Chapter 57 Ezra
The Diviners Court was exactly as I remembered it.
There was not a stone out of place. Though it felt different now.
It was as though a veil had been torn away, and I could see it for what it truly was.
Beneath pristine, sharply carved marble, glittering jewels, and gilded parties, there was rot.
This realm was decaying from within. It had always been this way, I suppose. Though it had not changed, I have.
I pulled my gaze from the carriage window and took a steadying breath.
The footman swung the door open. When I stepped from the carriage, it was an assault on the senses.
Lively chatter rang through the gardens.
Through the doorway a quartet played a solemn tune that did not seem to match the occasion.
Brightly colored dresses and feathered hairpieces adorned each and every lady.
The men stood proudly, boasting of their families’ wealth and power.
I found that I now preferred the quiet of the countryside.
For all the chaos of the rebellion, it was peaceful in a way this place never could be.
Liv poked her head out the door of the carriage and I offered her my hand.
She climbed out gracefully, every bit the lady she was born to be.
What the pompous people here could not see was that, beneath the shimmering midnight-blue ballgown scattered with silver jewels and crafted to resemble the night sky, there was a warrior.
I brushed my lips across her fingers as Rafael helped Helena down.
“You, Stellina, are not merely a star in the night sky. You are an entire fucking constellation, and the heavens and earth are both lucky to be blessed with your beauty.”
I held out my arm and Liv hooked hers in it. We glided through the entry as though we truly belonged there, despite neither of us wanting to. Rafael and Helena stayed close beside us and the ladies whispered to each other.
“Hook your arm in Raf’s. Like this.” Liv spoke out of the corner of her mouth while smiling at lords and ladies passing by.
A polite nod here, a hello there. Each followed with a snarky comment or jest to Helena about how they looked like animals at a circus, dressed up and put on parade.
Helena walked rather stiffly, and I could not help the chuckle at her discomfort in her gown.
“Stop walking as though you have been stung on the rear by a bee.”
Liv fussed with Helena’s skirts, trying to alleviate some of the awkwardness.
But it was not the dress, it was Helena.
We made our way to the refreshment table and kept to the walls, surveying the room to account for all enforcers and exits.
The plan was to sneak upstairs to the bed chambers for visiting lords.
If Stanhope valued this boy as an asset in this war, he would not want him to be kept far.
We were supposed to wait until the waltz and use it as a distraction.
But when the music started, a man approached Liv.
“Such a lovely lady should not be kept from the floor.”
He held out his hand and offered her a smile that curdled my stomach.
“May I?” The mask hid his face, but it could not hide his voice, or that sinister smile.
Stanhope. Liv recoiled and panic flooded her eyes.
“Oh, come, Lavinia. If I wanted you dead, you would be. Both of you. I see everything in my realm.”
His emphasis of ownership over Verith did not do what he hoped it had.
I remained stoic. “I knew you were here the moment you arrived at the gates. I let you in. Now, let us dance, unless you would prefer I alert the enforcers?”
Liv looked to me, and I nodded. The moment her hand touched his, my power coiled tight just beneath my skin.
I approached a lady standing on her own and led her to the floor.
We remained close as Stanhope pulled Liv with him about the room.
I could see the veins in my hands twisting black beneath my skin.
He was holding her too close. One hand wrapped tightly around hers, the other positioned too low on her waist.
I fought against the power writhing painfully within me as my shadows clawed for release.
I could not react now. This was Stanhope’s game, and if we wanted any chance of getting out of here, or saving that boy, we had to play it.
I felt a warmth spread through me as Liv pressed power through our soul bond, calming me.
An appreciative smile spread across my face when I caught her gaze.
“So if you knew it was us, why allow us in?” Lavinia was blunt and to the point.
“I have my own reasons, Miss Dawling.” They kept their voices low, and I strained to hear everything that was said.
“Tell me, Lavinia, what is the one thing that brings balance to every king’s reign?”
Liv did not answer him. I could tell she was growing tired of their proximity.
He leaned in close, dropping his face into the crook of her neck.
“A queen.” She pulled back and he held her in place.
“Shhh. You do not want to cause a scene, do you, my dear?”
She stopped struggling against him, but remained tense.
“If I am to rule Verith, to restore balance as it should be, I need a wife whose power is equal to mine to rule under me.”
The nightmares of that dreadful pink wedding rushed back into my mind.
Everything clouded with macabre images of Liv completely powerless, at the mercy of this tyrant.
Bile rose in my throat. “You would have a place in my court, in my kingdom, and in my bed,” he continued.
“You would support me as I restore Verith to its glory, to its balance. History would remember you as the woman behind the man who righted this realm.”
He leaned into her and breathed in deeply.
“I have always found you truly lovely, Lavinia, but now I can see that you are utterly intoxicating.”
I had thought his relentless pursuit was because he hated her, saw her as a threat to the power he was reaching for.
But it all made sense now. Every ambush, the thoughts in his mind that Helena described…
He saw her exactly as I did, a force to be reckoned with, a powerful woman capable of great and terrible things.
But he did not feel for her the way I did.
He did not want to stand at her side, to worship at her altar.
No, he sought to control her, to possess her.
This was not love, of that I was certain.
This was obsession. My dance partner yelped.
Only then did I realize the crushing hold I had on her hand.
I released her and apologized, and she ran from the floor.
The waltz came to an end, but he did not release Liv.
When the music began again, he spun her into another dance.
I sank back into the crowd against the wall and tried to get Helena and Raf’s attention.
He was distracted and completely enthralled with Liv.
Now would be their time to find his brother.