Page 85

“Nobility, perhaps,” Ágota grouses.

“Albrecht is a noble. I will soon be a countess.” I set Valentini on the windowsill and he licks a paw and starts to wash his face where I kissed him.

With a petulant look, Ágota says, “I know you are happy with the prospect, but I find it difficult to find any joy in the thought of you not being with me.”

“You can visit. Often.”

“My duty is here.” Ágota sighs and slumps against the bedpost. “If not for my disastrous decision, your place would be here, too. As our battlewitch. The coven is none-too-pleased that I negotiated our only battlewitch into marriage with a mortal.”

“He is part fey.”

“As if that matters. He is far away in the Kingdom of Germany and we are here in the heart of the Hungarian kingdom.”

“At least King Charles is no longer a threat and I very much doubt Fülöp will travel all this way to start a witch war.”

“Do not be so certain. He really does hate me. And you.”

“He is an insignificant worm,” I say with a cheery smile.

“And he married the love of my young life!”

“Yet that does not stop you from bedding all the pretty girls.”

“I am consoling myself,” Ágota answers, but a smirk slides over her lips.

“Well, console yourself with the thought that maybe he hates you because his beloved wife calls out your name in the throes of passion!” I tickle her sides and she laughs with delight.

“Actually,” she says with a conspiratorial gleam, “after she married him she still found ways to fall into my bed.”

“Ágota!”

“I have no scruples. None whatsoever!”

“No wonder he hates us so much! It is all your fault!”

Of course, we both know he truly hates us because we are more powerful than he will ever be. The death of Soffia definitely did not endear us to him either.

There is a rap on the door, and I rush to answer it. I expect Balázs, but instead, Henrietta greets me with a worried expression on her freckled face.

“Your father wants to speak to both of you as soon as possible in his study. He seems... distraught.”

“We will be there shortly,” I reply.

With a nod, she pivots about and hurries to deliver my response to Balázs.

“Brush your hair and let me tighten your lacings,” I say to Ágota. “You do not look at all respectable.”

Running her long fingers through her wild mane, she avoids my reach. “Dress yourself and hurry. Father’s probably upset over the letter he received from the count demanding your hand in marriage. Ugh! This is entirely my fault.”

With those words, Ágota slips out of my room.

I bathe and dress as rapidly as I can while Valentini sunbathes in the window. My maids come to help me with my hair and lacing. Wearing my hair down, but with the sides braided and pinned into buns, I feel like a countess already. My favorite green cotton gown with long sleeves and a slight train whispers against the stone floor as I hurry from my room and through the castle to Balázs’s study.

I rap on the door and it immediately opens to reveal Ágota slumped in a chair and Balázs pacing.

“Erzsébet, I apologize for summoning you here before you have had a chance to eat, but we need to discuss the letter I received from Wirich. It was delivered this morning by a...” Balázs frowns and looks at Ágota for clarification.

“Kobold. He was very small and smiled far too wide. Had quite a lot of teeth,” Ágota answers.