“I’m surprised you could want to celebrate anything after so many years.” I hadn’t celebrated my birthday since I was eight—or maybe seven, if truthful. My twenty-first had passed in the last few months, but I hadn’t said a word to Thea or Raphael. It was just another day.
“Oh, you never stop wanting.” Everything that came from his lips managed to sound flirtatious, but I had the strangest sense it had nothing to do with desiring me. There was some game afoot, but I wasn’t the prize in it. “Still, I can understand some might think it’s childish. That’s why I use the Skyflame Festival as a pretext. It draws such interesting people from all over.” He lifted his chin at someone before turning me to see. “That gentleman over there is one of the premier vintners in the southwest. He donates a barrel of his finest aged wine each year. I invite him for that alone.”
“But you can’t drink wine?” I meant it as a statement, but it came out more like a question.
“Of course not.” He gave an exasperated sigh. “But it’s the best. I do love having the best.”
It was arrogant, but at least it was honest.
“And that lady, well, she tends to meet her next husband at the festival—with her current husband on her arm. There’s a pot every year on if she’ll pick a new one and who it might be.”
“She throws them over so easily?” It seemed like rather a lot of work to me.
He gave me a mock frown, scandalized. “Of course not. She kills them, though she’s too careful to get caught. Since she usually picks someone insufferable and rich, it’s really more of a community service than murder. She even donates half of her inheritance to charity once the will is processed.”
Julian laughed at my stunned expression.
“And do you partake in the betting pool?”
“In fact, this year I did. I bet on a certain philandering metallurgist. Twenty gold pieces. But it seems he was taken out of the running early.”
Sir Ferro. “That—”
“It hardly warranted Raphael bursting into my rooms accusing me of being negligent at best, and an accomplice at worse. I do hope you believe I had nothing to do with it.”
He hoped I believed it, but it didn’t make it so.
“I wouldn’t have tried to kill you without meeting you,” he assured me. “And of course, I would never have used such a shoddy assassin for the job.”
At my look of horror, he just laughed. “Kidding, kidding. As long as you’re no threat to me or my people, I have no motivation to harm you. Ah—there it is.” He dipped his head to the side. “That’s who she’ll go with instead.”
He’d gestured to a reed-thin man who’d just pulled three goblets from a tray. From this distance, he looked mortal. He knocked back one, dropping it to the ground, and then began to head toward the woman Julian had identified.
“Shouldn’t you do something if you know she’s going to kill him?”
“The man put ten pounds onhimself,even knowing the fate of his last eighteen predecessors. The gene pool will be much improved without him.” He shrugged, unconcerned. “In any case, you understand now why it’s so important to celebrate when you can. Especially since I’m not invited out as oftenanymore.” He gave me a meaningful look. “I wasn’t even invited to your debut.”
Oops. I didn’t think they’d invited any foreign dignitaries—especially since Raphael had only just recovered from being poisoned and I was in a cell. “Perhaps it was an oversight. He did bring me to your kingdom this year, when I know he often has to miss the festival. That must count for something.”
Julian snorted. “He came this year because I wrote to him and gave him no choice. Believe me, that is the only reason.”
I wrote to him . . .Julian. That was who “J” was. No one ever seemed to utter the king’s name, least of all Raphael, and with how dismissive Raphael seemed toward any mention of the king, I hadn’t considered the cryptic note might have come from him. But if Julian wanted to discuss rumors privately with Raphael—if the two vampire kingdoms were working closely together—then what did that mean? Paranoia swirled inside me. I fought to keep a level head, to not jump to conclusions. But why else would Raphael be misrepresenting his relationship with the king? Aella had mentioned skirmishes, but her kingdom was on the western half of the continent. What if things were even worse?
“I’m sure no one intended it as a slight,” I said tightly.
He snorted. “It was quite deliberate. Raphael is rather possessive of his things.”
“I amnota thing.”
He bent closer, inhaling. My stomach twisted, not disgust, just a tightening cramp. “I can smell his blood on you. Truly, I never thought I’d see the day. But, well, love changes a male.”
“He’s not—I’m not—” I stammered.
“He’s not besotted? You’re not together?”
“No.” At that moment, I finally managed to catch sight of Raphael over Julian’s shoulder. He was across the room, cloakedin all black, and was speaking to a vampiress. Lady Jaen, perhaps?
I almost caught his eye and pulled my gaze away sharply. Julian arched a brow at me.
