“We just do so well together,” he says at last. “You have a mind for scheming better than any of my councilors. You’ve proven yourself time and again as an invaluable ally. Simply put, you’re brilliant.
“I enjoy myself whenever I’m in your presence. Even if we’re quarreling over something. I enjoy our trips away from the palace. Being in disguise, going on adventures—it’s more fun than I’ve had in years. I’ve been so lonely lately, but ever since you’ve arrived, I’ve been … happy.
“But this isn’t just about me. It’s about you, too, and I’ve been trying to think of what this arrangement could offer you. We’ve already talked about the invitations to parties and balls. I promise to start attending with you. I want you to join me in all of my meetings—”
That has me looking away from the walls instantly.
Seeing that he has my full attention now, he continues, “I want you by my side, helping me make decisions for the kingdom. I want you to help me conquer the last three kingdoms in this vast world. I want you to be my equal, Alessandra. My queen. You would have power. A guard of your own. We would talk before making decisions. We would get the council off my back once and for all, and you would be free from your family. You’d of course have access to the treasury and the kingdom’s funds. You wouldn’t be without your own means.”
Equal power. Rule the kingdom … with him?
That means—
I wouldn’t have to kill him. He’ll give me everything I want, and I won’t have to get rid of him. My friend and companion.
But what about … more?
I swallow. “You want me to be your queen. But in name only. Is that right?”
Kallias loses his voice as he searches my face for something. “That’s right. We would be married. So it would be official. But you’ll keep your quarters, and I’ll keep mine. No one would ever need know we don’t consummate the marriage. Very few know the reason why I can’t touch people. Most won’t be able to tell whether we’re intimate.”
This is it. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted. He’s offering me the world.
He’s just not offering me himself with it.
When did I start to want that?
A rough knock raps on the door.
“Go away!” Kallias says, never taking his eyes from me.
“Begging your pardon, Your Majesty”—I recognize Epaphras, the appointment keeper, as the owner of the voice on the other side of the door—“but you wished to be informed immediately if Baron Drivas came to the palace. He was quite forceful, and the guards had to restrain him. He’s also accompanied by a constable.”
My breath leaves me at the knowledge that Hektor’s father is in the palace.
Kallias turns to me. “Why would the baron bring a constable into the matter of trying to get you to marry one of his sons? Did you sign some sort of contract with him?”
I swallow. “No, I didn’t.”
“This is ridiculous,” he says to himself. “Epaphras, have the guards send them up. Let’s deal with this immediately.”
“Of course, sire.”
I feel my stomach sink beneath the floorboards. “Must we?”
“You don’t have to remain here. I can scare off the baron on my own, but this harassment of you is ridiculous. I should have dealt with it the moment you brought it to my attention.”
“I’ll stay,” I say feebly, thinking of no way to delay this moment. Or to get out of it. I should have quickly said I’d marry Kallias, though I don’t know that that would have offered me any more protection for what’s about to happen.
The door opens minutes later. The guards surround two figures. One, I recognize as Faustus Galanis, Hektor’s father. The woman with him must be the previously mentioned constable.
“Your Majesty,” Faustus says. “At last! I’ve been attempting—”
“You will not speak until I allow it,” Kallias says with all the authority of a king. “Who are you?” he asks, turning to the woman.
“Constable Damali Hallas, Your Majesty.”
“And what is your purpose in being here?”
“Baron Drivas hired me to look into the disappearance of his youngest son, Hektor.”
Kallias doesn’t turn his head, but he glances to me briefly out of the corner of his eyes. “Disappearance?”
“So it was when we started the investigation, Your Majesty, but we now know the young nobleman was murdered.”
CHAPTER
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My stomach drops once more, but I allow nothing but surprise to flit across my face. “Hektor’s dead?” I ask.
I note that Constable Hallas watches my face with a perceptive eye. Looking for any tells. She’s a woman with hard features. A slightly too large nose, eyes too close together, a square chin. She has her ebony hair swept out of her face in a neat bun.
“For several years, I’m told,” she says. “Some days ago, his body was discovered in the Undatia Forest. Apparently there have been a series of mudslides in the area. A couple of horsemen found and reported the body.”
“Hold on a moment,” Kallias says. “Who is this Hektor?” He directs the question to me, and I understand the true meaning: Who is this man to you?
“My first lover,” I answer.
“And his murderer!” the baron flings at me.
“One more word out of you, Drivas,” Kallias says, “and I will have you sent to the dungeons.”
The guards surrounding him step inward, ready to pounce on the baron should the need arise.
“Your Majesty,” the constable says, “with your permission, I have some questions for Lady Stathos.”
Kallias turns to me. Defers to me.
How would it look if I sent them away without a word? No, I must appear innocent.
“I will answer her questions.”
The constable steps forward. “Do you admit, then, to having a relationship with the deceased?”
“Yes, we were intimate, but not for years now. What happened to Hektor?”
“There was naught left of him but bones by this point.”
A sob breaks out of the baron, but he doesn’t say a word to accompany it.
“We identified him by the family crest he wore on his finger,” the constable continues. “I had the remains examined yesterday. One of the ribs was nicked. Definitely points to a knife wound. I’m told you carry a knife on your person at all times.”
I startle backward, as though affronted. “You’re not seriously suggesting I killed him? And who told you I carry a knife?”
“Your sister.” Hallas pulls a notebook from her pocket and glances through it. “A Chrysantha Stathos.”
“Yes, I know my sister’s name,” I say bitterly. Chrysantha. The bane of my existence. Why won’t she just die in a hole? “Many people carry knives. Why should that matter?”
“That alone doesn’t, but the remains of a wooden chest were found with him. And one of the planks bore the initials AS. Those are your initials, are they not?” Hallas asks the question like she’s done every single other one. Coolly, unemotionally, as though she really couldn’t care about the answer. Even though she already knows the answers to all of them.
I dare a glance at Kallias. He’s looking me over with the most peculiar expression. One I cannot place. As though he’s seeing me anew.
He can’t believe her!
I lose the strength in my legs and topple slightly. Kallias is there, though, holding me up.
“Surely plenty of people in the kingdom have the initials AS,” Kallias offers.
“Perhaps,” Hallas says. “But not all of them also had a relationship with the deceased. Who ended that relationship, Lady Stathos? It was Hektor, was it not? He broke your heart, and you retaliated by stabbing him, locking him in a chest, and then burying him in the forest.”
Oh gods.
“You’re speculating,” I spit back. “There is no proof that Hektor ended the relationship or that I had any cause at all to harm him.”
<
br /> “Perhaps not yet, but I will find it. I’ve already spoken to the staff of your father’s estate. I’m told you certainly would have had the ability and the means to get Hektor’s body out of the estate unseen. You frequently snuck out at night unnoticed, only to return well past noon the following day. And I would like to request the king’s permission to seize the knife on your person to compare it to the nick in the deceased’s ribs.”
I keep my gaze cool and collected as I turn toward Kallias, deferring to him this time.
Please read my calmness as innocence.
I haven’t lost everything yet. Hektor will not come back to ruin me one last time. I am this close to becoming queen.
“Constable,” Kallias says with a calmness that scares me, “you and the baron will excuse us. I appreciate you bringing this matter to my attention. As Lady Stathos is a member of my court, I will handle the investigation from here and get to the bottom of it.”
The baron looks as though he has much more he wishes to say, but wanting to remain in good standing with the king, he allows the guards to escort him and the constable away.
Epaphras follows them out, closing the door behind himself. I manage to walk to the nearest armchair and fall into it. Waiting.
Waiting. Waiting.
Kallias is going to explode on me at any moment. He’ll have me thrown into prison until he decides on the proper day and manner for killing me. He’ll—
Kallias laughs so loudly and abruptly, I nearly topple out of the armchair. He has his hands on his knees while his whole body shakes from the force of the laughter. What the devils?
Did I break the king?
He manages to straighten after a moment and look over at me, but then his face contorts and he’s back to uncontrollable laughter.
I feel my limbs grow tight, my face grow hot, anger pooling into every muscle.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I snap, shouting over the top of his laughter. He wasn’t even this bad when he read Orrin’s love letter.
He says something I can’t quite make out, then rubs tears from his eyes and tries again. “You killed him!” He throws his head back and laughs and laughs.
And somehow, I know that I’m not in trouble. How can I be if he’s this jovial over the fact?
I could deny it. Plead on my behalf. But Kallias isn’t stupid. Though the constable doesn’t have enough evidence to convict me, Kallias knows the truth of it.
“I’ve an inclination to kill again,” I say, glaring at him.
Kallias props himself up on the nearest wall of books, catching his breath. Once he’s calm, he strides over to me and places his gloved hands on either side of my head.
“My little hellion. Quite the force to be reckoned with, aren’t you? Oh, say you’ll marry me, Alessandra!”
I swallow, thoroughly confused. “You’re not going to hang me?”
“Hang you?” he repeats, letting his hands fall to his sides. “The man did you wrong, Alessandra. Honestly, you’ve saved me the trouble of tracking him down and killing him myself.”
“But—”
“I pardon you,” he says simply.
I blink. “Just like that?”
“Just like that. Anything for my friend.”
I don’t know that I’ve ever hated that word more than when it comes out of Kallias’s mouth.
“Will you marry me?” he repeats, easily turning back to our previous conversation.
“What will happen if I say no?”
“You’re still pardoned, if that’s what you’re worried about. I would never blackmail you into marriage! You’ll be free to remain at the palace as long as you wish or to go.” His face drops a little. “But I would be … most saddened if you left.”
I think for a moment, but Kallias can’t bear the silence.
“I need you, Alessandra. Say you’ll be mine and I’ll be yours.”
He needs me. But he doesn’t want me. He’s giving me power. Everything I could ever want.
Why is this a hard decision?
Finally, I say, “I want a proper proposal. A public one.” I cross my arms over my chest. “And no more laughing at me over Hektor Galanis. In fact, I never want to hear his name again.”
Kallias grabs my gloved hand and kisses it. “Done. Now, let’s discuss what you’ve done so far for the upcoming ball. Don’t you think it will be the perfect opportunity for a proper and public proposal?”
* * *
I’M MARRYING THE KING.
The crimes of my past are forgiven.
I’ll be free of my family once and for all. I can banish them from court forever!
But there is a killer out there. Someone who wants to take Kallias and this future from me.
I will not let that happen.
I realize that Kallias and I have perhaps been troubling over the wrong thing. The talk of a public parade through the streets had us worried, but I realize now that my ball is both sooner and just as public.
That will be when the killer strikes. I’m sure of it.
I share my concerns with Kallias while I sit in my rooms, working on my dress for the ball a couple of weeks later.
“I thought of that as well,” he answers. “We’ll double down on the guards. Check all the guests for weapons before they’re admitted into the ballroom.”
“Just what is the range on your abilities?” I ask him. “What is the farthest away the murderer need be to cancel your shadows?”
Kallias shrugs.
“You’ve never tested it?”
“Of course I have. I just don’t want to worry you.”
At my responding glare, he answers, “Fifty yards.”
“That’s all!” A talented marksman could manage that easily.
“I’ll be safe, Alessandra. We’ll be safe. It will be all right.”
“I’d feel better if none of your council members were admitted.”
“I would as well, but we can’t very well uninvite them. Now stop fretting. Come show me what you’re working on.”
“No,” I say. “I’d rather you see it on me when it’s all done.”
“That’s quite a lot of fabric,” he says sadly.
“Oh, hush.”
CHAPTER
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Potted roses line the entrances to the ballroom. They form a mazelike path to the refreshment table, before opening up in the center of the room to allow plenty of space for the dancing. Every member of the orchestra wears a black rose—the men in their breast pockets, the ladies in their hair—in honor of the late queen.
I had the ballroom painted, so it looks like ivy climbs up the columns. Green rugs line the floors, perfectly imitating grass. Rose petals have been sprinkled over the ground, giving off a soft fragrance.
It took several manservants and long ladders, but we also managed to dangle bouquets of roses from the ceiling. An occasional petal will fall, raining the floor with even more. I ordered tapestries to go along the walls, making them appear as though the edges of a garden rest all around us.
The electric chandeliers shine brightly. I wanted everything well lit. Not only to give the illusion of noonday in the garden, but so that any treachery or deceit would be impossible to hide behind shadows.
No one is killing my king tonight.
Guests have already started to pour in, though the ball doesn’t officially start for another ten minutes. I can see everything from above, where I wait on the staircase, overlooking my arrangements. As it is my ball, I get to make a grand entrance, so I bide my time waiting until the right moment.
Really, I’m just waiting for Kallias to show up. I wouldn’t want him to miss seeing me in my new dress.
I’ve outdone myself.
Overall, the dress is a light yellow. Every few inches, the fabric folds over itself as it moves upward, to give the shape of a rose’s overlapping petals. I’ve stained the tip of each fold a bright red orange to match the fine roses found in the queen’s garden. Normally I’m not ov
erly fond of the color orange, but the queen’s roses (and my dress by design) are simply divine. I wear a hoopskirt beneath the layers of silk, but the bodice is fitted, the top sleeveless, and my matching yellow gloves are dotted orange at my fingertips.
I’ve pinned my hair to one side, so it falls down my left shoulder, leaving my neck bare on the right side. I’ve curled the strands so they fall in perfect ringlets, a black wonder over the light fabric.
When Kallias does finally arrive, he doesn’t have himself announced. Rather, he tries to enter quietly, going right for the throne on the dais. Having seen the fabric I was using to make my dress, he wears a matching yellow waistcoat—so light it could be mistaken for white. It looks remarkable against his bronze skin.
As soon as he is seated, I give the herald orders to announce me.
“Our hostess, Lady Alessandra Stathos, second daughter to the Earl of Masis.”
I hold up my dress in both hands and let a light smile grace my features as I descend the stairs.
All heads turn in my direction.
And I know it’s not just my stunning gown that causes their chattering. I’m the girl who caught the eye of the king. The girl who has the council following her strategies. The girl who saved the king from an assassination attack.
I’ve worked up quite a reputation indeed.
And tonight, Kallias will propose and shock everyone.
He watches me now, as I take each careful step. The dress is wide enough to allow my legs plenty of movement, but the floor-length hem and heeled boots make tripping an easy feat.
Yet I keep my eyes on him.
With that heated gaze on me, I can see just how much Kallias wants me. It is no longer a question of attraction between us. It is a matter of keeping himself safe from attack. We have a good arrangement. We’ll both have what we want after tonight. He’ll have a queen to help him manage and balance the council. He’ll have someone on his side whom he trusts. The only person he trusts.
And in return I get power. The power to rule a kingdom at Kallias’s side once he turns twenty-one. It’ll only be another seventeen months.
The Shadows Between Us Page 24