How dare she. We werenothing alike.
I glared at her. “I do not need an escort. I can manage my way out of the palacejust fine.”
Mother knitted her eyebrows and pouted her lips. “Oh, I just wanted one last walk with my only living child before she leaves me forever,” she whined. “Is that really too muchto ask?”
I groaned, but followed my wretchedly manipulative mother out of the conservatory. I walked behind her in the hallway for a few paces before she suddenly stopped and turned to a large tapestry on her right. Her eyes darted around the deserted hallway before she pulled the thick tapestry back, revealing asmall door.
“What are you—?”I whispered.
Before I could finish, Mother took me by the wrist and pulled me through the door. She led me through a narrow hallway lit only bydim sconces.
“I heard you got yourself tangled in a few webs, Serafina,” she said as she pulled me along. “I thought you were smarterthan that.”
“You heard wrong,” I grunted, pulling out of her grip. “I am not tangled upin anything.”
Mother whipped around, her face partially hidden by shadows but still illuminated from the dying light of the embers on the walls. Her eyes flashed with danger when she spoke. “Lord Hyton thinks he can outplay those senior to him but he cannot, he is just too young to see it. Whatever new plan you have with him,forget it.”
My hands balled into fists. “What do you haveagainst Derrick?”
“I have nothing against that sweet boy.” She snatched my wrist and led me further down the hallway. “The House of Hyton is unstable and desperate to find steady ground. Anders pulled off a very calculated stunt in front of all the other Barons last night—stifling the rumors that the Hyton line was failingandputting his son under his foot with one move. You will not involve yourself with the Hytons any more—your only salvation is consummating your marriage withSir Bloodstone.”
She was wrong. I could still marry again, become Governess of Ravenwood, and take everything Derrick had promised me, but I did not owe her an explanation. She had the nerve to lecture me when she was the onetangled upwith Duke Hyton. Mother, Baroness, whore—she had just as many masks as DukeHyton himself.
Mother stopped so abruptly in front of another door that I nearly slammed my face into her back. She placed her palm on the door, but paused just before she pushed it open. She turned back to face me with much softer eyes. “Are you afraidof Riyan?”
What kind of question was that? Everyone was afraidof Riyan!
“What do you think?”I snapped.
To my surprise, Mother smiled gently. “Fear and love are just two sides of the sameblade, dear.”
She placed her finger on my temple and gave me a gentle tap. “The more you fear someone, the more they are on your mind—in every thought, every heartbeat—until they have completely consumed you, like everything you are belongs to them. But the more youlove someone…”
Mother’s hand fell from my head to my chin, holding my face. “…the more you fearlosing them.”
I wrenched my jaw out of her grip. “Areyou drunk?”
Derrick had once told me the palace had wines that could expand one’s imagination—you would think you were dancing on pink clouds and singing to birds when in reality you were barefoot in the middle of the ballroom and croaking like a toad. Maybe Mother had continued her party past the sunrise, because nothing she said madeany sense.
Mother dropped her eyes to the floor and opened the door a crack. She looked back up at me and whispered, “Just…do whatfeels right.”
Mother slipped out and I rolled my eyes. Any respect I had for her was ashes in the wind after Annalisa’s ball. She could keep her advice to herself, I certainly was not going totake it.
I shoved the small door open with my shoulder, emerged behind another tapestry, and suddenly stood in the grand entrance of the palace. Servants and soldiers buzzed around like bees as the Duke and General Hyton barked orders near thefront doors.
I stayed three paces behind my mother as we walked to the palace doors to find a large black carriage waiting outside. At first glance I mistook it for a funeral carriage, but then I noticed the carriage was draped in bright crimson banners and had a snarling white bear with a raised claw painted onthe door.
I swallowed my sadness—time to face the world asa Bloodstone.
The faint roar of a crowd outside the palace gates grew louder as we walked nearer to the open doors, but General Hyton approached us before we could leavethe palace.
“Stay here, Adalia,” General Hyton ordered. “Bloodstone and your daughter will exit the palace together. If the plan is going to work, the crowd needs to immediately believe their marriage is strong and that means Mother Dearestcannot hover.”
“Anything you say, Ragnar,” Mother replied with a glimmer in her emerald eyes. I wantedto gag.
Heavy footsteps boomed in the foyer behind me and I turned around. Riyan slogged his way toward the door in the clothes he wore the night before with his sword slung clumsily across his back. He had dark circles under his eyes and his head was sopping wet—Derrick had been serious about that bucketof water.
“Bloodstone!” bellowed General Hyton as he stomped overto him.
