CHAPTER 65
The ballroom burned with curiosity, everyone waiting for the extra twenty witnesses, or the “Noble Knights,” as they were now being called, to join them.
Hollis and Quin held hands near the ballroom entrance, ignoring the excitement, far too enraptured with each other.
Not far away, Melizan and Cosette sipped strawberry mint mimosas, their little fingers hooked together, looking like the very picture of newlyweds.
Apparently, mimosas were the festive brunch choice for the morning gathering.
Bristol passed on them. Esmee had given her something for her stomach, and it worked, but she wasn’t ready to press her luck beyond the dry toast she had for breakfast. Not to mention, she didn’t want to be the least bit relaxed by a mimosa, not with Kasta hovering near the entrance to the ballroom.
Their gazes had met twice, and it hadn’t been pleasant. Bristol remained on alert.
“What do you think the big surprise is?” Rose asked. “Monsters?”
“I’m afraid twenty monsters wouldn’t impress Kormick,” Julia answered, sipping some nectar. “He has plenty of those already.”
“There he is,” Avery said. “I was beginning to wonder if the Knight Commander was going to make it at all. You know what a punctuality freak he is.”
Sashka tapped an imaginary watch on her wrist and laughed. “Five laps!”
Bristol glanced up. Tyghan and Eris walked through open ballroom doors that were immediately closed behind them by guards.
He was greeted by a few of his officers, and he stopped to speak to them.
The Knight Commander. The one who led thousands of troops.
I was the one covering his back . . . until you interfered.
How could she believe him? Why wouldn’t he just tell her? The same way you told me about Kasta? Their words warred in her head.
Tyghan stepped away and scanned the sea of faces in the ballroom, and his eyes landed on Bristol. After two seconds and no acknowledgment, he looked away and engaged Eris.
Bristol’s face burned.
Avery startled, thinking the flash of color on Bristol’s cheeks was because of her remark. “No insult intended, Bri. Really. I was only—”
“No—no—I know that. It was only a joke,” Bristol said, her voice a touch too breathless.
Julia hooked her arm through Bristol’s, claiming she needed to show her a piece of art on the other side of the ballroom, and dragged her a safe distance away. “What’s going on with you two?” she asked.
Julia waited while Bristol squirmed for a moment, hugging herself like it would keep everything trapped inside.
Julia wished they weren’t in a crowded ballroom.
She longed to draw Bristol into her arms and let her collapse, to carry her load for a while, because Julia had never seen any woman burdened with so much.
The future of twelve kingdoms rested on her shoulders in this world, and an orphaned family needed her in another.
“Can you see through me that easily, Julia?” Bristol finally asked.
“No. Not at all,” Julia answered softly, aching at the pain she saw in Bristol’s eyes.
“You’re an incredibly complicated and smart woman who excels at keeping things in check.
And you’re quite possibly the bravest one I’ve ever met, but don’t forget, you and I have a history of sharing, and I saw the signs in you the minute you walked through the doors of the ballroom.
You’re struggling with something. If it’s none of my business, just say so, but if you want to talk, I’m here. ”
Bristol’s heart tumbled, like everything inside her was coming loose. “You were right, Julia. About me and Tyghan. Our differences caught up with us.”
“You couldn’t talk them out?”
Her brows knitted together. “We tried at first, and he made some efforts. So did I. But after my encounter with my mother, and everything that happened with Glennis, we mostly stopped talking about my parents. It was easy to do, we were so busy with so many other things, and I knew it was difficult for him. Difficult for both of us. I assumed both of my parents were safe and off-limits, and he assumed something else.”
“Oh.” Julia rubbed her brow. “So things came to a head?”
Bristol nodded, like she didn’t trust her voice.
“Is it too late to talk things out now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Let me pose a better question: Do you want to talk things out?”
Bristol angled her head to the side, and Julia saw an impenetrable wall in her eyes. “He captured my father and imprisoned him, and then I blackmailed Kasta to get him back out. We’re on opposite sides of this issue, and we have been since the day we met. I’m not sure we can find a middle ground.”
Julia couldn’t hide her reaction. She whistled out a surprised breath. “Well, when you two do it, you do it up big.”
“Big in a bad way,” Bristol agreed.
So Kierus was captured again, Julia thought. She had known he wouldn’t take her advice about returning to the mortal world. He was not a man who gave up, even when facing insurmountable odds. It was a trait he had passed on to his daughter, and Julia admired him for that.
She eyed Bristol staring up at the ceiling, like she was studying the intricate floral designs, but she knew Bristol was only seeing the painful breach between her and Tyghan.
It was one time Julia wished she had been completely wrong, that the couple’s differences wouldn’t matter, that they would just miraculously disappear.
Sometimes it didn’t feel good to be right.
“Bri,” Julia said, drawing Bristol’s gaze back to hers. “From the beginning, the gods gave you two an impossible mountain to climb. It doesn’t mean you can’t do it, assuming you still have a common goal.”
“Don’t worry, Julia, nothing will get in the way of me stopping Kormick.
” Julia saw the steel return to Bristol’s eyes, the resolve she always managed to summon no matter how bad things were.
Julia had seen it on their first day of field training, when Bristol was pushed and tested harder than the others because of who she was.
It hadn’t deterred her. Bristol had hidden scars in her that made her tough, and yet she never abandoned her soft side.
It was the ballast that kept her on course.
“My goal hasn’t changed,” she continued.
“Kormick started something the day he took a broken girl from a forest and manipulated her for his own purposes, and I am going to finish what he started.” Her hazel eyes narrowed like she was already envisioning it.
“Trust me, I haven’t given up on Elphame just because of Tyghan.
My goals don’t revolve around him. He’s just one more man and relationship gone wrong, and I’ve had plenty of them. ”
And this was the hurting side of Bristol. The defensive side ready to tear apart the world. Julia stared at her, waiting for more, and Bristol blinked, glancing at the ceiling again as if she felt every heavy second.
“All right, he is not just one more man,” She admitted. “I say things when I’m angry, and so does he.”
Julia still waited.
Bristol sighed. “You are so damn good at this,” she grumbled, like Julia was forcing the words out of her. “Yes, I want to talk things out. Maybe. I don’t know.”
“Listening is what makes the talking part successful,” Julia replied. “It’s completely up to you. And him.”
“I suppose so,” she said, still resisting the thought.
“I want to help, Bri. You know that. I can step in if you need me to. You only have to say the word.”
Bristol’s gaze settled on Julia’s. She nodded. “You’re helping now, Julia. You’re listening. Thank you.”
“Always here for that,” Julia said. She was about to venture a hug, even in the crowded ballroom, when her eyes darted past Bristol’s shoulder. “Okay, he’s walking over.”
“Tyghan?”
“Yes.”
There he was again, almost instantly, a wall of heat burning her back.
“Kasta’s about to announce the parley,” he said.
“Officers and commanders are lining up in formation. Two lines. We should be standing together as they enter.” An intense sadness inched up her throat at the cool distance in his voice.
She swallowed and turned to face him. “Appearances. Of course.”
They walked elbow to elbow across the room. “Esmee gave you something for your stomach?” he asked.
“Don’t worry, I won’t be delaying any proceedings.”
“Did I say I was worried?” he replied. “Smile. People are watching.”
“Touché, Your Royal Assness,” she mumbled, but he pretended he didn’t hear.
As soon as they took their places in line, Kasta announced, “And now I’d like to introduce you to the new premier nobles of the Danu court.
” The ballroom doors opened, and the twenty new witnesses flooded in like concertgoers rushing for seats.
They circled in the center of the room, fae of all sorts, elven, ogre, spriggan, and Tuatha de, becoming an elegant whirlwind of tailcoats, bright buttons, swishing satin, colorful capes, and feathered hats.
The laughter and chatter of the dazzling storm of nobles filled the air, until all of them settled at the other end of the room, except for one—a flamboyant Tuatha de dressed in a richly embroidered crimson coat.
His long black hair fell in waves around his face.
He stepped up to Bristol and lifted her hand.
“Lord Dowly,” he said, nodding. “Dance, my lady?” She reminded herself that this was a dry run, a parley of knights disguised as nobles, but it all felt very real.
Her heart skipped, uneasy at the charade, but she stepped forward, and he led her to the middle of the room.
A fiddle played somewhere in the crowd, and the dance began, a strange unknown one, halfway between a minuet and a jitterbug.
Not knowing the steps, Bristol mostly stood still as he danced around her, but he occasionally grabbed her hand and gave her a spin.
On one of those turns, she saw Tyghan, his eyes cold steel, glued on her.
Lord Dowly laughed and chatted with her, so everyone could hear—just like a tipsy noble.
“It’s the latest dance in Eideris,” he exclaimed, “at least according to my tailor. Dashing, isn’t it?
” And then he swung her into his arms, holding her snug for a long beat like he was trying to create a lasting picture, a story that would leave a mark.
The music stopped, every eye fixed on them—especially Tyghan’s—and then the enthusiastic noble released her.
He stepped back and bowed deeply. “Officer Reve Perry at your service, madame.” Several of those present gasped, finally recognizing him.
His demeanor changed from an excited noble to serious officer.
He turned to the audience and bowed again.
“And at the service of the Danu Nation.” Kasta read off his service record and special skills, including his exceptional kinship with air and sounds.
As soon as Bristol returned to Tyghan’s side, another knight broke free from the group, her flamboyant leafy gown trailing behind her as she descended on Avery and pulled her to the middle of the room.
“Pleased to make your acquaintance. Lady Beechwood of Crown House,” she said, patting Avery’s hand as they circled the room.
“Surely you’ve heard of the Beechwoods?” She fluffed her spriggan crown of leaves and moss and sighed dramatically.
“Isn’t it a chore to keep our ferns looking their best this time of year?
But I do have a few secrets. I’d be happy to share with you.
Do you have a moment?” She chattered mindlessly at the speechless Avery, the crowd tittering, until she stopped and bowed, introducing herself as third-year knight Sage Jarvis.
“At your service, madame, and to all the damn court.” There were more laughs, until Kasta read her extensive skills—and kills.
And so it went, witness by witness, knight by knight, as they made themselves known to everyone in the Winterwood ballroom, their names, personalities, and skills indelibly stamped in everyone’s memories like they had always known them.
Walk-ons in a play, Bristol thought. Each was an archetype—the show-off, the chatterbox, the empath, the wide-eyed ingenue, the know-it-all, the optimist, and more.
A brilliantly selected team. They understood their mission: to flatter, infatuate, beguile Kormick, catch him off guard just long enough to give the Elphame troops the edge they needed to move in.
The room broke into applause, including Tyghan. “I’m convinced,” he said. “Well done.”
“We’ll be covering all the logistics shortly,” Kasta said, “but for now, spend some time getting to know your fellow knights as they will appear at the parley—and memorize their noble names and histories. Kormick will test you.”
Memorization was Bristol’s strong suit—her parents used to make her and her sisters memorize the plays of Shakespeare as part of their studies—so she already knew all the names by heart, but when the two lines broke formation and she started to walk over to the chatterbox and the optimist, Tyghan grabbed her arm.
“We need to talk. Privately,” he said and pulled her toward the door.
“You’re making a scene,” she whispered, but as soon as they were out the door, he stopped short, noting the guards milling in the hallway. And then he was pulling her tight against his chest and they were nightjumping, but this time his lips were not on hers and she felt none of his warmth.