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Taly made sure that Ainsley marked every friend he didn’t have before she whispered, her voice laced with silk and poison, “Lucky for you, I like this dress. And blood stains horribly.” A flick of her dagger dropped the bottom button of his waistcoat into her waiting hand. “I suppose I’ll have to satisfy myself with just your dignity.”

And then Taly turned with a flourish of her skirts.

A distant part of her registered the gasps from the crowd, then the applause, then the thunderous cheering punctuated with whoops and whistles as she held up the button like a trophy.

What she’d done—it would not soon be forgotten. Not by the people, and not by that lordling. She’d decide later if it was a mistake.

“Please,” she said, shushing them. Because being heard was a privilege and right now they were listening. “Please sit. I know you’re afraid, and I know that you’re tired, but we are still here. We are still standing, so please, I’m begging you, do not let this be the thing that breaks us. Sit and listen to your leaders. Look to the people who are helping, not those who seek only to divide.”

Ainsley barked, “Castaro, call off—”

“No!” Taly snarled and flung out a finger. “You are done speaking. It is time for other voices to be heard.”

“Yeah, sit the fuck down,” someone called from the terraces.

Shame burned the lordling’s face, but he didn’t strike back. Wouldn’t risk it with Ivain and Skye watching his every breath. With Sarina’s flames sparking the air, begging to be releasedas her fingers drummed against the arm of her throne. Her expression was near feral, lit up with savage pride.

Taly surrendered the stage. She took Skye’s outstretched hand when she was close enough.

He sent down the bond,I love watching you put arrogant pricks in their place.

She let him help her back into her seat, a necessity with so much dress to maneuver and her knees turning to jelly.I think I may have blacked out a little.

Indeed, whatever had driven her to stand, to step onto that floor, to speak, was fading, and in the wake of it, she felt shaky.

Finally, the crowd began to settle, the din of voices and movement thinning into quiet. But one pair of hands kept clapping.

A gravelly laugh followed, unmistakably feminine and full of wicked delight. “Oh, this is marvelous!”

Chapter 58

Taly followed the sound of the voice to the woman reclining beneath the banner of House Bontu. She sat with a lazy kind of grace, one of the few noblewomen who had opted for a fine brocaded tailcoat similar in cut and style to the men’s suits. Her hair was a black, silken sheet, her eyes the same color of cinnamon as Ainsley’s, her light brown skin smooth and flawless save for a dusting of freckles over full, round cheeks.

Taly liked her immediately, though that might’ve had more to do with the unlit cigar idly perched between two fingers.

The woman said, still laughing, “I haven’t had this much fun since… oh, what was it?” She turned to the box next to hers, where a small group of willowy, black-eyed Highborns looked similarly amused. “You know, when Silas called the duel…”

“And ended the day with chicken feathers growing out of his ass.” The woman from House Agno smiled, revealing straight, white teeth. “That was the Gildarian Peace Summit, I believe.”

From the corner of her eye, Taly saw Sarina smile smugly, as if a plan was finally coming to fruition.

Ainsley grumbled, “I’m glad you find this amusing, Brielle.” He had finally settled himself back in his throne, lounging with enough arrogance to cover the state of his wounded pride.

“If I were you, Ainsley, I would stop speaking,” Brielle shot back. “Before Castaro lets the human take your balls too.” She looked to Ivain, gesturing with the cigar to where Taly sat with Skye’s hand on her knee. “Good work with that one. A woman needs a sharp tongue. Especially considering how much these Fey cocks like to strut around.”

Oh, Taly definitely liked her.

Brielle tucked the cigar behind an ear lined with gold rings. “Castaro, before my nephew decided to make an ass of himself, I believe you were telling us what you intend to do about this nasty Curse business. Hopefully without having to subjugate an entire subset of your population.”

“Indeed,” Ivain said and stepped forward. “There will be shortages going forward—food, water, medical supplies. But rest assured, they are temporary. We have already made great strides in figuring out the nature of this beast. This will not be another Wasting Plague, nor another Blood Fever. A Curse is intelligent—and that makes it wildly unpredictable. But take away that unpredictability…”

He held aloft the Eye, multifaceted and gleaming. The runes were dull, the magic inside it diffused.

“We already have the Eye,” he announced to a new round of murmurs. A glance at Taly informed them who had found it, and she bit back a sigh as the legend of her heroism grew to even greater heights. “We have already determined the method of transmission, and the rate of infection is dropping in the mortal population.”

“And the Fey?” Brielle pressed. “You have the Eye; you’ve cut this thing off at the knees—great. But is it still spreading? Fey were a secondary host. Taking away the transmission method won’t matter if it’s already taken root.”

Ivain sighed. “Yes, the Curse is still spreading among Fey. But if caught early, symptoms remain mild. We’re watching for any shift.”