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“You’re to meet some of the influential nobles of this territory. They’re fabulous. Just you wait.”

I feel sick. As if making weapons for Ravis weren’t bad enough. Now he expects me to socialize.

The last time I was at a party, I insulted the host’s son, and the whole affair was cut short. I was publicly shamed and humiliated, and everything only got worse in my life from there.

“This isn’t a good idea,” I say.

“Nonsense,” Elany responds.

In my room, an army of ladies awaits me with tortures I’d never dreamed of. They wash me, dress me, primp me with makeup, take a hot iron to my hair. They pluck hairs from my brow and pinch my cheeks and hoist up my breasts into some monstrosity of a dress. It’s tight. Too tight to move, though there’s a slit in the skirt, which shows off way too much of my right leg. The top issleeveless, strapless, to show off my arms, I think, and I cannot glean what sorcery is keeping the foul thing from falling off my breasts and showing even more of me to everyone. It glitters, a silvery color that hurts my eyes if I stare at it too long. My attendants paint swirling designs on my bare shoulders and beside my eyes. I sneeze from the loose bits of sparkling grains they drizzle onto my skin.

I want to be in the forge or the dungeons or really anywhere else.

When Elany comes to collect me, she smiles brightly. “You’re so beautiful!”

She’s dressed in red, with short sleeves and a skirt that really isn’t long enough to be called such. I don’t like how exposed everyone is in this territory. There’s too much skin showing. I know the climate calls for it, but I hate the fashion choices. Just another thing that puts me ill at ease in this place.

Guards escort us to the throne room, which is bedecked in new finery that wasn’t there before. Glittering rocks cover every flat surface. They’re unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Most of them are rounded with crude gray or brown exteriors, but they’ve been broken through the middle, exposing beautiful twinkling lights within.

“They’re called geodes,” Elany explains. “Our territory is rich with them, and all the finest specimens are to be found in this room.”

An array of purples and whites and creams wink at me from the exposed centers of the rocks. Others are smooth reds and blacks, almost like glass.

“Obsidian,” Elany says, as though that’s supposed to mean anything to me.

The people are almost more elegant than the rocks. Nobilityspatter the floor in their finest fabrics and ornamentation. Many of the girls are done up in a style similar to the one I wear. It must be the height of fashion, then.

I try not to meet anyone’s eyes as I attempt to make myself familiar with my surroundings.

Musicians play in a corner, the music soft and slow, and the floor is filled with courtiers swaying to the sound of it. Ravis sits on a raised platform, his bejeweled crown on his head, his dagger sheathed at his side. He’s in a different version of the outfit I saw him in the first time we met. Another surcoat, which I’m beginning to suspect was what the late king used to wear—this one made of fine silk with epaulets covered in winking gems. Nobles parade in front of him, one by one before joining the throngs of people already dancing.

The guards march me up the dais steps, where two wooden chairs have been added beside the prince’s throne. Elany sits at his right hand, which leaves me to take the left.

Everything feels wrong up here. I don’t like being higher up than the rest of the room. Put on display. Itinvitespeople to stare, and how am I supposed to pretend I’m in an empty room if people areactuallylooking at me?

Before I can lose myself entirely to panic, Prince Ravis leans toward me. “South doors.”

I haven’t a clue which direction anything in this palace is, but I look at the different doors before spotting what Ravis must be drawing my attention to.

Kellyn.

It takes me a moment to recognize him because of the large seaman’s hat on his head, which must be there to hide the bandages. It’s a rich black leather that comes to three distinct points. He’s done up in finery like everyone else. Red silk tunic. Shimmeringlightweight pants. Silver-buckled boots. And over the whole thing, a captain’s coat, with matching silver buttons down the sides. Ravis must be passing him off as some foreign dignitary.

Kellyn must be roasting under all those layers.

He’s escorted by two ladies, one on either arm, each wearing just a little less clothing than I am.

All the sights and smells have been making my stomach turn, but a new emotion takes hold at the sight of Kellyn and those women.

Something hot and angry.

Kellyn’s eyes meet mine, as though sensing my gaze. It’s impossible to tell for sure at this distance, but I think he takes in my dress and my proximity to Ravis.

I stare at him. He stares at me.

“Leave a good impression for me, and he won’t come to any harm,” Ravis says.

And I realize then that those women aren’t courtiers. Obviously not. They’re guards. I see their swords sheathed at their hips. I notice the upright way they hold themselves, the way their heads turn to take in the room, searching for any trouble.