by Wren Weston
Lila took another long drink. Every senator was well groomed, fashionable, and handsome, trained from a young age to attend to their dress and body as much as their minds. The New Bristol senators were among the best of the lot. Although she did enjoy looking at the pretty way they moved and spoke, she had only ever lumped them into two categories: those who could help her with the hospital and those who were massive pains in her backside. She had never wanted to confuse the two categories by making pains of her allies or turning her allies into pains. As such, she’d never entertained any sort of relationship with New Bristol senators at all, except as professional and platonic friends.
She did dabble occasionally with senators from Saxony or other large cities in the region, though usually off season and only to pacify her mother. She typically saved conquests for the occasional rake among the highborn. Once or twice a year, she chose a few particularly irresponsible highborn males, those with good humor and adventurous spirits, and spent a few months indulging, every single night. She was like a sexual camel, powering herself up for another trek across the desert.
That had been before Tristan, though. As she thought back, she realized it had been years since she’d dallied with anyone. She barely knew who had been elected to which city anymore.
Lila swallowed a lump in her throat and tried not to think of whom she’d rather be with, not that it mattered. Everything she’d said earlier had been correct. She and Tristan would never work, not even if she remained chief.
She bit her lip. Hard. She didn’t have time to let her feelings dribble down her cheeks again, nor could she ever let anyone in this room see or suspect her feelings.
She’d already cried enough for him, far more than was proper.
“The time you spent as chief of security was not completely wasted,” the chairwoman said. “Every woman here is trying to figure out what you and I are playing at tonight. Perhaps you’re only here to take a lover, or perhaps there is more afoot. They’ve all wondered why you never formally accepted a role as heir.”
“Perhaps they thought I was defective.”
“Nonsense. You are a Randolph. Randolphs aren’t defective.”
Lila sipped her champagne and did not reply.
“The giant in the middle of the room is Senator Edward Serrano,” her mother explained, inclining her head toward a large figure who neatly gripped the lapels of his coat. The senator surveyed the room with a lazy, confident eye.
He was not a panther in his hunt but a drunken boar.
“I know of him. He’s a state senator and the eldest son of Chairwoman Blanc.”
Her mother nodded. “He’s fathered at least a dozen girls and seven boys throughout the highborn families of New Bristol; that’s not even counting his lowborn children. His aim is to become the prime minister one day. Rumor is he’ll be in Unity next year.”
That didn’t surprise Lila. City senators longed to serve in the capitol. Senators in New Bristol wanted to serve Saxony. Those working for Saxony strived for Unity, and those in Unity curried favor to become prime minister.
And the prime minister longed for a seat on the Allied Council.
“He’s virile and well connected, but he’s not a good match for us,” her mother said.
“Don’t you mean me?”
“I meant the family.”
“I thought you wanted someone well connected for your grandchild’s father. You wanted it for me. A well-connected senator has his uses, as does a prime minister.”
“I made your father. He did not make me. You have lost your sense in the security office. What would such power do for us when the man’s mind has already grown fat from the flattery of others?”
Lila nodded, realizing her mother wished to bend yet another fresh, young senator to her will, rather than capitalize on the divergent attentions of an established figure. The thought annoyed her. She’d rather not be beholden to anyone, and didn’t want anyone beholden to her. At least, that had been her plan for a little while longer, at least. It hadn’t struck her until then how terribly naïve that idea had been.
She’d been around Tristan too long.
“Senator Serrano has already produced three prime heirs already, though the first was practically among the lowborn. The mother was wealthy enough to prompt his nomination into the New Bristol Senate. The second pushed him to Saxony.”
“Why hasn’t he been nominated to Unity?” Lila asked.
“He has, but it’s never been accepted. There are always better candidates to choose from. Senator Serrano doesn’t have the tongue or the brains to back up his ambitions. What he possesses in charisma, he lacks in wit and intelligence. His speeches ramble, his legislation is full of unintended loopholes, and his alliances lack the necessary linchpins. He’s a fool who doesn’t understand when he’s being led. He’ll never make prime minister unless he gains some sense, and I suspect he has grown too proud to recognize his deficiencies and correct them. But if he bears another prime, they’ll have no choice but to advance him, politics being what they are. He’ll seek you out before the night is through, mark my words.”
“Great. Can’t wait.”
“We’d be better served with a younger, smarter, more ambitious sort, which is why we should pay attention to whom approaches Senator Serrano. If we smooth a young senator’s path to prime minister, he would have no choice but to favor Wolf Industries above all his other ties.”
“Just like Father because of me and Shiloh?”
“You pushed him into Saxony. Your memory, as well as a few others, pushed him into Unity. Senators in my good graces helped nominate him again and again to prime minister, though your father likely had the potential to get there on his own. But a great many men have potential, and few have the connections to realize it.”
“You would rather I selected someone ambitious enough to be useful.”
The chairwoman shrugged and eyed Senator Serrano’s assets.
“And here I thought that I could choose whomever I wanted. I do have to share a bed with the man for the next few months, Mother.”
“Of course. Choose whomever you wish, but don’t play coy with me. You like the game as much as I do, much more than the faces upon the players. You’ll be annoyed with yourself later if your opening move is not a strong one. Take Senator Serrano to bed this season if you wish. I’ve heard he’s a jovial sort. We can always find a more ambitious and interesting senator for next season. Let’s just hope that if you are lucky enough to produce an heir, she does not inherent her father’s intelligence. Or better yet, that the child is only a boy who you can send to Bullstow.”
Lila plucked a fresh glass of champagne off a tray and refrained from comment. She had not wanted Serrano; she merely wanted to disagree with her mother.
Her palm shook in her purse. I shouldn’t have been meddling, her father wrote, though I’m sure your mother is doing the same. Don’t pick who we want. Pick who you want. Be happy, Lila girl.
Lila smiled and put her palm away.
“Who was that?”
“No one.”
The chairwoman eyed her daughter’s face, then turned back to the crowd. “The one in the middle who just shook the senator’s hand is Senator Jasper Coupe.”
Lila looked again at the senator and noticed quite a different sort of man on his right. His dark hair had been shaved close to his head, a style rare among the highborn, and his thick eyebrows showed off his brown eyes to good advantage. His coat had been cut tightly, and his face was young, daring, and angelic, so long as the angel had already fallen.
Lila sat up.
That was much more like it.
“Senator Coupe has seeded two heirs among the wealthy lowborn already, which has cleared his path to an advantageous placement next season. He’s only twenty-one, and—”
“Twenty-one?” All thoughts of the young man
flew from Lila’s mind and other parts of her body. The age disparity was practically criminal. “What sort of conversation could we have, Mother? Perhaps he could braid my hair and we could talk about ponies.”
“You’re not picking a conversation partner, Lila.”
“No, just someone to rut with all evening.”
“Evening. Night. That one will stay up long after the job is done. Over and over…”
Lila choked on her champagne. “Excuse me?”
“I’ve heard rumors, child. Quite explicit ones. All for you, of course,” the chairwoman said, squeezing Lila’s arm.
Lila wondered how in the world she and her mother had come to have such blunt conversations about the senators of Bullstow, all while surrounded by them. She was glad that no one had approached them yet, happy for once that protocol kept her apart from nearly everyone else in the room, at least until they puzzled out who among them had the right to break the crowd’s silence first.
Mostly likely, they all waited for Serrano, and Serrano knew it. He’d decided to take his damn sweet time with it, too. Perhaps he knew he’d be rejected and didn’t want to do it so publicly.
Perhaps he wasn’t as dumb and egotistical as everyone claimed.
“I remember my first Senate ball,” her mother said. “I was sixteen and too excited to think carefully. I would have taken home a rather beautiful intern I’d seen on the silver carpet if I’d had my way. Luckily, your grandmother had appointed Chairwoman Lafayette of New Orleans as my advisor. She reined me in and kept me from making a very foolish choice. Your father wasn’t nearly so handsome before he became so distinguished. But he was kind, smart, and had a great deal of potential. Chairwoman Lafayette and I both saw it.”
At the front of the ballroom, the musicians snapped up to attention, hauled their instruments to their chins and shoulders, and began to play. Senators and chairwomen and heirs quickly paired off and whirled around the ballroom floor.
“I pity you for starting so late. I had you early while I was still young and healthy. I managed to attend meetings up to the hour I went into labor, and feedings—”
“A nursemaid managed the feedings for you,” Lila reminded her as a couple swirled close and ricocheted back into the room’s center.
“Perhaps, but it is indelicate for you to be so blunt about it. Jewel was more difficult. She kicked during every meeting of the Heston acquisition. Best deal I ever made. I should have known from that alone that she’d have poor business sense.”
Lila gave a noncommittal hmmm and sipped her drink.
“Jewel took Senator Remington home after her first closing ball. That was a good match, regardless of whether or not they lasted through the season.”
“I thought a good match was one that did last through the whole season, madam. As well as one that produces an heir.”
“None of us knew that the man didn’t favor…the season. I hear he’s made a very fine diction professor at Bullstow. He and his husband have adopted three lowborn children, though I’m not sure how he managed to swing so many. Competition is fierce among those of his disposition, you know.”
“Well, he was a senator. That had to have helped immensely.”
“True. One might even think that he planned it that way.”
The music stopped, and the crowd clapped in appreciation. A few latecomers were announced at the door before the dancing started again.
“Who’s that?” Lila asked, pointing her champagne flute toward a man who had brushed in front of Serrano and Coupe. She meant only to redirect the conversation away from the awkward bend it had traveled down, but her attention had also been caught by the man’s auburn hair. It was so dark that it might have been brown, and it brushed his shoulders with a slight wave. Lila spied the ranginess of his steps, the ease with which he slipped through the crowd, searching for someone he could not find.
Here was the panther.
Hunting.
The chairwoman’s eyes twinkled. “Ah, Senator Dorian La Roux. You’ve heard of him already, I presume?”
“Should I have?”
“I would have thought Senator Dubois would have foisted him on you at some point. They’re cousins on his mother’s side. He wouldn’t be a bad choice, come to think of it. Chairwoman Masson does not know how to make use of him in his current appointment, nor has she spent much thought upon him. He’s the son of the fifteenth heir. He’s hardly even on her radar. The man is hungry to prove himself and intelligent enough to be useful. He ranked second in his class, if I recall. He only has a few children scattered among our ranks, none of them prime or firstborn sons. It’s been enough to earn him a prized slot in the Beaulac Senate, and he’s carried himself well there. He’s young, but unfortunately his seed is falling behind his legislation. He’s spent as many seasons sitting out of the game as he has inside it. Senator La Roux doesn’t lack for attention, he just lacks for the right attention and someone to guide him.”
That piqued Lila’s interest. “What does he do during those seasons when he sits out?”
“No one really knows. Senator Dubois said that he circles the New Bristol clubs and balls, gathering information and building alliances for his work in the senate. He’s been trying to make Beaulac more than a city full of oil money. Perhaps he does not have the time to juggle that work and an heir.”
Lila sipped her drink. “He’s an idealist, then. Naïve. A man who doesn’t understand the importance of having children spread among the families.” It made her think of Tristan, yet another man who was naïve and shortsighted.
Oh gods, she had a type.
“Senator La Roux knows the words but not their meaning. I don’t know why not. It’s drilled into their pretty little heads enough at Bullstow. It’s his one failing. You’d think that he’d understand by now that the highborn need to see him intertwined with the families before we can trust his judgment. If he’s not vested in seeing his children safe and prosperous, how can we believe he’ll do the same for all of us? Perhaps he’s just beginning to understand.”
“If he’s managed to stay in the senate this long with few children, then perhaps he hasn’t needed to learn the lesson yet.”
“He’ll need to learn soon,” the chairwoman said. “He should have had more children by now, and everyone knows it. His place in the Beaulac Senate is not secure, not if enough senators have a better season this year.”
“You think he’ll be shipped off to some no-name city if he doesn’t seed a child?”
The chairwoman sipped her champagne. “I suspect that his political career will end before it ever truly began, and he’ll be forced to teach philosophy at Bullstow. This year, next year, it makes no difference. He’ll lose again when he was so close, just as he always does. That’s what coming in second all the time does to you. He’s hungry, Lila.”
“What of his politics?”
“Favorable enough.” Her mother sat up, taking a closer look at Senator La Roux now that her daughter had shown an interest. “Not so disparate that we could not bend him more favorably to suit us. Senator Dubois has spoken well of him, has called him a potential ally on more than one occasion, has worked with him on our behalf a few times. A season with you would secure him a seat in New Bristol. Proof of an heir might catapult him to Saxony the year after. He’d be an attentive suitor, that’s for sure.”
Had circumstances been different, Lila might have taken the senator more seriously as a possible match for the season. He was certainly beautiful enough. There was even a mischievous twinkle in his eye that called to her. But in truth, she merely needed someone to stir up desperation in her target.
La Roux would serve as pretty bait.
In exchange, her fleeting attention would help the senator find his match for the season. He’d surely go home with an heir. It just wouldn’t be her.
The chairwoman beckoned for fresh
drinks, a desire that was promptly attended to by the servants milling along the edges of the ballroom. “A man like that is ripe. A man who always finishes second has a hunger to prove himself, to finish first for once. It makes him more willing to compromise.”
“Or it makes him angry, bitter, and confusing,” Lila said lazily, thinking what else the man might have in common with Tristan.
“He’s a senator, Lila, not a workborn. He has better manners than that. If anything, he has always been described as exceedingly fair and affable.”
“Well then, here’s to ambition,” Lila said, clinking her flute with her mother’s before the chairwoman could respond. “Call Senator Dubois over to make the introduction. I’m tired of waiting for Senator Serrano to pull his head from his ass.”
“Language, child.” Her mother frowned, gesturing for Senator Dubois. He and Jewel had been twirling through the ballroom, but he halted mid-dance, eager to attend to the chairwoman’s wishes.
Her mother chuckled suddenly as Dubois padded toward them. “I forgot. Senator La Roux has a nickname, some silly childhood lark among his cousins at Bullstow. Senator Dubois called him by it once. It was…” The chairwoman thought for a moment, her eyes glassy and unfocused while she thought. “Ah, I remember. The Red Baron. What a silly nickname for a child.”
Lila fingered the stem of her flute and tried not to break it.
Chapter 19
Chairwoman Randolph insisted that Senator Dubois take her seat as soon as he made his way through the crowded ballroom. Then she gathered up Jewel and vanished into the throng. Lila understood the message. Her mother considered her work on the matter finished. The heads of the most powerful families in Saxony lined the ballroom, and she would use the time for the betterment of Wolf Industries. It would not be the first time the chairwoman sought out new business during the Closing Ball, smoothed over a dispute, concluded a multimillion-credit contract, or stroked the ego or temper of a rival. She often said that a chairwoman who came to a ball to dance wasn’t doing her job right.