“It would be the kind thing to do?” Roland asked, as though he really was not certain what was kindness and what was not.

“Yes, Your Highness. Most kind indeed.”

No one said anything, but moments later a door opened and closed, and I heard the patter of small feet running up a flight of stairs.

“You said you had him under control,” the Dowager Duchesse snapped. “Blasted creature is a menace to all!”

“I do have him under control.” Glass clinked again. “It isn’t as though I can go ordering him about by name in the middle of the street.”

“What choice do you have?” Her voice was bitter. “Roland is as mad as any I’ve encountered – a Montigny mind and power utterly corrupted by iron. If he were anyone other than who he is, Thibault would have had him put down years ago. He feels nothing – cares nothing for anything but his own black pleasures, and while he may not be so clever as his brother, he’s wily enough to find ways around your weak controls.”

“We need him for there to be any chance of taking the throne.”

Both were silent for a long time, making me believe that Damia was in agreement. But then she spoke.

“He has outplayed you, my son.” Her voice dripped with mockery, and I felt a moment’s pity for him having her as a mother. “Thibault has been playing a longer game than anyone believed, I think. And if Tristan succeeds in breaking the curse, the Montignys will rule in a way that has not been seen since the time of the great kings and queens of old.”

“What is it you would have me do?”

“Send Roland to kill his father now. With the boy on the throne, we control Trollus and its gold. With that, it is only a matter of sending every greedy cutthroat at our disposal after Cécile. She is their weakness in every possible way, and she will die for it. And once they are dead, we will play our long-held trump card and the world will bend its knee to us.”

I’d heard enough. Rising to my feet, I started to turn when the sensation of power froze me in my tracks.

“And they say there are no rats in Trollus,” said a young woman’s voice from behind me. “It would appear they’re wrong. Hello, Cécile.”

Forty-Five

Cécile

Anaïs stood behind me, arms crossed and expression much like a cat who has cornered a mouse. Only it wasn’t the girl I’d known, but an impostor. It was Lessa.

“Does my brother know you’re here?” she asked. “Seems a bit reckless for him.”

“He’s here,” I whispered, stepping back and colliding with the wall. “Closer than you think.”

Lessa chuckled. “Not close enough.”

Her hand shot out and caught me by the throat. I tried to scream, but I could hardly breathe. She lifted me off the ground in front of her, smiling as I kicked and struggled. Panic flooded through me, and I clawed at her arms, but the scratches disappeared in an instant. She was going to kill me.

Then I remembered Roland’s knife hidden in my pocket. Catching hold of the small handle, I jerked it out and sliced it across her forearm.

Lessa hissed in pain and dropped me, but I only had a second to suck in a breath before she lunged at me again. Digging deep for the magic I needed, I choked out the words, “Bind the light.”

She stopped in her tracks, false face full of astonishment. But it wouldn’t last – she knew what I’d done. And when she dove at me, I held the knife out, my arms shuddering with the impact as it slid between her ribs. She screamed, curling around herself and clutching at the knife. But I knew I hadn’t killed her – I needed to run.

The door to the antechamber flung open, the Duke appearing with his mother just behind him.

“Prince Roland attacked Lady Anaïs,” I screamed, then shoved between them as though in a fit of terror. Which was not far from the truth. I had seconds. Sprinting to the entrance, I flung it open and dashed toward the gates. “Prince Roland is on a rampage!” I screamed. “He stabbed Lady Anaïs, and now he’s gone after the Duke!”

I saw the fear rise in their eyes, but to their credit, every one of them ran toward the house, giving me the few precious seconds I needed to escape. My throat burned where Lessa’s fingers had dug in, but I did not dare stop. There were no gaps between properties for me to hide in, no alleyways or passages to turn down. I had to make it to the staircase leading up to the last row of houses before the perimeter or I was a dead woman.

Shouts echoed in the streets behind me, and I heard my name on the air. They knew it was me. They were coming.

Magic wrapped around my waist, lifting me off my feet and dropping me on the other side of a wall before I could speak.

“Be silent.” Élise shoved me back against the wall, her hand against my mouth.

Half a dozen sets of feet ran by us, and both of us held our breath until they passed. Then I flung my arms around her neck. When the sound of the waterfall disappeared and I knew our voices were shielded, I whispered. “Thank you. How did you know I was here?”

“I saw you go into Pierre’s,” she said. “Your eye and skin color was altered, but I’d recognize the faces you make anywhere.” She squeezed my shoulders. “Is Tristan here?”

With one shaking hand, I pointed up at the moon hole. “He’s waiting to lift me out – I need to reach the perimeter, but I don’t know how I’m going to get by everyone who’s looking for me.”