Dimitrios Vidalatos was a man with every reason to chase power, but he chose his people instead.
And, gods, shewantedto help him. She truly did.
But her loyalty had already been bartered. Sold. Sealed by blood and sacrifice.
Dimitrios would suss her out eventually.
She almost hoped he would. Let him find her out. End it. At least then she could stop falling for the man she was meant to destroy.
He wasn’t the first man to hold her in the palm of his hand, but he was the first she’d walked into willingly.
If only there was room for her to stay.
A shuddering inhale released the tears from her eyes, and she rubbed the ache over her heart.
He’d pushed heraway.
She should have expected it. He wasn’t hardened by his grief, but that didn’t make him any less of a ghost. He didn’t smile. He didn’t laugh. There was no joy in his eyes.
Every now and then, the signs broke through. Whenever he watched Caius and the pups. In the few words he’d written to her.
Tonight, the way he’d looked at her…she thought he was there withher.
Milonia had never felt more seen. Wanted.
The force of his rejection, the devastation and shock on his face—she wasn’t who he’d wanted. Not really.
Dimitrios was still clinging to ghosts.
“Stop it.” She dried her face with the backs of her hands and straightenedaway from the door. As her vision cleared, the desk inside the small study came into focus. “Damn.”
She’d known the one in Leonidas’s study because it was similar in style to her own. The palace was full of them, and she’d been snooping inside them for weeks. She hadn’t found anything too damning—forgotten trinkets, mostly.
Now that Dimitrios knew what to look for…
Milonia entered her study and unlatched the secret drawer. Like Leonidas, she hid her own stack of letters inside. The broken wax seals, however, were dark blue with three initials pressed into it: QMG.
She fingered open the more recent missive. It was long and wordy—he always had much to say—and the end came with the usual reminders.
You don’t only do this for me, you do this for your son.
A fact she wouldn’t soon forget. Everything was for Caius. He deserved a better life than she’d had. He deserved a secure future.
I know you’ll do what’s right, the letter finished, and it was signed,Your beloved father.
With fresh tears flooding her eyes, she turned toward the fire that blazed across the room. In the rising smoke, she let her vision blur and take her to another night many months ago. To the tunnels. To a small chamber that had been damp with secrets and shadows.
Milonia had expected to meet a woman who trembled and spoke in whispers. That wasn’t who she found that day. Queen Emanouella had been the sort of woman who would crash nations.
“Alexandra killed my son,” the queen said. It was the one and only time she’d allowed devastation to show in her eyes. “Orestis and Alexandra would burn the realm to rule over the ashes if it meant they could stay in power. My brother is no better, but that’s a problem for later.” She sighed. “I can’t let Alexandra draw Soterra into her web.”
Emanouella met Milonia’s eyes. “I can’t erase what my husband and brother did to your family, but I can make it right.”
“How can we help?”
“Be patient with me. And if I need you?—”
“Our armies are ready.”
