I hurried to the guest dining room, following Amity in her wolf form as she trotted briskly through the darkened halls. When I stepped into the dining room, small and cozy save for the vaulted ceilings and extravagant albeit dusty chandelier, the four women were already seated at the table.
“I’m so sorry,” I said as I hurried in. “I was writing a letter and lost track of time.”
“No worries,” Fina said with a smile. “We only just arrived as well.”
Rona sucked her teeth. “Just like a princess to invite guests and show up late.”
I started. Rona said that with such venom it shocked me. “It’s just as I said, I was only—”
“Evening, ladies,” Lady Glennis said as she strode through the back door of the dining room. I wasn’t expecting to see her but I was grateful for the interruption. I took my seat at the table and took a quick sip of wine, avoiding Rona’s burning gaze. “I heard you had decided to dine together. I hope I’m not intruding.”
“Of course not!” Fina said brightly. “The more the merrier.”
Wynona barely hid a scoff. Glennis didn’t seem to notice—or if she did, she didn’t deign to give it a response.
Glennis took the last remaining seat at the table and cast us all a discerning smile. “I hope everyone enjoyed their day exploring the Nightfall Manor?”
“The library is amazing,” Fina said. “I’ve never seen so many books in one place.”
“And the gallery of portraits!” Adora said. “Stunning. You must have artists from all across
Frasia!”
The kitchen staff came in with platters of food: roasted vegetables, a fine ham, roasted duck, crusty bread. It was a little simpler than the meals served at the court of Daybreak, but it smelled incredible. I took another sip of wine.
“And the training facilities, Wynona?” Fina asked. “How were they?”
If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought Wynona’s eyes were almost sparkling. Somehow Fina could get even Wynona talking.
As we ate and drank more wine, conversation flowed smoothly and easily between us. I even caught myself laughing, hearing tales of Wynona knocking over Nightfall wolves on the training mats, and Adora getting lost in the winding halls of the manor and ending up in the servants’ quarters. Lady Glennis didn’t contribute much. She seemed content to eat and drink wine and watch us interact.
I wondered if this was another way she was testing us—watching us interact at a casual dinner. How much pull did the Lady Glennis have in this competition? I couldn’t bring myself to worry too much about it, though. I was having too much fun chatting and laughing with the other women. No one in the competition knew me as the standoffish Ice Princess of Daybreak—here I was just another lady, another competitor, and maybe, to some of them at least, a friend.
When the night wound down, I’d had enough wine to redden my cheeks. I wasn’t drunk—it wouldn’t be ladylike to get drunk—but I’d maybe had half a glass too many.
“Get some rest tonight, ladies,” Glennis said as she stood from the table. “You’ll meet the king tomorrow morning.”
We all nodded in acknowledgment, though I saw Wynona suppress an eyeroll. Likely she was predicting tomorrow to be a repeat of today. I simply curtsied, then wished everyone good night, with an extra wink to Fina. This dinner had gone remarkably well. I found I wasn’t even anxious about tomorrow—I was almost looking forward to it.
Outside the dining room, Amity and Rue were both waiting to escort me, both in their wolf forms. Strangely, I was already getting used to seeing them as their big-pawed gangly wolf selves. Sometimes it was nice not to have to engage in the courteous small talk. Maybe they knew that, too.
I rounded the corner toward my quarters and nearly walked into someone heading my way. “Oh!” I said. “I apologize, I didn’t—”
“Fancy seeing you here,” the guard said.
I took a step back. In front of me was the same man from the library—except now, he wasn’t wearing the leather armor he’d worn earlier when he was, I assumed, on duty. Instead he was wearing plain dark trousers and a loose white shirt, which was open garishly low, revealing the dark hair on his broad, tan chest. I swallowed. My face was hot, but I was sure that was the wine.
At my side, the two wolves bent their front legs and ducked their heads low, ears back. Then they turned tail and scurried down the hall, back the way we’d just come, and disappeared out of sight. I almost wanted to call for them. Why would they just leave me with this stranger?
“I’m sorry,” I said with much less sincerity than my first apology, “what exactly are you doing in the ladies’ quarters?”
“Ah, I was just on a stroll earlier, and thought of our little encounter in the library.” He leaned one shoulder against the wall casually, like we did this all the time. He’d tied his dark hair back, which was a nice look for him—I shook that thought aside—but he still had on that irritating smirky expression.
I crossed my arms over my chest. The audacity of this man! Not only had he gotten into my business in the library—he was creeping around my quarters! I was prepared for Nightfall to be a bit more barbaric than the court of Daybreak, but this wasn’t animal behavior. This was plain old rudeness.
“I’m here for the King’s Choice competition,” I said, “and I don’t intend to spend my precious time in Efra engaging with rude manor employees.”
I intended to step around him, but my words only made his toothy smile bigger. Strangely, something about that smile kept my feet from moving. Again that prickly feeling ran down my spine, but it wasn’t entirely unpleasant.
“Well, I’d only intended to give you this.” He pulled a small sheet of folded parchment from his pocket and offered it to me.Against my better judgment, I took it from his hand, and inhaled sharply in surprise when I unfolded it. It was a carefully drawn copy of the map he’d snatched from my hand earlier. Smaller, less detailed—but certainly the same. I gaped at it for a moment before I remembered myself, and straightened back up. Yes, I would definitely be spending time reviewing this copy in my room. But that didn’t make his behavior any more acceptable.“Thank you,” I said. “But I would appreciate it if you would refrain from bothering me further.”“Oh, I didn’t realize I was bothering you,” the guard said. He looked so damn pleased with himself, with his eyes flashing gold.“And I won’t be here in Efra long,” I said. “Better not to waste your time.”“And why’s that?” he asked. “You just said you were here for the Choice.”“The king won’t be choosing me,” I said. “I’m here to repr
The manor was quiet as I made my way to the nearby guest quarters. If I was going to get put in the stocks today, I should tell my escort about it. That was the right thing for a lady to do, wasn’t it?I cringed. Not that I knew a lot about being a lady, apparently. It’d taken me a grand total of two days to ruin my reputation with the court.“Barion,” I whispered as I rapped on the heavy wooden door to his quarters. “Barion, it’s me.”From inside the quarters, Barion heaved a great sigh. After a few moments of rustling around, he opened the doors and squinted blearily at me. “What is it?” “I need your help,” I said.A furrow of concern formed in his brow, and he stepped aside to motion me into his quarters. They were much smaller than mine, but the bed was still huge, and coals glowed in the hearth. I sat down at the small table, and Barion sat across from me. He was still barely awake, in a loose tunic and slacks. He glanced around the room like he might be able to will some coffee
My wolf urged me to bare my teeth, growl back, show this woman that I was just as capable as she was. For a moment, my wolf surged dangerously close to the surface—my skin prickled and my adrenaline surged with the desire to show dominance. It was close enough that Rona sensed it. She smirked.But this was exactly the kind of woman I didn’t want to be. Angry and conniving, using my wolf to get what I wanted. I was a lady and I was going to act like one, even when my wolf wanted otherwise. She was so active internally, more demanding than she’d been in years.Efra was bringing out the worst in me.Before I could say anything in response, the door opened, and Lady Glennis stepped back inside. “Ladies,” she said.The air in the room crackled with anticipation. The three other girls hurried to the table, setting their coffees down, and stood near Rona and me. My wolf settled back down, cowed by the knowledge of what was about to happen.Lady Glennis stepped aside. The King of Frasia strod
Rona looked inordinately pleased with herself as she talked up Duchess Alana more—her embroidery skills, her fine tea sets, her knowledge of Frasian civic matters. “The duchess seems to think the Dawnguard pack needs to develop newer training techniques—”“Speaking of techniques,” Wynona interrupted with a cool glare, “Your Highness, how are the affairs of the Nightfall military?”The king hummed thoughtfully. I realized Wynona was the first contestant to ask the king a question. And it seemed like she’d asked the right one, from the way the king began to speak casually about his plans for developing the Nightfall troops. Lady Glennis watched him carefully as he did so, as if waiting for him to let some confidential information slip. But the king was a skilled conversationalist himself—he seemed to be discussing the intricacies of the military without actually saying anything of detail. It was hard to focus on. These were matters I had no hand in within the court of Daybreak. I couldn
His smirk turned to a grin, and he raised his eyebrows at me briefly, almost playfully, before he turned and strode away down the hall. He left me dumbfounded, standing in the hallway like my shoes were nailed into the floor.“The most interesting thing here.” I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or a threat.6The next day, mid-morning, I was seated in a hard-backed chair against the stone wall of a narrow corridor. The ceilings were high, and the stained-glass windows were thankfully uncovered, letting sunlight sluice into the room. It was gorgeous, but so, so quiet, and neither I nor the two other contestants seated next to me were looking forward to what was behind that ornately carved wooden door.It slammed open. Rona strode out, her hands balled into fists at her side. She swore colorfully as she passed us, eyes blazing with fury.“Guess it didn’t go well,” Fina murmured next me.Rona left the hallway and Lady Glennis stepped out of the room with her trademark notebook in th
“Just fine,” Fina said. “Not my strongest area, of course, but I doubt the council members know how to rotate a field to keep it producing properly all year. We all have our strengths.” She linked an arm through mine. “Listen, we have the rest of the afternoon off while the council is doing their important deliberations, and I want to go into town. I need to see the dressmaker.” She sipped her coffee. “Not want. Need. I did not bring enough warm clothes for this climate.” I laughed. “I don’t know, that seems like it might be a bit of an ordeal…” “Adora, will you go?” Fina asked.“Of course,” Adora said. “The town square is beautiful in the snow.”“Come on, Reyna,” Fina said. “There’s a bookstore.” She grinned at me.That got my attention. Adora must’ve seen it on my face, too, because she broke into a laugh.“Fine, fine,” I said. “I’ll go. I’d like to see what kind of work the tailors do here, anyway.”“Right?” Fina said. “We have to learn about our potential new kingdom. Let’s finish
The assistant’s head barely reached Camille’s waist. He swept into a low bow, then disappeared behind the curtain, and reappeared with a bottle and three glasses. He guided us to a low couch by the mirrors, then poured us each a glass of fine red wine.“Wow,” I said, settling back into the couch. “This is lovely.”“Thank you,” Camille said. “I received notice from the court that you may be joining me, so I did want to prepare a nice experience for you.” Fina sipped her wine. “Experience?”“I’d like to show you some of the designs I have to offer,” she said. “Then we can discuss fabrics, detailing, changes, et cetera, et cetera. All the things that make a lady’s wardrobe her own.”In Daybreak, the tailors made my clothes for me without much input. I wasn’t given such freedom like this—freedom to choose and make changes. Excitement swelled in my chest.“The Court of Nightfall will be covering the costs, as well,” Camille said. “So please choose anything you like. The king made that very
I nodded in understanding. If the Fae had come again, something in the land was changing. But unlike Camille, I wasn’t sure this was a good thing. Drogo’s reign had not ended well for him—I couldn’t imagine that the king’s would, either. The Fae’s return was an omen, but not necessarily a good one.“Well,” I said, “I’m delighted to hear it.”Camille smiled politely at me. She seemed almost disappointed that I hadn’t offered her more of a reaction.As Micah took Fina’s measurements, Adora looked more and more distraught.“I just can’t decide!” she said. “I love the neckline on this gown, but the hem length on this one.And I’d prefer silk, but then it must be lined for the cold weather—and what about this fine jacket!” “We can combine elements, milady,” Camille said. “You have a good eye for this kind of work.What are you envisioning?”“Pardon me,” I said as I stood up. “Adora, do you mind if I pop over to the bookstore?”“Oh!” Adora smiled warmly at me. “No, not at all—we’ll meet you