned to survive.”
“Tosurvive?What did he have to survive?”
Nadia gestured to the ceiling, in the rough direction of the emperor’s chambers. “Him! This court! Theempire!If flowers die in poisoned ground, Nyx, it isn’t the fault of the flower.”
“It is if the flower is belladonna.” Nyx groaned. “I should have stopped this before it got this far. You saw where he came from, Nadia. You saw what he can become.”
“Yes, what he can become without someone to help him.” Nadia stood, pacing the worn rug. “What would you do, just stand by and let him fall to ruin? He was a spoiled brat to you and Tyr, I know that, but if we let a spoiled brat take the throne, what do you think will happen to this country?Ourcountry.”
“Do you love him?” Nyx asked, and Nadia whirled to look at him.
“Do you love the thing you were speaking to in the bar that night, when Tyr was buried?”
Nyx went still. Nadia watched him, arms crossed.
