“May I offer you some advice, my queen?” Diante asked, although she didn’t wait for my agreement before speaking again. “Since you have picked this path, you need to continue on it, especially during the Regalia. Be bold, daring, brutal, and above all merciless. It’s the only way anyone is going to take you seriously.”
“I don’t need a reminder of just how little people think of me, both here in Bellona and abroad.” My voice came out louder and harsher than I had intended, and my cheeks burned with embarassment, despite the cool night air.
Diante dipped her head in apology. “I meant no disrespect. Truly. I have come to think quite a lot of you over the past few months, Everleigh. So have the other nobles. It’s the fools like Fullman who continue to underestimate you.”
She gestured up at the palace columns in the distance. “You rather remind me of a caladrius. Such a normal, innocent, quiet facade, but so much raw power lurking underneath. I admire how you hid your true strength from everyone at court. Smart of you to play that long game, especially when Vasilia was alive.”
“But?” I asked, still wondering where she was going with this.
“But the time for hiding has passed. Something I think you already know, given your order to display the geldjagers’ bodies. It is time to show your true strength, Everleigh, when it comes to both your reign and your magic. And it is especially time for you to play your own long game.”
Her words mirrored my own thoughts, although I would never tell her so.
“Why, I think you could be one of the finest queens Bellona has ever known, if . . .” She deliberately let her voice trail off.
I sighed and asked the inevitable question. “If what?”
“If you quit worrying so much about what your actions might cost others.” Diante gave me a speculative look. “You have people who will fight, kill, and die on your command, and yet you still prefer to handle such things yourself. It’s no secret that you would much rather put yourself in danger rather than your people. An admirable, if foolish quality in a queen.”
She paused. “Isn’t that why you faced down the geldjagers this evening?”
I didn’t respond, although I was cursing on the inside. It seemed as though my story about Serilda and Cho killing the geldjagers hadn’t been as convincing as I’d hoped.
At my continued silence, Diante’s golden eyes narrowed, and a pleased smile crinkled her face. “Not a flicker of emotion at my accusation. Excellent. That skill will serve you well during the Regalia.”
I arched an eyebrow. “I wasn’t aware I needed your approval.”
She let out a low, amused chuckle. “That’s because you don’t. You are the queen of Bellona. You have convinced me of it, Everleigh, and I am not an easy person to sway. Now it’s time for you to convince everyone else—for all our sakes.”
Once again, I didn’t respond.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, my queen, I’m going to tell Nico the good news about the tournament.” Diante’s expression turned smug. “Along with Fullman, of course.”
I snorted out another laugh. “Of course.”
Diante curtsied again, then glided across the bridge, heading back toward the palace.
I watched her go, turning her words over in my mind. Diante was right. By displaying the geldjagers’ bodies, I had chosen a new path, a bolder path, one where I would finally show my true power. Now I had to figure out how to stay on this path and achieve my ultimate goal, the thing I had secretly been dreaming about doing ever since the Seven Spire massacre.
Diante was also right about something else—I was already worrying about what my actions would cost my friends and how I could complete my mission without getting us all killed.
But I was too tired to puzzle it out tonight. Ensuring my kingdom’s survival, along with my own, was a problem for tomorrow.
Unfortunately for me, I always had plenty of problems for tomorrow.
Chapter Five
I left the geldjagers’ bodies behind in the plaza, crossed the bridge, and headed into the palace.
Given the late hour, the wide hallways and spacious common areas were deserted, and I didn’t run into any other nobles. Guards were stationed here and there, and they all snapped to attention when they spotted me. I nodded at them and went to my chambers on the third floor.
The double doors were standing open, and I walked inside to find Sullivan surrounded by women.
One of them was about my age, with dark honey-blond hair, blue eyes, and rosy skin. She was quite pretty, as were the other two women, who were both younger but had similar features. All three were gathered around Sullivan, who was standing on a round dais with his arms held out to his sides and a pained expression on his face. Thick bolts of fabric, fat spools of thread, and plump pincushions glittering with needles littered several nearby tables.
I leaned against one of the doors and crossed my arms over my chest. “I stay behind to oversee Auster and his men and come back to find you besieged by beautiful women. The life of a consort truly is a grand one.”
Calandre, my thread master, and Camille and Cerana, her two younger sisters, looked up at the sound of my drawling voice. The two teenage girls tittered and sidled away from Sullivan, as though they’d been caught doing something they shouldn’t have, but Calandre raised her measuring tape and went back to work. The three women had been in my chambers every night this week, designing, sewing, and perfecting my and Sullivan’s Regalia wardrobes.
“I feel like a bloody puppet,” Sullivan muttered, still holding his arms out to his sides. “If I’d known that being your consort meant this sort of cruel, prolonged torture, then I would have reconsidered declaring my love for you.”
Camille and Cerana gasped at his grumbled words, but I grinned.
“Ah, the trials we suffer for love,” I said in mock sympathy.
Sullivan’s eyes narrowed, but a smile curved the corner of his lips.
“A royal ball will be held every single night of the Regalia,” Calandre said in a patient voice, as though she’d explained this more than once. “You need new jackets and tunics for all of them, not to mention the other events you’re scheduled to attend. And not just any old clothes, but proper garments that are as fine as what the other royals will be wearing. Things that will make you look strong and imposing.”
“Oh, I think that Evie is strong and imposing enough for the both of us,” Sullivan joked.
“Absolutely,” Calandre agreed. “And you have to look as polished as she does. Otherwise, you will completely clash with the gowns and other garments I’ve designed for her. I won’t have you ruining all my hard work just because you have the patience of a petulant child.”
Sullivan looked at me for help, but I held my hands up in surrender.
“You should listen to Calandre,” I said. “She knows her fashions better than anyone.”
Sullivan grumbled something under his breath, but he lifted his arms a little higher. Calandre winked at me and kept right on working.
Fifteen minutes later, the thread master announced she had finished recording Sullivan’s measurements, and she and her sisters packed up their supplies and left the chambers. I thanked them for their time, then closed and locked the double doors behind them.