Page 125 of Burn of the Everflame

So am I, I thought darkly.

Garath haughtily straightened his doublet. “None of this changes the result. The Houses vote together, which means we have eight votes. Diem is⁠—”

“Norwick didn’t vote,” Eleanor called out.

I realized with a start that she was no longer seated beside me. In all the chaos of Taran and Garath’s fight, she’d crept across the room to House Benette, where she and Norwick were still exchanging whispers.

She paused again and looked up. “Norwick wasn’t part of your agreement. He can vote however he wants.”

“He’s still bound by the bonded bargain,” Garath said. “All the Houses are.”

“The Heads of Houses,” Remis corrected. “Isn’t that what you told me, brother?” His smile was brittle. “Isn’t that the reason you’re there?”

Suddenly, I understood why Remis had mysteriously retired. For Garath’s plan to work, each Head of House needed to pledge their magic to the bonded bargain. Remis had no magic to give, a fact he was desperate to keep under wraps.

What I didn’t understand was why the most restrained man in the realm had just come so close to letting it slip.

Ravyn Byrnum turned a shade greener. “Are you saying that if Norwick votes against us and breaks the bargain, all the Heads of House will lose our magic, but he loses nothing?”

“He’ll lose his head,” her twin Ryx mumbled.

Guilt sat heavy on my shoulders. The target I’d put on Norwick’s back had just become a guillotine hanging by a single thread. Could I ask him to take this risk when it might be the last thing he ever did?

“You could all change your votes,” Eleanor suggested. “Marthe Hanoverre has proven she can’t be trusted. If you give her control of this council, eventually she’ll take your votes, too. But if you vote as one for Diem⁠—”

“We can’t,” the Head of House Ghislaine said. “They made that part of the pact, too. If any of us votes in her favor, we all pay the price.”

“Norwick,” Evrim warned him, “don’t even consider it. Marthe will pay for what she’s done, but if you cost me my magic, so will you.”

“Listen to your kin, boy,” Ravyn Byrnum said. “Don’t make an enemy of us all.”

Norwick drooped against his chair. Tension stretched through the silent room, every soul awaiting his choice. His eyes were bleak as he looked up at Eleanor.

“Please,” she whispered.

“Norwick, wait,” I said.

I swore beneath my breath. Was I really about to do this? Why could I not be the ruthless Queen just this once, when so much depended on it?

“Vote against me,” I told him. “My seat is not worth your life.”

Eleanor deflated. Norwick frowned. The other Houses groaned with relief.

“I’m sorry,” I said to Nidara, then again to Zalaric, then to the mortals, though I was too ashamed to meet my mother’s eyes. I looked back at Norwick. “Just promise me you’ll fight for them,” I begged.

“No,” he said flatly.

I didn’t think my spirit could sink any lower, but Norwick Benette had proved me wrong. Finally and fully defeated, I rose from my chair to leave.

“My death will come when the Blessed Mother wills it,” Norwick said. “If that is today, so be it. My vote is no.”

The Houses erupted. Angry Descended flew toward the Benette table as Alixe shouted for guards to intervene.

I stared at Norwick in a daze. “You don’t have to do this for me.”

“It’s not for you. Perthe is the reason you found me in that armory. He owed his life debt to you, and I owe mine to him. This is how I repay it.”

A shield glittered around him as guards flooded the room. Evrim Benette pounded on its walls, demanding that he change his vote. Other Houses shouted threats against his life and his family and his lovers, vowing to bring their vengeance down on all their heads.