“Yes, Sorceress.”“Good.”They passed down the long, dim corridor, their footsteps muffled by thick carpet. Torches burned in iron brackets at intervals, throwing long, wavering shadows across the portraits of Lord Darius that lined the walls. Pell stumbled along between the two women, blood drying on his face, his breath coming in short, shuddering gasps. Every few paces, he glanced over his shoulder, as though expecting a knife in the dark.“Do not look back,” Melissa said. “It makes you look guilty.”“I am guilty.”“You are a pawn. There is a difference.” She did not slow. “Keep walking.”The palace at night was a different creature from the palace at midday. The great halls were deserted, their marble floors reflecting the torchlight in long, pale streaks. The tapestries hung motionless on the walls. Somewhere far above, a clock struck the half hour, a slow, deep note that echoed through the stone. They passed an alcove where a servant girl was polishing a candlestick, and she too

The words hung in the firelit bedchamber like smoke after a gunshot. Nobody moved. Lady Ismene’s fingers tightened on the silk coverlet until her knuckles went the color of bone. In the doorway, Elvyn kept her head bowed and her hands folded, and did not breathe.Lord Darius stared at Melissa. For three long heartbeats, nothing at all passed across his face. Then, slowly, like a mask settling back into place, the rage drained out of it and something far more careful rose to take its place.“Varek,” he said.“Yes.”“You accuse my chief counselor of setting a spy upon you.”“I do not accuse. I report.” Melissa’s hand remained clamped on Pell’s collar, and the man swayed between her fingers like a rag on a nail. “This one has confessed. He was posted behind the tapestry in my chamber on the orders of a Captain Garrow Thane, who received those orders from Lord Varek himself. He was told to listen, to report every word, and to deliver a message if he was caught.”“What message?”“That I sh

“You cannot.”“I can do anything I please. That is the nature of what you bought.”“I have an agreement with the Hand.”“The Hand has an agreement with you. I have an agreement with no one.” She smiled, thin and cold. “I came here out of curiosity. Curiosity is easily satisfied. Shall I show you how easily?”She turned toward the door.“Wait.”The word was sharp, almost a command. Melissa stopped, her back to him, one hand resting on the carved frame.“Wait,” Darius said again, more quietly. He drew a long breath through his nose. His face had gone pale, and a muscle was jumping in his cheek. “You are asking a very great deal.”“I am asking for a very small thing. Respect.”“Respect is not given at sword’s point.”“It is only given at sword’s point. I learned that long ago.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Will you call him?”For a long moment, Darius stood motionless, caught between the cold calculus of power and the hot pride of a man who had never been commanded in his own house. E

“You are not afraid. A man who is innocent is afraid, because he does not know what is coming. A man who is guilty is calm, because he has already rehearsed every possible outcome.” She smiled slightly. “You have been standing there for three minutes, and you have not once asked what happened to the servant’s face.”Varek’s lips thinned.“Who did that to him, my lord?” Melissa asked, turning to Darius. “Did you not wonder? A man is on his knees, bleeding from his eyes, his nose, his mouth. Did you not think to ask?”“I assumed you had questioned him.”“I did. But Varek did not ask. Because he already knew.”The silence stretched. Garrow shifted his weight. One of the guards at the door cleared his throat nervously and then froze, as though he had made a terrible mistake.“It is a matter of delicacy,” Varek said, finally. His voice remained smooth, but a thread of something hard had entered it. “My lord, if I may speak to you privately—”“No.”“I think it wise—”“I said no.” Darius’s v

Varek raised his eyes. They were black, depthless, and utterly cold. He held her gaze for a long, silent moment, and the air between them seemed to crackle.“I am sorry,” he said, slowly and distinctly. “I wronged you. It will not happen again.”“Better.”“Is it enough?”“For now.” She let the words hang, then added, in a voice so soft it was almost kind, “Rise, Lord Varek. You look ridiculous on your knees.”He rose. He did not brush off his coat. He stood very straight, his hands at his sides, his cheeks flaming, and said nothing.“I will tell you why I am allowing this to go,” Melissa said, addressing the whole room now, her voice calm and clear and carrying. “Why I have not taken my sister and left. Why I have not torn the walls of this palace down around your ears.”No one answered.“I am allowing it for one reason. One.” She raised a single finger. “I wish to see how this ends. I am curious about the boy. I am curious about the Hand. I am curious about what you are all so afraid