I glanced up at Derrick. He had his eyes fixed out the windows into the garden, his chin resting on his fist, and the crown of Lycaster resting heavily on his brow.
A little pull tugged beneath my ribs. I wanted to check on him to see if he was all right, but I had to see where I stood with the General.
I put on my best smile as we invaded the circle of Elvars. Baron Elvar’s chest glittered with sapphires as he shot me a suspicious glance.
Vivian Elvar placed her hand on Brietta’s shoulder as we joined the circle, breaking the conversation to dote on her only daughter. “We never dreamed she could be Duchess, but I suppose even the Duke’s heir could not resist our darling Brietta.”
Brietta took a drink from her goblet instead of rolling her eyes like she usually would.
“Ah, Serafina! Lovely to see you, dear!” Vivian’s bejeweled hands flashed as she placed a showy kiss on my cheek. Her amber perfume was so strong I had to hold back a cough.
I glanced at General Hyton, hoping he would read the greasy lip stain on my cheek as a stamp of approval from the wealthiest and most influential people in the Dukedom.
Vivian cast a glance down at Annalisa as if she were vermin. “And greetings, Madame Thornebow.”
“Pleasure to see the House of Elvar making an appearance formy brother’scoronation,” Annalisa sweetly replied.
“Your brother?” Baron Elvar replied with a barking laugh. “Damn, how many daughters did Anders have?”
General Hyton’s smirk mirrored Baron Elvar’s. “Some say one too many.”
The rest of the Elvar circle threw their heads back and laughed as Brietta glared at her family.
“Oh, but you remember this one, Tyreon,” Vivian said with a feline smile. “This is little Annalisa, she used to tease your niece back at Ashmore.”
Brietta put a hand on her mother’s arm and parted her lips to deflect, but Baron Elvar’s scoff came first.
“I do not care about schoolgirl nonsense!” he said. “My brother might listen to you prattle on about the meaningless business of women, but I have more important things to give my attention to.”
Baron Elvar looked at General Hyton and gestured to Derrick with his goblet. “For instance, the hell is wrong with our new Duke? He looks like an emaciated gargoyle! Has he even blinked?”
I opened my mouth to gently defend him, but Brietta beat me to it.
“His parents just died, Uncle!” she said. “He killed a man today!”
“And?” Baron Elvar replied, speaking to Brietta as if she were a child instead of the Duchess. “Business does not care, continental markets do not care—the neighboring kingdoms and empires are all looking to how that boy is going to handle things over the next few months. If he does not snap out of whatever trance he is in, all of Lycaster is in jeopardy!”
“Well deduced, Tyreon,” General Hyton said with a smile.
“Brother, is that not a tad dramatic?” said Brietta’s father. His purple doublet and round belly made him look like a grape.
“Spoken like a true second son, Vidaar,” Baron Elvar said with a crooked smile. “You do not understand the damage Alastar the Bold did. Ravenwood and Bloodstone have had nearly zero output over the past seven years and Thornebow’s markets never recovered after people stopped trusting their trade twenty years ago. If you never figured out that he keptmost of court drunk and confused so they never realized how much he royally fucked our economy, then I pity you.”
I kept my face schooled as he ranted. I did not know much about the economy, but I at least understood how much Ravenwood suffered after Anders sent most of its sons to die. What place did the richest man in the Dukedom have lecturing about the damage of an empty belly?
“Oh my, is Tyreon spinning a thread about the ledgers again?”
I turned toward the familiar voice. Mother had worked her small body into the circle of towering Elvars, squeezing in on General Hyton’s left side. She smiled at Baron Elvar as she held a goblet in her hands. “The numbers are all so dizzying, your mind must truly be a marvel to keep track of it all!”
Baron Elvar’s eyes narrowed. “What are you doing here, Adalia? No one here wants to sleep with you.”
My stomach clenched and Annalisa gripped my hand. She squeezed it once, quieting all the scathing words that lashed up at my throat.
Mother laughed it off. “Oh, I am just bringing the General his refreshment.”
General Hyton glanced at the goblet and raised an eyebrow.
“Ragnar, careful as always.” Mother took a sip, her emerald eyes glittering. “See? Safe and sound.”
