“Apologies, Lord Hector, I meant to clarify—this was over Lady Rose Tunes?”
“Yes,” he says. “What else could’ve caused this?”
“I heard from Lord Eli how particularly brutal the Silver Slaughter was.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stand.No,I think.Lila, for once, please do not dig into this. Please let this go.
A cough again from Hector. “Yes, it was a true shame. But what is to be done about it now?”
What is to be done about it now?His mistress was killed that night, potentially his child, and this is his response?
“What would you like me to do?” Lila asks.
“Just sit with him, talk with him. Name your cost.”
My mind screams at Lila to decline, that no amount of money is worth it. Yet my friend hums, thinking.
“I’d like information,” she says.
“Anything.”
“Who is at the center of the Pith?”
I press my forehead against the armoire, forcing myself to unclench my jaw.
Hector laughs. “The Reign House, of course.”
“No, sir. What resides at the very center of the palace?”
The plane around us halts, stumbling, as if Death has entered. Yet he has not. Hector, it seems, has gone mute.
“There is something there, then,” Lila reiterates.
Still no response.
“Tell me, or I will not go to the king.”
Then I hear the strangest noise, subtle at first, a sound I never expected from a High Fae, never mind the advisor to the king himself.
The sound of gurgling. The sound of a blood oath.
“You have sworn an oath of silence.” My friend’s tone picks up. “I will think on this and get you my response tomorrow.”
Hector lets out a breath. “Thank you. Thank you, again.”
Once the advisor leaves, I tumble from the closet, glaring at my friend. She sips her tea, smiling. I yank a pink scarf off my shoulders.
“Why?” I ask. “Why would you do that?”
“Because I wanted to know.”
“Why?”
“Why would the second-highest-ranking High Fae in all of Amyria take a blood oath? You say that something is alive beneath the palace. I say it’s something powerful, too.”
I point to her arms. “Why’d you risk your safety? Your debt—”
“Has been paid off.”
