“I think your thrall laid it out pretty damn well, Henrietta,” Beaufort says.
“You’re going to bring the whole system crashing down around your ears,” Henrietta says, her eyes sparkling at the idea.
“I don’t know what we’re going to—” Beaufort begins, but I interrupt him.
“Yes,” I say firmly. “Weare.” Beaufort looks at me. “You know it isn’t fair. And you know it isn’t right. Things need to change. And we’re going to be the ones to change them.”
“You still haven’t told us what you’re going to give us in return for helping you,” Henrietta says lazily, as if my passionate words mean nothing to her at all.
“You mean apart from the obvious,” I snap, “doing the right thing and?—”
“Boring.” Henrietta yawns.
Beaufort ignores both of us. “And you haven’t asked what I need you to do.”
“Fight alongside you, I’m assuming,” Henrietta says.
“No.” Beaufort shuffles forward on his seat, his eyes swinging from Lynette to Henrietta and back again. “Briony helped your sister – saved her, Henny,” Beaufort says. “I need you to do the same for me.”
I gasp. I have no idea why I hadn’t considered Arabella in all of this mess. We left her at the palace under her mother’s care. Obviously Beaufort would be concerned about her safety.
“You don’t think your mother would use Arabella against you?” I say, horrified by the idea.
He shrugs. “I really don’t know. I don’t think she would do it now. As far as she’s concerned, she has all the power, all the knowledge, all the advantages. I imagine she considers us nothing more than a little bit of a nuisance. But if things change, if the scales of power shift, if she starts to feel threatened…” He swallows. “I don’t know what she’d do if she was backed into a corner. Arabella maybe her daughter, Briony,” he says, turning his silver gaze onto me, “and yet I’m her son, and she was prepared to execute me.”
I want to run over to him and wrap my arms around him, because I see all the hurt that causes in his eyes. And I know exactly what it feels like not to be loved, not to be cared for, especially by a parent. Someone who’s meant to do all those things for you.
However, I stay in my seat. He’s still trying to negotiate with Henrietta and Lynette, and I can see the advantages of it, even if they are both crazy. I have to let him try – for Arabella’s sake.
Henrietta rolls back up to sit, leaning forward on her seat, mirroring Beaufort’s posture, her gown falling off her shoulders. It’s just the tie around the middle holding it in place now, otherwise the girl would be entirely naked.
“Hell’s Bells,” she says. “You want me to look out for Hell’s Bells?”
“Yes. If it comes down to it – if there’s a point where it looks like she’s in danger – I need you both to promise me you’ll get her out of there, you’ll ensure her safety.”
“That’s going to be pretty hard to do,” Lynette says, “if we’re here fighting by your side.”
“That’s why I need you to go back to the palace,” Beaufort says. “I need you to return to the Empress and pretend like you never even considered helping us.”
The Smyte twins’ thrall’s eyes grow wide in his head. “That could be dangerous for them. There may already be people like Kratos telling tales on them.”
“Nobody would believe that,” Henrietta says confidently, her eyes still on Beaufort. She considers him, and then finally she adds: “Okay, if that’s what you want, Beaufort, we’ll do it. We’ll return to the palace and we’ll keep a watchful eye on your sister.”
Beaufort visibly relaxes, his shoulders no longer tight, his jaw slackening.
“Thank you,” he says. “Thank you, Henny, and thank you, Linny.”
When we’re outside the tower, away from the twins, I turn to him.
“Do you really think we can trust them?”
Beaufort frowns. “I don’t know. But it’s the best plan I have.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Beaufort
My mind is so distracted about Arabella and everything that must be happening right now at the palace back in Onyx Quarter that I don’t realize we’re not walking back to the tower until we’re almost at the academy field.
