Orange eyes rolling, they relented.
“Spoiled girls,” Nixie hissed as she sat in the chair beside me.
Lumina’s eyes were on me now too. “We can leave after this course,” she said gently.
Nixie added, “Absolutely, we can leave as soon as the excitement calms down and—”
“No.” I cut her off.
Calypstra had established the stakes, and now I needed to adjust. I mastered my looks and steadied my breath. I raised my eyes to meetCalypstra’s. She still had that stupid grin on her face. Coolly, I took a drink from my chalice and raised my chin.They will not see us falter.Vega’s words, which she had offered me when I was walking to my doom, echoed in my mind. I would not forget them now as I drowned in despair.
“I am fine.” There was no going back now. “And refer to me asLadyElowyn. That is the appropriate title.” I ate a bite of my meal despite being sick to my stomach. Nixie quirked her head in question as she looked to Lumina.
“Not Princess Elowyn?” Lumina asked.
“No. Just Lady.”
After all three courses, the plates vanished and the room’s lively chatter faded into a murmur. Although I didn’t hear the conversations, my father’s name likely still lingered on the lips of every bloody siren in attendance that evening. Heavy on the tongues of his unknown enemy surrounding me.
Hylos rose to his feet and addressed the guests. “Let us all walk through into the symposion.”
The party rose from their chairs, chalices in hand, and flowed through the archway that connected the rooms.
Hylos stood at the exit and smiled warmly at each departing guest while Calypstra slunk to his side like a shadow and Hylos’s friends encircled me.
“Are you okay?” Morvyn asked, his marbled features softening in concern.
I shot him a piercing look. “Do you care how I feel?” I glanced around at the circle, each of them sent by Hylos to watch my every move. To keep me prisoner. To keep Arlo’s men prisoner. Each of them readying to go to war against my father. “You’re ordered to spy on me, not care about me. Drop the charade. All of you.”
Morvyn shrank as hurt settled in his pale eyes.
“Calypstra should not have done that,” Raylik said in his low timbre, standing behind Nixie, who looked on in silence. A look of worry and maybe anger. But was that false too? What was true here?
Hylos said he would allow me time to share my identity, but that had clearly been a lie. I was a fool for letting them dress me up and parade me about. This was clearly a trap I fell straight into, just as I had in my father’s court before.
Lumina watched me, her lip twitching downward. Did she regret telling me her story? Regret sharing her past maltreatment on my father’s own soil with the daughter of her leader’s greatest enemy? But was it even a true story at all? If my father’s castle was a place of illusions and lies, as Cedric had said, then this place must be a nexus of deception.
Hylos stalked to us, smile rapidly fading. “Morvyn and Lumina, ensure the guests are comfortable. This evening needs to go perfectly. There can be no more errors—”
“Did you approve that ridiculous display?” Lumina snapped. She hadn’t spared Hylos a glance, let alone a word, in the time I’d observed them together until now.
Hylos’s face flashed with surprise at this too.
“Shouldn’t you watch your tone when speaking to your king?” Calypstra said, still behind Hylos.
My hand ached to slap her.
“Leave us,” Raylik ground out in her direction, like he was waiting to descend on her at any moment.
But Calypstra remained unfazed, all smiles despite his growl.
“Is that your wish, Hylos?” she purred.
“Yes. I’ll meet you in my bedchamber after the symposion,” Hylos replied curtly, not sparing her a glance.
“Of course, my king.” She slipped between Lumina and Hylos. Lumina watched, unable to look away from the lingering kiss Calypstra left on his cheek, even though it looked like a knife plunged into her gut.
Then Calypstra, ass on full display under the sheer black dress, sauntered away.
