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Chapter forty-eight

Nerys

W hat did one wear to a seduction dinner with royalty?

Layers. Lots of layers. She was in a different white satin dress, this one embroidered with little silver eyes along the hems, with a silver lace accenting her low-cut neckline, and pearls.

With her complexion, the effect was positively ethereal.

How did one enter a seduction dinner? With a mask of faux indifference.

When it was time, Nerys entered the R?ll’s apartments two steps behind Adelyna, suddenly aware she was in the royal family’s inner sanctum.

“Don’t worry, Callidora,” Adelyna said, likely noticing the overwhelming awe in her expression. “This is just a dinner.”

“Of course, Lady.” Right—this was just the consumption of food in the midst of other people also consuming food. Not a desperate attempt to get the R?ll’s attention to ultimately murder him. Nope, not at all…

What did Adelyna’s family think about Nerys’s meteoric rise as a High Maid? Did they care? 209

After looking around the room—Yitz’mal Aherin and his attendant had already arrived—Nerys realized just how similar the décor in the R?ll’s apartments was to Adelyna’s.

Whoever painted the muscular men and half-naked pastoral women in Adelyna’s rooms must have done the R?ll’s as well.

Though the R?ll’s chambers had suits of armor displayed, complete with skeletons inside.

Whether they were the armors’ owners, conquered enemies, or just some purchased bodies, Nerys couldn’t venture to guess.

After a round of polite greetings—and the tedious round of obeisance that took place when the R?ll arrived—Nerys took her place sitting at Adelyna’s left, mindful that her primary role was to ensure that her mistress had everything she needed.

A royal couldn’t scoop her own food—no, that was Nerys’s job, as palace servants didn’t have the rank necessary to butter Adelyna’s biscuits.

Nerys was also responsible for taking away used dishes and passing them to the waiting staff, disposing of Adelyna’s soiled napkins, and refilling empty cups.

Why would anyone want this role? The royal food was only marginally better than what she ate as Qiana’s ward, and the interruptions far more constant. Not worth the hassle.

“That’s enough,” Adelyna said softly with a smile once Nerys heaped a third serving of buttered and milked potatoes onto Adelyna’s plate.

“Make sure you leave some for yourself.” Two courses into the meal and this dinner was already one of the dullest of Nerys’s life—how could a family talk about taxes so much?

Forget that—how could a family intent on murdering each other talk about taxes so much?

“You never brought this one around before,” Aherin said as he cut his meat into little slivers. He nodded in Nerys’s direction. “Your High Maid. She’s new?”

“She’s only been in this role for a few days.” Adelyna sipped her wine. “I wanted to let her get acquainted with her role before I made her deal with you.”

“Aherin has a point,” the R?ll said, giving Nerys a closer look like inspecting an overpriced piece of art.

“You should’ve brought her to us sooner.

” She had been at court for several weeks.

That they hadn’t met again after the first time was the albino toad’s fault.

The R?ll’s own attendant kept eating, ignoring their conversation.

“Since when do you want a personal introduction to my High Maids?” Adelyna asked, her voice teasing. “Besides, you met her already, Lord.”

“When?”

“She’s the one who saved my life. Remember?”

Aherin laughed. “He doesn’t remember much these days.” Not surprising—planning massacres of citizens and fucking half the court were distractions that tended to leave gaps in one’s memory. Probably.

The R?ll narrowed his eyes at Aherin. “Perhaps, but I do remember that your estate near Finnis has failed to turn a profit for a second year. Would you rather discuss that ?” The words were harsh, but the smirk betrayed the R?ll’s subdued amusement.

Would he smirk like that, right before she killed him? She could only hope.

“Aherin’s right, Father,” Adelyna interrupted, “you have much to occupy you. Besides, what would you need to meet my new High Maid for? You have three other distractions now. Comely ones, too.”

“Boring, you mean,” Aherin said, giving Nerys a wink .

Nerys tried to keep her face as pleasant as possible as the conversation turned from strange to damned uncomfortable. Were these dinners always like this? 210

“Come now, Adelyna,” the R?ll said. Adelyna had apparently goaded him enough. “You know I’m never that distracted. Especially since having the same view each night grows…dull. There’s three of them, but it’s three variations of the same.”

“Don’t bother trying, Father,” Aherin said. “Adelyna has probably already marked this one for herself. With Nerine gone, it makes sense that she’s lonely.”

Adelyna stiffened. The conversation paused, and Nerys decided that the dinner roll on her plate was suddenly very interesting. Adelyna’s sordid tales about her younger brother now made sense. He was a prick.

“She’s not mine—yet,” Adelyna said, smirking and not taking her brother’s bait. Wait. Yet ?

Nerys’s dinner roll was suddenly very fascinating indeed.

“And she’s so shy,” Aherin said. “I can help with that. Wouldn’t you like that?

” Nerys bit her lip. Play coy , Adelyna had said when they were in her rooms. They talk like they want to be teased and goaded, but they don’t.

Let me handle them. If we get lucky, my brother will call attention to you himself.

He likes new things, and he always makes Father more interested… Yes, yes, I know that’s disgusting.

“How about we discuss anything other than my High Maid?” Adelyna asked. “At this rate she’ll be back in the country before the end of the week.”

“No,” the R?ll said, “not before I’ve had a chance to get to know her better.” He again narrowed his eyes at Aherin, the warning plain.

“I won’t be the one standing in your way,” Adelyna said.

Nerys should’ve been relieved that it seemed the R?ll might want her, but there wasn’t enough money in the world to make it worth poking the skin of that stale pastry. How did court women do this?

Revenge. She needed to keep thinking about the revenge. Vine’s flapping skin. Bunions. Anything but that. Anything but the R?ll. Naked.

“I wouldn’t think of it,” the R?ll said, nibbling on a slice of roast with relish. “She’s in your household.”

Adelyna went silent. Could Adelyna rebut him? Argue that he could help himself to Nerys as much as he wanted?

Oh, no.

If Adelyna pushed the issue, then the royals might get suspicious as to why the Kor’yitz wanted her High Maid with the R?ll so badly. Nerys looked to Adelyna for a cue. Nothing. Not that the Kor’Yitz could do anything, with Aherin watching them.

Nerys had to act.

“The Kor’yitz does not command me entirely, Highest,” Nerys said before she could think twice. “I serve the R?ll before all else.”

“Is that so?” the R?ll said, an eyebrow raising.

Adelyna glared. Hopefully Adelyna wasn’t really mad. Adelyna couldn’t push for the R?ll, but Nerys—a greedy High Maid—most certainly could.

Aherin chuckled at that, and Adelyna turned her ire on him. “Your bride is arriving in a couple weeks, is she not, Aherin?” Adelyna asked. “I hear she has skin like a raw plucked chicken.”

“She does not,” Aherin said. “I made sure of it.”

That was the end of the matter—the conversation then shifted to the Aherin’s upcoming wedding. Though the R?ll gave Nerys lingering glaces all through the rest of the dinner, ones that made her stomach curl.

Was it enough? Or did Nerys’s outburst ruin their last chance?

Nerys survived the royal dinner, with most of her dignity intact.

Afterwards, Adelyna dismissed Nerys early to give her a chance to rest, making her other High Maids be the ones to go through the ceremony of putting her to sleep.

Well, more like gussying her up like a bride and ceremonially blowing out the candles as a show for the court before Adelyna dressed and slipped out once more to enjoy her evening.

Nerys was more than happy to leave. She’d had quite enough of court for the night—she’d be thrilled if she never had to see a courtier again.

Exhausted, she returned to Qiana’s rooms—Qiana had already retired—and washed and put on her nightclothes.

She was about to go to sleep when she heard movement in the main sitting room, and a few moments later a knock sounded at her door.

Frowning, Nerys opened it, revealing one of Qiana’s maids holding a white envelope.

Nerys took it and sent the curious servant on her way with a gentle wave .

For a second Nerys inspected the paper. Plain, but well made. Too plain, considering. The navy-blue wax seal was nothing but a circular blob. Curiouser and curiouser.

A familiar chill and shadow crawled over her and Nerys called her stone eyes.

“Well?” Vine asked, sitting cross legged on her bed, soaking blood into her bedding. “Aren’t you going to open it?”

“What makes you think I’m going to tell you what’s inside?”

“Oh, come now. We both know better.” Vine grinned, adjusting the skin on his body like moving a puzzle piece into place.

“Fine.” Nerys opened the letter. Nothing was on it but a date, a time, and a location, written in plain script. Late in the evening, for the night after the next, and a place near the rooms the R?ll used for affairs.

Clandestine affairs.

She did it. She actually did it. A smile broke and her hand covered her mouth as she stared at the paper, as if the words would disappear and the whole thing was nothing but a dream.

“The suspense is killing me.”

Nerys tossed the letter at the demon, making him snatch it midair while she danced. She was too excited to pay much attention to how Vine had managed to interact with the physical world. Again.

She would kill the R?ll. Avenge Adilette. Be with Idris.

Idris…

As Vine read the letter, a disturbing smile emerged. “So, you got what you wanted after all. Lucky, lucky you.” 211