“I’m not sure why it didn’t stop,” I admit.
“You’re going to kill Caiden, aren’t you?” She looks hopeful.
“She can’t,” Antonia says. “Not without his men killing us, right?”
“Yes. He says if anything happens to him, they have orders…”
Charlotte pulls her hand away from mine and slumps back into the chair. “He’s going to die, Taylan.”
“I’m working on it. I’m trying to find out how they’re still bound.”
“The enforcer is too, isn’t he?” Antonia asks.
I hesitate. It’s not my business to share, but these women are smart. They already know the answer. I nod.
Antonia shoots up from her chair. “Good. He deserves it. How many innocents has he killed? We all went along with it, praising him and begging for his attention. He’s just the same as the others.”
I blink a few times, then watch her walk toward the window. She stops in front of it, staring out into the blue light of dusk. It’s a side of her I’ve never seen. How had I misjudged these women so badly? I really thought they were all happy being part of the structure of the court.
It was survival, the same as me. They were playing a role.
“Elliot doesn’t have a choice,” Charlotte says quietly. “He’s got three younger sisters. His father died right after the youngest was born. Without him…”
I give her a gentle smile. “We’ll figure something out, I promise.”
She nods and Genevive hands her a cup of tea from the cart. The women whisper together, Genevive comforting her friend.
I notice Antonia is staring out the window, ignoring the rest of us. Charolotte and Genevive make sense. I understand why they’d want to help me. Why they’d risk the emperor’s wrath. Antonia is a mystery, though. She’s always been the most proper. The one who followed all protocols. Even when she didn’t agree with my actions, she followed instructions. I was certain she would do anything for high ranking marriage or a position of prestige within the court.
Something changed. I cross the room to join her. “I’m missing something, here. I thought you were the most loyal. I thought you reported directly to Marian. I don’t know how I didn’t see it.”
She stares straight ahead but speaks quietly. “It’s different outside the city. Worse, if you can imagine. My family has so little status. They thought if I married well, it would help. Katherine’s family was the wealthiest, most influential family in our village. My mother wanted us to be like them so badly. I was her hope for that.”
“And now Katherine and her entire family are dead,” I add.
She traces a line down the condensation on the window. “Yes. That loyalty, that wealth, none of it mattered.”
“No. It didn’t,” I agree.
“And nothing is going to change if I play the game. I marry some old man, like poor Juliette, have babies, and pretend I’m happy.” She looks at me. “Your life means something, Taylan. You’re trying to change things.”
“I lost everyone to the rebellion,” I tell her. “My father first. Then my mother. Then both my brothers. All of them. Dead.Fighting for something they’ll never see. Something that might never happen.”
“But they fought. And they lived for something. Katherine lived for something. What am I doing? Living to further my family’s ambitions? For what? A larger house and fancier parties?”
“Are you sure you know what you’re saying?” I ask.
Charlotte and Genevieve join us. I look over at them. “And you two? This isn’t a game. You saw what happened to Katherine.”
“The emperor is dead. That’s not something we even thought was possible,” Genevieve says.
“Five hundred years ruling. And you helped end it. Katherine helped end it,” Antonia says.
“I didn’t kill him,” I say. “It was Ludis, the prince of Iskvaland. Sabina, the real Sabina’s brother.”
“I thought he was dead,” Antonia says.
“Apparently everyone did.” I sigh. At this point, it doesn’t really matter if they know, does it? Caiden knows who I really am. I’m guessing there’s others who do. I’m married to him. That has to give me at least some protection. At least until he gets what he wants from Iskvaland.
