Darium frowned. “Will we be invited? Does he know who we are?”
Harlow laughed. “Yes, he knows. And yes, you’ll be invited. I had a long talk with the queen. She harbors no ill will against you.”
“But the blacklist—” He darted a glance toward Lemetria.
“Was not her doing.” Harlow glared. “It was Adradys. He did it after I refused his proposal.”
“That bastard,” her parents said in unison.
“Yes, but it ends now. I won’t use Marius’s position to make things easy for us, but I can’t help but think this wedding will improve our reputation.”
Lemetria laughed. “It certainly will. I will enjoy seeing our old Firedrake friends eat crow over how they treated us.”
Her father grew quiet. “There’s something you both should know.” He pointed at the table, looking serious. They both sat down.
“Why do I think I’m not going to like this?” Harlow asked. “Father, what have you done?”
“I beg your pardon!” He placed a hand on his chest. “I have done nothing!” He cleared his throat. “But I do know something, and considering the royals are to be family, I think they should know too.”
Harlow had a bad feeling about this. Her father had that look in his eye, the one he always got when he was up to something shady.
“I started betting in the pits,” he began, “just as you taught me, Harlow. It was all I could do, considering I couldn’t find work.”
Harlow nodded. “Did you win?”
“With your strategy, dear, I did. But my winning attracted the attention of Adradys, and he sat beside me one day. He told me that during the championship, I should place my bets on Dax. Then he said I’d be wise to value his ongoing friendship, considering your behavior, because soon things were going to change, and when that happened, I’d be glad I’d made the right sort of friends.”
Harlow frowned. “You know, he said something similar to me. Something about that I’d be sorry when things changed.”
Her father nodded. “After we had that conversation, he stood up and this was on the bench beside me.” He reached into his vest and withdrew a folded piece of parchment.
“Is that a flyer about the New Order? Someone’s been leaving them in the Silver Sunset.” Harlow took the parchment, hands shaking with her building rage.
“There can be no question where it came from, Harlow. Adradys left it there for me to find. All that talk at dinner about working to make things how they used to be. He’s behind this New Order. Mark my words.”
Harlow frowned. “It makes far too much sense. Do you know what he said when I refused his proposal? He said I’d be sorry when things went back to the way they used to be and I was brought to heel.”
“He did not say that!” Lemetria looked aghast on her behalf.
“He did. He also laid hands on me. I rather liked handing him his ass.”
That made her mother smile.
“So what do we do?” her father asked. “I left him with the impression I might be interested.”
“Daddy!”
“I’m not, darling, but you know me. I choose my words carefully and always keep my options open. It’s how I’ve survived these many years.”
Harlow read the flyer in her hands carefully. “By the Mountain! This one is different. He’s left you a date and time for their meeting. It’s tonight!”
Her father toyed with the neck of his shirt. “I suppose he trusts me. What reason would I have for favoring Raven and Gabriel?”
“As long as he doesn’t know about my mating to Marius, there is no reason. Mother, you haven’t told anyone, have you?”
“Not a soul.”
“Keep it that way.”
