“The finishing touches are being made,” Felaf explained.
The queen regent scowled. “Everyone has been seated. Dinner is ready to be served. Any longer and it will be deemed an insult to our guests.” Her attention shifted to the large doubledoors. “I swear to Scorpio, if she does not come out right this instant?—”
The doors groaned open. Letti appeared first, bowing her head. “Princess Novah is ready. Apologies for the delay, but her hair was simply adisaster.”
A swarm of silent maids emerged from the room, bowing as they passed Maryn. When they cleared, Rahzlyn’s figure appeared.
My heart faltered. Her beautiful hair cascaded over her shoulders. A gold scorpion clip nested atop her head with some curls wrapped around it. Most of her glyphs were on display as well. Scorpion jewelry dangled from her wrists and ears along with other lesser stones for luck and inner strength.
Black, shimmering fabric wrapped around her form in a crisscrossed embrace. With a high neck and wide bands that swept diagonally over her chest and shoulders, sharp cutouts revealed her tan skin beneath. The dress unfurled into flowing panels slit high along her toned thighs.
I resisted the urge to fist her leg chain I kept hidden deep in my pocket like a depraved fool. It was the only piece of her I permitted myself, even though she wanted nothing to do with me. I couldn’t make sense of the mess in my head: I craved her mouth and the words they spoke yet welcomed the harsh reminder that neither were mine to have. I should have been more concerned that if given the chance, I’d likely break our oaths of chastity to have a single taste of her.
“You look beautiful, Princess,” Felaf offered after an extended pause.
She did. But when Rahzlyn’s eyes glossed over me, I stilled. None of her usual vibrant tenderness could be found. It was like a punch to my throat.
“I’m ready, Queen Regent,” Rahzlyn said cooly, brushing past me.
Unlike Maryn’s punishments, her detachedness was a torment I couldn’t bear. I had the overwhelming urge to hug her flesh to mine and whisper every secret I’d ever harbored against her skin. Not to get a reaction out of her, but to make her see me the way she had before I’d fucked everything up. To make her seeherselffor the force she was, and not this hollow shell.
I clenched my hands at my sides, determination settling in.
Chapter 47
Rahzlyn
Within minutesof the ball’s commencement, I’d determined each baron to be insufferable. Their spoiled, entitled families and friends—the rest of the queendom’s nobles—were no better. All were dressed in gorgeous black garments that dripped with expensive jewels—myself included. I was adorned in stones of luck and protection around my arms, legs, and even my feet. I enjoyed fine dresses and jewelry, but such excessiveness was in poor taste given the state of the queendom.
Maryn kept her distance, sitting at a separate table and letting the advisors facilitate introductions. Only Baron Ionis attended alone. The rest of the nobles notably kept their distance from him, though he didn’t seem to mind. He stole several glances in my direction across the round table we feasted at, but I ignored him.
I said nothing throughout most of the dinner portion, instead listening to the conversations around me to ascertain how to connect with these out-of-touch nobles. Mel would laugh in their haughty faces—or would she? I certainly wanted to. I hadn’t been able to shake my anger since Raithe’s and Felaf’s revelation, and I was one ignorant remark away from snapping.
The truth was, I didn’t know Mel at all. Our friendship was never real, and I’d been a puppet for everyone to string along. Everything had pointed to Kole being an apostate, I was just too ignorant to want to believe it.
I’d scarcely acknowledged Raithe since the incident in the city. He knew from the beginning what Kole was and had kept it from me. He’d let me prattle about Kole like a damned fool.
Mostly, though, I was furious with my dead brother—mytwin. Had I even known him at all?
“Surely you must havesomeroyal education,” the wife of a baron queried me in disbelief. I couldn’t remember which city she and her husband hailed from, nor our words exchanged up to that point. “I can’t recall the last time we had a queen with no proper schooling, can you?”
The tables had been cleared, and an ensemble of musicians took control of the room’s ambience. The hall had been decorated lavishly with candles everywhere and beadery draped over mirrors and candelabras. Dark red geraniums bloomed in each corner, with petals scattered across the shiny flooring and even in the pond on the terrace outside at the base of the waterfall. My attention shifted frequently to the performers and singers that comprised a tune synonymous with the one I’d danced to in Antares.
At my distinctly prolonged silence, the noblewoman laughed. “Of course, with no education howcouldyou even know the answer to that?” She patted my arm. I stared at the patronizing contact. “I’m sure the queen regent is taking excellent care to remedy such incompetence.”
“Can you?”
She cocked her head slightly at me. “Can I what?”
“Recall the lastuneducatedScorpion queen?”
She blinked. “Well, that’s not somethingIwould be privy to?—”
“But you did attend an Academy,” I reminded her. “And according to you, such a fact should be known. So?”
The woman scoffed, looking to her husband for support.
I clinked my glass against hers. “Cheers to our incompetence.” I downed the rest of my wine and went in search of another. I didn’t know how much longer I could tolerate this.
