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“You’ll take this room.”

“What?” Her tone is defiant.

Unacceptable.

I nod once. “I have another one already prepared for Ava. Lucy, bring Coraline’s things into this room.”

Coraline’s face twists. “You can’t be serious. You expect me to sleep in this closet?”

“Not only that. You’re no longer High Consort. And I want you to dismiss the others. All of them.”

“What…” Her voice is breathless. “You’re not serious.”

“I am. I’ll get new consorts. I’m bored with the ones I have.” With my gaze fixed on Coraline, I let my thumb caress Ava’s jawline. “I’m bored with you.”

Coraline’s face drains of color. But a second later, she straightens her spine and schools her features into calm.

She knows how to play the game well.

She gestures at Ava. “I assume you’re not also dismissing your new pet.”

“Of course not. You’ll be her new attendant, in fact.” I smile slowly. “You’ll be styling her clothes. Doing her hair. Things like that.”

“I see.” Coraline’s voice is breathless. “I’ll do my best. Expectations are low, I assume?”

“You even hint at an insult at Ava again, Cora, and you’ll be banished from the walls of Thornecroft.”

Her lips press into a thin line, and for a moment, I think she might cry. But she doesn’t. Of course she doesn’t.

Instead, she nods. “Understood. I’m sorry, my LordRegent.”

Regent. There’s her defiance. Her reminder that I have to be careful with her. She’s part of the inner circle and knows more secrets than most. Her dad is a member of The Four Hundred. I can’t banish her without repercussions.

Strange that her defiance has never stirred me the way Ava’s does.

Coraline turns around and heads for the door without another word, and Lucy follows her. When the door closes behind them, the tension in the air thickens. Ava is staring at me, her arms crossed.

“You didn’t have to humiliate her.” Her voice is quiet.

I smirk. “Should I have hit her instead?”

She groans. “You would have done much worse if she were a man. And don’t confuse double standards for principles.”

Laughter rumbles from deep within my chest. “Could you be any sweeter? I don’t do principles. I do results. I could never hit a woman, but I also don’t need to. Men rule the world. Not because of merit, but because that’s just how things shook out. In some alternative universe, you might be the one giving me orders, but that’s not the one you live in. Smart women accept it and play the game. You’d do well to learn from them.”

And I mean it with my whole heart.Learn from them, Ava. Learn from Coraline.

Use me.

I’ll give you anything you want with the right kind of persuasion.

She snorts, breaking the tension in the room and making a smile tug at my lips.

“That’s a disgusting way to see the world. Embracing evil just because that’s ‘how things shook out.’ Not everysmartwoman accepts the way things are. And one day, everything will change.”

There’s something in my chest… An irritating pressure I can’t name.

She means it. She actually believes the world should be fair. That integrity matters. That people should be better than they are.