“Raelyn killed Simon,” I hear myself say. “And Noam—”
The music stops mid-song, the violins whining as their players jerk to an abrupt halt. The same deliberate type of noise as Lekan knocking on Jesse’s study door, as the stick snapping under Sir’s boot when he stumbled back to camp. It’s the sound of things starting, and I rotate toward Raelyn on the musicians’ stage in the corner, her hands clasped against her skirts, the green silk of her mask glinting in the light.
I gag on panic. How did she get back so quickly? We didn’t make good time clamoring over Rintiero’s rooftops—and she had horses, free rein of the city. Plus she’s in control of this situation, probably planned every moment once she knew Ceridwen had gone to confront Simon.
Ceridwen.My panic twists, thrumming wild and chaotic. What did Raelyn do to her? Where is she?
“Raelyn!” Her name tears out of my throat and I surge forward, my eyes dropping to the barely perceptible bandage on her shoulder. Instinct courses down my fingers, filling my muscles with the need to pull out my chakram and slice through her neck, no missed marks this time. But there are too many people in the way now, and I’m appeased by the fact that she won’t leave this room alive. I won’t let her.
Raelyn cocks a smile as I carve a path through the crowd for my Winterians to follow. I feel them move behind me, the hush that falls over everyone when I reach the stage.
“Winter queen,” Raelyn intones, tipping her head. “Are you not enjoying the celebration?”
The crowd murmurs confusion, ripples of discomfort at the unorthodox interlude. I don’t bother to hide my snarl. I can no longer afford the luxury of propriety.
“You should’ve run, Raelyn.” I motion to her arm. “I won’t miss a second time.”
The crowd shuffles next to me, and Jesse surges through. He’s still wearing his clothes from earlier, not bothering tomatch his wife this time. His dark hair gleams in a tight ponytail, and he flicks his attention from me to Raelyn and back.
“What’s going on?”
Raelyn sighs. “Oh, I suppose there’s no harm in you knowing now, darling.” Her words drip venom, poisonous spells that make Jesse take another step forward, and the crowd takes an equally large step back.
Raelyn faces the crowd, her smile just as deadly as her tone. “Thank you all for joining us. The Winterian queen, the Summerian royal family, and the Cordellan prince have gathered together in a tour of peace. Unification is indeed a feat to be celebrated.”
She spots something at the rear of the room and grins. I flick my head over my shoulder.
Noam.
Mather catches me as I twitch forward, holding me back from starting a slaughter in the throne room. Noam sees my reaction, his eyes glittering behind his Cordellan mask, his lips twitching into the grin I’ve come to know too well. Condescending, controlling.
I’ll cut that grin off his face.
“And today, we will rejoice in the knowledge that unification has been achieved.” Raelyn’s voice rings out. “King Noam, would you please join me on the stage?”
Noam, eyes still on me, jerks back. Confusion chases away his grin, and that single shift of emotion stokes myinstincts higher. Noam wasn’t expecting Raelyn to call him forward. Why is he here?
Where is Theron?
Noam weaves through the crowd, flanked by two of his men. He reaches the stage, standing directly across from me over it. “What is this about?” he asks, eyes skimming around him. He can feel it now too. The wrongness.
“Raelyn,” I snap, yanking her attention onto me. “Why don’t you call the king of Summer to the stage too?”
The crowd, watchful, mumbles curiously. Raelyn tips her head, and the moment her eyes flicker in pleasure, horror plummets through my stomach.
She turns to an open door just off the stage, beckons to someone within its shadows. A soldier walks out, a brown canvas bag in one hand. He tips the bag onto the stage and with a heavy, wetthunk, Simon’s head drops out, his lifeless brown eyes gaping up through tendrils of his flame-red hair.
The crowd breaks. Screams echo against the peach walls, glasses shatter in the fray, and everyone disintegrates into chaos as they tear their way to the doors. But we just stand there—my Winterians, Jesse, Noam, Raelyn, and their soldiers. Unable to move from the staring, empty eyes on the king of Summer’s head.
Jesse wakes from his stupor first. He climbs the stage, and in the moments before he reaches his wife, every image I have of the weak, desperate Ventrallan king splinters away.This man is muscle and power, his body tensing and winding, his eyes more flames than sight.
He grabs the collar of Raelyn’s dress and lifts her off the ground. “What did you do to Ceridwen?” he growls, each word an arrow that should pierce his wife’s heart.
But Raelyn merely laughs. The noise makes unease roll through me, another burst of instinct, and without knowing why, I spin to the door behind me.
“Theron,” I say.
He enters the ballroom. He isn’t wearing a mask, so there’s nothing to keep me from seeing the worry that makes him gray, and when he reaches me, he doesn’t seem to notice any of the other Winterians around me. As his mouth opens, Raelyn cuts in.
