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The clock above the Hall doors read twenty to ten.

“I have to go,” I said against Jax’s shoulder. “Before ten. Silas—”

“I know.”

Jax released me slowly.

“Go. I’ll cover for you. I can fall over something if necessary. I’m excellent at that.”

I turned toward the doors and nearly walked straight into a tall man dressed in immaculate black. Silver touched his temples, and the smile he gave me was warm enough that, from a distance, it might have looked friendly.

"Miss Hale," Aldric Vance said. "Might I have this dance?"

He spoke loudly enough for the people around us to hear. The nearest couples slowed, and when I glanced toward the dais, I saw that the three gray Wardens were watching. So was Delphine's silver-haired father, along with the envoys seated beside him.

That was when I understood why the exam had been scheduled in the middle of the ball.

This was another part of it.

If I refused the Council Chair in front of his envoys on Bond Night, I would give them exactly what they expected from me. The girl who couldn't be trusted to behave when it mattered. If I wanted them to believe I had learned to cooperate, if I wanted even the smallest chance of getting Marion back, I couldn't refuse him here.

I put my hand in his.

Aldric danced beautifully, with the practiced ease of someone who had spent most of his life in rooms like this one. One hand rested at my waist while the other held mine, and he guided me onto the floor without ever seeming to look where he was going.

He kept smiling as we moved.

Then his thumb shifted against the black satin of my glove and came to rest on the inside of my wrist, directly over my pulse and the silver thread hidden beneath the fabric. He had touched me there once before, in the courtyard, and I knew this wasn't an accident.

"You look lovely tonight, Miss Hale," he said. "Green suits you."

"Thank you, Councillor."

"So compliant," he murmured. "How refreshing. My son could learn a great deal from you."

I glanced at the clock above the doors.

Five minutes to ten.

I said nothing and followed his lead.

The quartet reached the end of the piece, and polite applause passed through the Hall. I began to withdraw my hand, expecting him to release me.

He didn't.

The musicians turned their pages, and before I could step away, Aldric guided me smoothly into the opening measures of the next dance.

I looked at him then.

He was still smiling.

This wasn't about dancing anymore. He was making sure I stayed exactly where he wanted me.

He turned me beneath the great wheel of candles and lowered his head until his voice no longer carried beyond the two of us.

"You have your mother's hands, you know," he said.

I missed a step.