Chapter Nineteen #2
“You said your brother was the head of court in your country. What was his name again?”
My lips pursed into a thin line. I hadn’t mentioned his name and I didn’t care to, but the enchantment had extended to his name as well, covering any of the Kallistar names. “Desmiondo de Ellen Allamark Kallistar.”
His name rolled off my tongue in a quick recitation. I couldn’t remember the last time I had spoken one of my family members’ full names aloud.
“Ah,” he said, eyes flitting about the ballroom. “I couldn’t recall it. I thought I might ask around, see if I could find someone who is acquainted with him.”
The last thing I needed was for this prince to be digging around.
I shrugged. “You can check, but I doubt you will be successful. We are rarely graced by the presence of ambassadors, and my brother has never ventured beyond our country’s borders.”
He nodded as if confirming something to himself.
Nadiyah sauntered away from Athello, and I didn’t like the sour look on his uncle’s face.
“Would you mind if we got something to drink for a moment?” I asked.
I needed to ensure his uncle downed the glass. Everything would happen quickly after that. Something flit across Valeris’s face before he agreed, dropping his hand from mine and leading me off the dance floor. He steered me toward the fountains of drinks, but I pivoted to the right.
“Oh, is that your uncle there? Perhaps we should say hello. Give the audience more of a show?”
He threw me a suspicious glance but altered his stride, following behind me as I grabbed a glass of punch from a passing tray.
“Uncle.” Valeris dipped his head in greeting, grabbing a glass for himself as well.
“Valeris.” Athello’s eyes passed over me, lingering on my face once again.
I forced a smile to my lips. “Lord Athello,” I said. “What a pleasure to see you here this evening.”
The fake politeness in my voice made me want to vomit. I hated catering to pompous nobles and couldn’t wait to be done with this nasty business. All I needed was for him to drink from the glass, and this could be over in minutes.
His uncle dipped his head in acknowledgment, but no friendliness radiated from him.
He knew, or suspected me of something. It took everything in me not to physically force the contents of the glass down his throat myself.
I waited for him to drink, but he didn’t, and the level of the liquid indicated he hadn’t touched it yet.
It wouldn’t kill him, just disorient him enough to allow us to ghost him away before it fully knocked him out.
I let out a slow breath, fingers twitching at my side.
I took a sip of my drink and then lifted it. “A toast to you, Valeris, and for the solving of our many riddles.”
Valeris sighed and lifted his glass, chugging the liquid down.
His uncle didn’t move.
Sweat broke out across my brow, and I hesitated. Why wasn’t he drinking?
I bit the inside of my cheek.
Athello finally grunted and brought the glass to his lips, tipping it back. I watched him from the corner of my eye, triumph bubbling within me as I took another sip, but I almost choked on it.
He didn’t drink.
Right before the liquid touched his lips, he froze, tilting the glass back down.
He stared at it, a strange expression on his face.
And then he sniffed.
I felt the color drain from my skin as my heartbeat slowed.
The lines of his face hardened as he set the glass back on the table.
No.
My hands grew slick with sweat, my fingers shaking.
It was undetectable.
No color.
No odor.
Yet he knew it had been tampered with. My mind raced, trying to think of a way to get the cup from him without drawing attention. He couldn’t be allowed to examine the contents of the glass. If anyone figured out what ingredients were used, they could trace it back to—
Athello searched the room. He would know. Nadiyah was the only one who had spoken to him, who had been close enough to tamper with it. He would know it was her.
A servant passed with a tray of glasses, and I stuck my foot in front of his path.
The servant tipped forward, stumbling into me, which sent me into Athello, who crashed into the table.
The sound of shattering glass and crashing furniture gathered the ballroom’s attention.
Even the musicians hesitated in their song to seek out the commotion.
Spilled wine and punch soaked the front of my skirt, but the only liquid I cared about was now splattered on the floor amid twenty other shattered glasses.
Valeris pulled his uncle to his feet then jumped back, trying to get out of the way while the servant paled and apologized profusely as he gathered the broken pieces of glass. Valeris pulled the servant away, telling him not to worry about it and to get help from the kitchens.
Athello dusted off his jacket, taking note of the shattered glasses on the floor. I watched him realize he could no longer determine which one had been his.
“I’m going to have to go deal with this before it stains,” I said, seeking a chance to excuse myself, but neither one of them was listening to me.
Athello caught the prince’s shoulder. “What a mess. I’m afraid we need to speak to Lord Curbington about this, Valeris.”
He froze as if his uncle had threatened him, but then he nodded, throwing me an apologetic look. “Go take care of yourself. You’ll have to excuse me.”
Valeris glanced around as if looking for an enemy before they both vanished into the crowd. Fear raced through me as I suspected what his uncle’s strange words and his nephew’s response had meant.
It was a code.
And an important one to make someone like Valeris freeze.
My eyes roved the ballroom, searching for Nadiyah’s face.
I found her, caught in the clutches of King Zaricor.
My insides twisted, my fingers itching to touch one of my daggers.
He showed far too much interest in her. Anger burned within me as I pushed my way through the crowd, dancers scattering around me at the sight of my stained dress.
Queen Cadaren sat beside him, uncaring about Nadiyah’s presence as she entertained the noble to the right of her.
They were a matched pair. Desmond had said the queen had flirted with our brother, Josef, on more than one occasion at the last Paravellian Balls, vying for his attention.
I gripped Nadiyah’s arm and interrupted her and King Zaricor’s conversation.
“Oh, darling, this is such a mess, could you please help me?” I slurred my speech to appear drunk and ease the protocol I was breaking. Zaricor’s grip tightened on her arm and it took everything in me to not attack him right there. The man responsible for so much, right here within my grasp.
But now was not the time. I couldn’t guarantee our safety.
“Oh, do be a gem,” I crooned.
Nadiyah extricated herself from the king and pretended to guide me out of the ballroom while I stumbled beside her. Once in the outer hallway, I made sure no one was watching and yanked her into an alcove.
“Analleia,” she said, “what happened to your—”
“You need to get out of here right now.”
Her eyebrows drew together in confusion. “What’s going—”
“He knows you spiked the drink, Nadiyah.”
She shook her head. “No, that’s impossible. Like I said, it’s—”
“It’s colorless and odorless. Yes, I know.
I don’t know how, but he knew it had been altered.
He lifted it to his lips, but he stopped.
And he sniffed the contents and set it back down with anger on his face.
He knew, Nadiyah. And he knows something is not right about me.
I don’t know how, but he knows. And you were the only one near his drink.
You need to go. Now—before it’s too late. ”
Fear and determination flared in Nadiyah’s eyes before she fled, alert for any sign of soldiers.
I wanted to help her leave, but I had already risked too much by approaching her in the ballroom.
I lurked in the shadows, watching to make sure she made it out the front doors of the palace.
Once she reached the courtyard, it would be easy for her to disappear into the night.
She knew how to hide, and it would be difficult to find her in the city.
It would be nothing for her to get outside the walls without being noticed.
Only a few more steps.
I let out a long breath as her form grew smaller. Ten feet, six, three.
A shout came from farther up the hall and guards rounded the corner, ordering the sentries to bar the exit.
No. No. No.
The doors slammed shut before Nadiyah, trapping her inside.
I shrank back, watching in horror as she tried to sidestep around the guards, but they surrounded her, their spears holding her in a circle. Terror screamed through me as she was forced to the ground, her hands locked in chains, the skirts of her dress smashed beneath the guards’ boots.
I wanted to run to her, to force the guards away from her, but I couldn’t. All I could do was watch with utter helplessness. Not Nadiyah.
I covered my mouth to silence my cry, tears pricking at the corners of my vision.
Tampering with one of the royal family member’s drinks was treason.
And the punishment for treason was death.