Beside me, I felt Zander’s fury begin to boil. His shoulders stiffened, his fingers curling into fists so tight the knuckles went white. He didn’t speak, but I felt the rage rolling off him like a thunderstorm.
Before he could explode, I cleared my throat—just a sharp sound, cutting through the room like a thread snapping.
Theron paused.
His eyes slid toward me, and for a moment I saw behind the mask—hatred. A cold, venomous disdain that curled his lip just enough before he swallowed it behind a sneer.
But he didn’t call me out. He just straightened, smoothing the creases in his high-collared coat as if the moment hadn’t happened at all.
“Council is adjourned,” he said. “You are dismissed.”
Chairs scraped. Silk rustled. Nobles filed out in clusters of perfume and whispered schemes.
And then?—
The tingling began.
Like a thousand tiny sparks brushing beneath my skin, the edge of the glamour starting to fray. I caught Zander’s eye, and he nodded once.
We turned, walking quickly but controlled, toward the doors.
We’d nearly made it to the threshold when Theron’s voice rang out behind us.
“Get me Zander and the Rebec girl.”
We froze.
Slowly, we turned.
My heart thundered as we stepped out of the council chamber, each beat louder than the last. Did he see us? Did he know?
Theron’s voice had cut through the air, sharp and certain.
But then—he turned away.
Back to Inderia, his hand lifting to touch her cheek in a gesture that was disturbingly intimate, fingers grazing her skin with a tenderness that didn’t match the cruelty of his words moments before.
I swallowed hard, forcing myself not to look back.
Zander and I slipped into the nearest empty corridor the moment the heavy doors closed behind us.
The glamour peeled away with a quiethum, the magic unraveling from our skin like threads of silk dissolving in fire. I felt the tingle fade, the weight of another face lifting.
“That was close,” I breathed, pressing my back to the cool wall.
Zander nodded, running a hand through his now-black hair. “I thought he had seen me.”
“Me too.” I looked down the corridor, then back at him. “Do you think… there’s something going on between him and Inderia?”
Zander arched a brow. “Romantically?”
I nodded. “I know he’s using her for her contacts, but…”
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” he said, voice low. “He’s lost his bride. Inderia has clearly proven herself… useful. And she would do anything to be queen.”
“No kidding,” I muttered. “But would she kill for it? We assumed Lady Belana was murdered to hurt Theron or stir political chaos, but what if it was more than that?”
Zander exhaled slowly. “Inderia is cunning. And she certainly had access. But if she hired an assassin, that assassin could blackmail her forever.”
