I would make him need me, I would make him love me, and then the Dukedom wouldbemine.
I did not have a natural charm, but I had watched Mother sing her siren’s song for years. All I had to do was imitate her, just for a little while, to get Lord Hyton inmy grasp.
Just as I was about to make my first move, Lord Hyton worked up the courage to speak again. “I will be honest, Miss Ravenwood. I have never spoken to a girl who is not my sister. Noble sons and daughters have so many rules, and I am not even supposed to meet you until we graduate fromthe academies…”
He knew nothing of othergirls? Interesting.
I coyly leaned on the armrest of my chair and made my voice as smooth as my mother’s. “My Lord, I am nothing but a girl, you do not have to address me so formally. Call me by mygiven name.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Your given name? Isthat allowed?”
“You are the Duke’s heir,” I answered with a wry smile. “You can make yourown rules.”
Lord Hyton mirrored me, loosening his sholders and leaning on his fist. My puppet began to dance. “All right,” he said with a smile. “What is yourgiven name?”
I demurely flicked my gaze to the floor and then back to Lord Hyton’s smiling face, a trick straight out of Mother’s book. “Serafina,my Lord.”
“Serafina,” he repeated like he savored the taste of my name. “Callme Derrick.”
Derrick was clay in my hands for the rest of his stay at Ravenwood Manor. He told stories of his annoying twin sister while I pretended to hang on his every word. I smuggled his favorite treats from the kitchen for us to eat under the stars. We both quietly mocked his father, letting Derrick have a sip of the freedom he never hadin Hyton.
I had all but stitched my name onto the back of his neck by the time his two-week stay had ended. Right before the Hyton carriage pulled away, Derrick stole me away to the shadows of the manor and made me a promise—he would write to mein secret.
“But boys and girls can only write if they are family,” I said with a gentle smile, keeping my shocked astonishment bottled where he couldnot see.
“I am the Duke’s heir, remember?” Derrick said with a wink. “I make myown rules.”
Duke Hyton bellowed Derrick’s full name from the front of the manor—our time togetherwas over.
“Seven years is a long time, Serafina,” Derrick said as he took a quick glance over his shoulder. “But I am counting down the days until I seeyou again.”
Derrick took my right hand and kissed it. To my surprise, my cheeks turned hot and my breath stilled as his lips met my skin. Derrick’s beautiful dark blue eyes flicked back up to me as he held my hand. I tried to think of something to hook him further, but I could not findmy breath.
Fear flashed in Derrick’s eyes as his father called for him again. He let go of my hand and dashed off to the carriage.
I rubbed the back of my hand and savored the lingering warmth from his lips as I watched him leave. The puppet strings slipped from my fingers and an airy warmth filled my stomach like sunlight on the first dayof spring.
Maybe I took the charm too far. Derrick seemed nice, maybe I could abandon the plan to manipulate him. Maybe I could throw his first letter into the fire, go through school without breaking any rules, and hope he marries me thehonest way.
My hand quivered in fear, but I threw it down in a huff. No, I had to stayin control.
The Serafina who read faerie stories and believed good girls got their happy endings had died with Erik and Endre on the mountain. The Serafina who would be the Duchess of Lycaster had to tell whatever lies Derrick needed to believe so he would need her, love her, and ultimatelychoose her.
Losing my brothers had turned my heart into stone, but at least it would neverbreak again.
I was the last Ravenwood and I hadto survive.
The moon shone brighter when an urgent letter came to Ashmore Academy for Young Ladies in the middle of the night, and the news was too important to wait forthe sunrise.
The giantsfinally fell.
The entire school had crowded into the Junior dormitory to hear the news. I had staked my claim next to Brietta Elvar on her bed, but the other girls piled onto the other three beds, huddled into the available space in the corners of the dorm, and even sat on the floor to listen as Julietta Thornebow read herbrother’s letter.
I hugged my knees against my pounding heart as I sat on my best friend’s bed. Brietta wrapped her arm around my shoulders and leaned her soft cheek against the top ofmy head.
I could not believe it was real. The giants had destroyed the Northern provinces for decades, ruined my family, killed my brothers, and theywere just…gone?
“With the aid of my arrows,” Julietta read, theatrically mimicking her brother’s voice as she read his words, “His Excellency’s army felledten giants!”
