Page 64

“They won’t be able to bowl over the whole army. If Valerisse realizes they’re coming, she might be able to dispatch them all before the main battle even begins.” Her fingers flex at her sides. “We have those illusionists… I wonder if they have enough power between them to conceal a small army.”

Lorenzo frowns. “That would be a massive undertaking. It’s drained me just hiding myself for a few days at a time on the road.”

A flicker of disappointment crosses Aurelia’s face, but the news has buoyed my spirits. I can’t let hers falter.

I grip her arm in turn. “It’s all coming together. Your whole country was founded by a small group who managed to overcome a much larger enemy. We’ll find a way.”

Aurelia’s pensiveness doesn’t lift. My father’s offer is what she hoped for, but she has no way to coordinate with him—or Lavira or Goric, if they’re summoning their resources on her behalf too. So many more people she wants to protect from the worst harm that could befall them.

Can I really say our ambition won’t leave us all dead by the end of the week?

Even back at the palace in the midst of the evening’s court gathering, the disturbing question lingers in the back of my head. Cards and darts aren’t enough to distract me from the sense of impending doom.

Of course, that might be partly because I’m a little afraid of doom finding me right here.

Every time one of the Darium nobles glances at me, every murmur that passes between them around me, I can’t help wondering if they’re sizing me up and finding me unworthy of their empress.

Deciding that they’re better off rid of me if I’ve wheedled my way so far into her life—or her for letting me in.

So, even though Raul and Lorenzo are sticking close to her, I meander through the room, always at a distance. Seeking the answers I haven’t been able to give her yet.

It isn’t only nobles among us tonight. Axius suggested that any of the military officers who wanted to should join us for tonight’s revels, to enjoy a little leisure before many of them march off tomorrow.

A couple of captains are currently awing their distinguished audience with their darts skill.

Others have found themselves caught up in intensely curious conversations with nobles who must be equally nervous about what’s to come.

Not the most relaxing of leisure escapes, but maybe they’re enjoying getting to be in a position of authority with the nobles for once.

Captain Evando has joined us even though he’s going to be remaining at the palace—something it’s clear he isn’t pleased about, but Aurelia has insisted that he hold the last line of defense if any of the enemy threaten the city.

He sips his glass of wine slowly and watches the court from a spot by the wall.

Until Neven ventures over. He says something with a wave of his hand that looks a little aggressive to me, but the corner of Evando’s mouth ticks upward .

I pause to watch the two of them—my youngest foster brother who I’ve had to accept isn’t a kid anymore; the captain who, now that I’m thinking about it, only has a year or two on me as best as I can judge.

Neven’s eyes flash and his cheeks flush. He prods Evando’s chest in a way that looks awfully familiar—and that Evando doesn’t pull away from.

The captain simply laughs and grasps Neven’s shoulder with a squeeze that lasts a bit longer than seems merely friendly.

Whatever he says next, Neven appears to mellow out. He nods, a smile playing with his lips.

When he walks onward, I amble over beside him. “Your taste has shifted from musicians to the military, has it?”

The prince of Goric stiffens and spins toward me with a narrowing of his eyes. “If you’re going to make a fuss?—"

Guilt jabs through my stomach. I hold up my hands before he can go on. “No, nothing like that. I was only… making conversation. And trying to keep up with your life. Evando seems like a decent enough fellow.”

“More decent than previous musicians?” Neven mutters.

I wince. “I might have been overly disapproving of that situation. It’s your life. You should live it as you see fit. If you’re happy, then who am I to judge?”

Especially when my own love life has hardly been fit for public consumption until very recently.

Neven’s shoulders come down. He bumps one against mine. “It’s not as if I’m settling down any time soon. But… it’s nice to have good company when you can find it, isn’t it? Of all types, not just brotherly.”

His voice has gone a tad wry.

I have to smile. “I can’t argue with you there.”

And maybe I shouldn’t be depriving myself of the non-brotherly company I’ve earned now that I don’t have to .

My heart thumps faster, but I let myself weave through the crowded room toward the spot where Aurelia is cradling Coraya in her arms. She murmurs something to our daughter, who babbles cheerfully in return, drawing a laugh from the nobles clustered around them.

Her wooden toy hisses with the beads jostling together inside it.

At the sight of me approaching, a gleam more pleased than I’ve seen from her recently comes into my lover’s—my wife’s , I have to remind myself—eyes.

She beckons me closer and adjusts Coraya against her bosom.

“Prince Bastien, I think our imperial heir needs a change of scenery. How would you feel about entertaining her for a spell?”

The nobles glance over at me. My pulse outright stutters.

Will they realize I’m acting as more than just a substitute fatherly figure—that Coraya truly is my daughter, not Marclinus’s? Is it really safe to get this close to her?

I can’t deny the affection in Aurelia’s gaze. If I’m being honest, the desire to hold my daughter here before everyone, to finally be a real part of her life, overwhelms my fears too.

I accept our little girl carefully, bracing her against my chest so she can gaze at the room around us in her wide-eyed way. Coraya hiccups and then giggles, gripping the front of my shirt with her tiny fingers while she waves her toy with her other hand.

She’s so wonderfully, gorgeously alive. And so wonderfully, miraculously mine.

But no one else appears to suspect a thing. The nobles return to their conversations, focusing on the empress in their midst. Raul shoots me a quick smirk, but he smirks a lot, so no one would find that unusual.

And I hold and cluck my tongue at my daughter, accepted as part of the empress’s inner circle. As if I truly belong here .

We really succeeded. We won this victory, however long it’ll last before Valerisse might smash it to pieces.

Coraya looks like she could be Marclinus’s daughter, and that’s the story we’ve presented. So that’s all anyone sees.

As I grin down at my daughter, a deeper well of joy rises up inside me—and brings with it a flare of inspiration that stops me in my tracks.

Maybe the answers I’ve been searching for are right here in the family we’ve created.