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“Of course,” I say, truly perplexed by the exchange.

“Then you’d best be off. Do pass along my regards to Kyros, if you think it would be appropriate.”

I nod.

Eryx raises a hand and runs two fingers through one of my loose curls. “Safe travels.”

And then he releases me.

KYROS WAITS FOR MEby my carriage. He hands me into the interior, before trying to climb the seat to join the driver. “No. Please join me inside, Kyros.”

He meets my eyes and nods.

Then we’re off.

“Did he buy it?” Kyros asks when we make it down the drive. I spot the briefcase where he’s stashed it in the corner of the carriage.

“Yes.”

“Then why do you look… sad?”

“I’m not sad. I’m furious. He claims to have feelings for me. When he didthisto me.” I gesture to the estate disappearing behind us. But perhaps, secretly, I am a little sad. For what could have been. Eryx Demos saw me in ways no one else did. Together, we could have been—

It doesn’t matter. He lied. He took advantage in a way no man has ever been able to. Because he saw the real me. The whole of me.

And he thought to make me small by taking everything I earned for myself.

“I am sorry,” Kyros says, and he does sound as though he means it.

I hold myself higher. “Why are you sorry?”

Kyros thinks about his next words carefully. “Because you clearly care for him.”

“I do not,” I say through clenched teeth.

“Perhaps not now that his treachery and monstrous form have been revealed, but before you knew… it’s okay if you did start to care.”

“That’s not why I invited you to sit back here with me.”

“Then why am I here, Your Grace?”

“Don’t call me that anymore. Please.”

He sighs. “What is it, Chrysantha?”

“Because you’re my friend, and I want you here.” And if I change my mind, I need a voice of reason to help me stay the course.

“Then I’ll be here,” he says simply.

Yet I can’t escape the feeling that he’s not who I want with me right now.

CHAPTER 25

The palace seems to look drearier than usual. The black stones look gray, and the gargoyles seem slumped. Even the guards appear bored.

Some messenger greets us at the front doors, asking our business.

I say, “I am Chrysantha Stathos Demos, Dowager Duchess of Pholios, and sister to the queen. Please tell her and the Shadow King that I have arrived and wish to speak at their earliest convenience.”