I snorted. “There she is,” I said. “I’m also pro-nobody dying. Well, I could take or leave Lord Penworth.”
A noise of disgust sounded in the back of her throat. “He’s the worst. I saw him kick his page yesterday for bringing the wrong carriage around.”
“Fates, what a miserable man. I hope his bed is always lumpy.”
“I hope his bed is alwaysempty.”
I chuckled as Devora’s grin broadened. “Thank you, Devora. I needed that. I hope you start feeling better soon.”
Her face quickly fell before she righted it again and nodded. “Come on, you don’t want to be late to the ball.”
“An empress is never late,” I said, shooting her a wink. “Everyone else is simply early.”
I hadto grudgingly admit that the Penworths knew how to host a ball.
Given that the South Territory was known for its jewel mines, the entire ballroom was decorated in shimmering, dazzling gemstones. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all silver, while every piece of decoration in sight was covered in jewels. The wine glasses, the serving trays, the candelabras. All dotted with hundreds of miniscule stones. Anytime the candlelight caught one, it glittered and cast its refracted light onto the nearest silver surface, and before long, the ballroom was lit like a rainbow.
Galen waited for me at the bottom of the grand staircase, looking as handsome as ever in his navy-blue suit, the official color of Mysthelm. His jacket even bore its crest—a tree with four branches and a sword and sickle crossed at the trunk. He’d switched out his black leather gloves for a pair of dark brown, and they felt like silk when I took his outstretched hand.
“You’re radiant tonight,” he said, bowing low. “May I have the first dance?”
I nodded. He led me past a tabletop fountain of pink wine with jewels lining the outer rims, and several tables full of more plates of food than I could count. Sweet, heavy scents of chocolate and cream wafted to me, along with a salty hint of breads and meats.
On the furthest side of the circular ballroom, near a pair of double doors that led to a balcony, was a string quartet playing a smooth, lively song. Couples flew across the dance floor. The sounds of glasses clinking and heels clacking against the floor made my lips tilt into a smile as I watched the guests enjoying themselves.
The song ended, and a moment later, the band struck up a slower ballad. Galen faced me and placed a hand on my hip, and I couldn’t help but scan his arm for any sign of exposed skin. I put one hand on his shoulder, and he grabbed the other, and we fell into step with the other couples.
The space between us was strained and awkward. I tried not to think about Thorne. About how mere hours ago he had me pushed against the wet stone wall. How I now knew exactly how the column of his throat felt beneath my lips, or how his shirt had looked clinging to his skin, with droplets of water falling from his beard.
“So how was your day at the cliffs?” Galen asked after a long moment of silence.
I cleared my throat. “It was fine. You’re right—they’re very beautiful.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t go. Maybe next time.”
“How was your meeting with Lord Penworth?”
He sighed. “It was about what I expected. Him complaining about all of the things I haven’t been doing that he’s had to take on for his territory. Budget constraints, amendments he wants made to Mysthelm’s ordinances, things like that. I’m thirty-two years old, and he talks to me like I’m a child.” His grip on my left hand tightened. “Itdoesn’t help that they’ve all watched me grow up. I just want to prove I’m more than these last eight months have shown them.”
I gave him a placating smile. “You will, as long as you don’t give up and get so in your head about it.”
“You make all of this look easy, you know that?”
I scoffed. “If by hiding behind you and your guards for the past three days to avoid someone trying to kill me again is ‘making it look easy,’ then sure, it’s a breeze.”
“You’re nothiding. You’re staying safe. Protected.”
“Now you sound like Thorne.”
“Well, he has become the rational one of the three of us. As long as you’re over here plotting ways to use yourself as bait for potentially nonexistent Shifter assassins, I’m happy to sound like him.”
I rolled my eyes. “You two are no fun.”
The humor slipped from his face as his eyes fell to my elbow, then up to where our hands met. He twisted the engagement ring on my finger with his thumb. My arm involuntarily flinched at the movement.
“Really, Clarissa. Promise me you won’t try to draw them out? I don’t—I can’t risk something happening to you. Not before we’re married.”
The easy banter we’d fallen into dissipated in the blink of an eye. I dropped my arms to my sides, my body heating for an entirely different reason than it did with Thorne.
