I kept my eyes locked on hers and nodded, silently assuring her that I did my best. I charmed him. Everything that I could control,I did.
I just hoped it wouldbe enough.
“I remember when I saw your mother at her Presentation,” Father whispered as he stroked the sleeve of my gown. “Light-colored dresses were the fashion back then. A few girls paraded out in pastel frocks but then your mother entered the ballroom wearing a dress in the darkest purple you could imagine—oh, how her green eyes sparkled. Good thing I had the first selection as a Baron’s heir, otherwise I would have caused some damage to any suitor who dared speak her name duringthe selection.”
“Do the suitors really fight back there?” I asked softly, keeping my eye on a door on the other side ofthe room.
“No,” Father chuckled. “No one can interfere once the bride’s name is said aloud and claimed. You may want to kill the bastard who stole your dream girl, but you have to keep your mouth shut withFraleigh there.”
A man in a blue tunic appeared out of the door on the other side of the ballroom. He held up a paper list with a flourish. The low chatter of the room hushed as soon as the candlelight illuminated the list that spelled out both the fate of each bride and of Lycaster’s lineage. The first name read was the next Duchessof Lycaster.
“The selection is complete!” the announcer boomed in a grand voice. Trumpets blared. Women clapped and cheered. Men whistled and stompedtheir feet.
My heart crashed into my ribs. I wrung my hands that were slick with sweat and heldmy breath.
“First selected, SerafinaHelia Ravenwood!”
I let out my breath. Father squeezed my hand in triumph. The audience cheered and I finally letmyself smile.
I did it. I really pulledit off.
My eyes raised toward the sound of approaching footsteps and my stomach plummeted. Instead of Derrick, someone else had entered the ballroom toclaim me.
General Hyton.
The audience murmured. My eyes darted from the approaching General to Brietta. Her brown eyes were widewith panic.
Father gripped me closer to him and glared at the General in front of us. “What are youdoing here?”
Before the General could answer, the announcer shouted: “Second selected, BriettaAlyce Elvar!”
Derrick appeared through the door and the audience dropped their scandalized whispers and erupted into cheers. The crowd chanted the Hyton name, but Derrick’s face bore no trace of celebration. Those beautiful blue eyes rimmed with red did not look in my direction once, but instead fixed on Brietta as he walked toward her. His jeweled swordwas missing.
No. None of it could be real, my mind was just playing tricks onme again.
Brietta glanced at me with tears shining in her eyes and I could no longer deny what was happening. My heart fell through my body and crashed through the ballroom floor as the Duke proudly handed Brietta over to his son. Derrick glared at his father, but took Brietta away without sayinga word.
I gritted my teeth and pulled my heart back up by its frayed strings. I should have been smarter than to get my hopes up, but Derrick’s soft lips and wandering hands had melted my mind and turned me into a fool. The House of Hyton would have never let a Ravenwood be Duchess again—not when Ilsa Ravenwood had nearlydestroyed them.
I clenched my fists so tightly my fingernails drew blood frommy palms.
General Hyton’s voice was a gentle rumble amongst the cheering crowd of nobles. “Do not worry, Miss Ravenwood, I am not a suitor—just a representative for thereal one.”
General Hyton offered his arm, but Father did not release me. He gripped my arm like a vise as he refused to let his last livingchild go.
He stared General Hyton down and his voice was low. “I do not care what you are, Ragnar, you willnottake mydaughter too.”
“Suit yourself, Frederick,” General Hyton said with a wry smile. General Hyton turned and walked out of the ballroom through the same door Derrick hadleft through.
Father still held onto me tightly, but I swallowed in fear. Who was the General a representative for? Why would he not show his face? And why did he get tochoose first?
During the tension, Myles selected Dinah and Gerond selected Camille. The room muttered with scandal as soon as Camille’s name was read aloud, making the Duke’s own daughter “Last-selected.” Annalisa straightened her back and tried to keep a proud face, even though shame hung around her likea raincloud.
Grigory Thornebow strode into the ballroom to collect the Duke’s daughter as if she were a prize instead of last-picking. Annalisa obligingly accepted his arm with a defeated look inher eyes.
Some clapped politely for the Last-selected, but most whispered to each other with their eyes filled with scandal and salacious gossip on their lips. A Thornebow was going to wed a Hyton. Either the marriage would end in disaster like the ill-fated relationship between Baron Thornebow and Ilsa or it was the beginning of mending relations between the two Houses after thetraitorous conspiracy.
The rest of the Hytons clearly did not want to use the marriage to build a bridge. Duke Hyton’s six other daughters took one look at Grigory’s grey cape and could not hide the shock and disgust on their faces. They did not cheerat all.
