Selena still moanedto me about Thalen’s insistence on sending guards and battlemages into the gutters, cleansing them for good. Her voice droned at the edge of my thoughts, beneath my attention, and I only half-listened.
She walked beside me out of the council wing, immaculate as always, the pale blue of her gown catching the light like frozen water. The high collar pinched her throat a touch too tight, every seam taut, every fold precisely intended. She could fool the Court and the entire kingdom with warmth and words. Not that she cared not for the commons; she cared deeply. But when impossible choices came, the real Selena became a statue of ice. Flawless, efficient, and lifeless all the same.
Despite myself, I felt a flicker of pity. After her chancellor succumbed to the Breath of Death, she alone carried the Council of the Commons’ weight. No new chancellor had been appointed, and she had done the work of two. I acknowledged that.
“I would have you at the markets when I speak,” she said, her voice smooth like aged liquor. Her gaze warmed when it settled on me. “The people are restless. They don’t trust speeches, not anymore. But if they see me, steady, warm, the face of the commons, and you beside me, Kael, the storm leashed at the king’s command, they will believe the Court still holds. You terrify them, and I soothe them. Together, we give them both what they crave, fear and comfort. That is how we keep them from burning the markets again.”
“If Lionel commands it, I will stand there,” I said, my voice clipped, final.
She intended me to be a prop. A display of power for her theatre. Once I might have mistaken that poise for strength. Now her words grated like an ill-sharpened blade.
Her gaze lingered on me with an appetite I couldn’t care for. Not while the image of the girl who laughed like crystal beat at the back of my skull.
Selena fit Vanhaui’s measure of beauty—tall, slim, golden hair, translucent skin. By those standards, she would be a perfect fuck. By mine, her nature was interesting. She was certainly convinced she could use her charms like tools on me. Her mouth shaped itself in invitation for my cock far too often.
We passed the grand staircase. She smiled. “You won’t need to say much, Kael. Standing beside me will silence them.”
I started to search for a retort, any excuse to bow out of commons duty this week, when the scent of roses caught me by surprise. I glanced over my shoulder and there she was.
Evangelina.
I’d just managed not to think of her for a minute. Now she reappeared in my orbit, hair loose, falling in perfect curls down her shoulders and across her chest. The sight made the beast inside me growl.
“Sorry to interrupt!” she exclaimed, doe eyes wide in an apology she didn’t need to make. Then she pointed at the staircase. “I’ll just… head down.”
She scurried away, almost out of reach, when Selena’s voice stopped her.
“Magister Corvo,” she called with a curious tone. “We haven’t properly been introduced.”
Evangelina stood as if she were torn between fire and ice. She approached slowly, shyness moving through her like a tide. It was irresistible. She looked at Selena with obvious admiration. She dared not look at me.
The two shook hands.
“I’m Magister Hart, Council of the Commons. You may call me Selena.” She offered one of those warm smiles where the eyes remain cold. “How have your first weeks been? Already temptedto hush away?” There was humor in her tone, threaded with something else. Something provocative.
Evangelina collected herself but seemed unable to find all the pieces. “W-well… The assembly of magisters was interesting. Hard to follow, I’d say. But I’m figuring it out slowly. Oh, and please call me Evie.”
Her voice was husky, edged with a rasp, music that slid into my ear, and I knew I’d never forget. She had a slight accent, warm and rolling, the kind you’d hear on southern shores where marble cliffs meet the sea.
“Good. Nice to meet you, Evie,” Selena sang. “I remember my first day. We had different problems then.” She glanced at me with an air of complicity, as though we’d weathered it all together. Perhaps we had. I would not grant it the place she implied.
Selena looked at me, and Evangelina followed. Our eyes met. I swore I could hear the strike of lightning from her soul. She seemed to shatter into tiny pieces.
Was Ithatintimidating? Most who met me didn’t want to runthatfast. But then again, most never met me at all.
For a breath, I wanted to play with that reaction. Just for a little bit.
“Best learn to keep up, Magister Corvo,” I said, voice low and measured. “The Court devours weakness.” I let a wicked grin fall across my face.
She smiled, awkward and unsure whether I’d joked or meant it. Judging by those doe eyes, she took me for serious.
“I’m only jesting,” I added, with no jest in the sound. “If you can look past the usual wizard jabber and bickering, you’ll find we’re all here for the same purpose.”
“To bind our wisdom and mend the realm,” Selena echoed, repeating the post-plague motto she’d polished herself to steady public faith. “You taught at the academy before this post, correct?”
Evie—cute—nodded. “Yes. I taught the basics of scrying andweather prediction.” She said it almost ashamed of the pride she might have felt. “Those are excellent skills for helping crops grow!”
Selena chuckled. Evie’s self-deprecation amused her. And me, but I did not smile. I watched how Evie scanned me, searching for a reaction. A soul, maybe. Approval, perhaps.
