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We walked back through the vines in silence. I hated him with an unusual thoroughness, not only for the insult, and not only for the treason.

He had reached into my chest with one sentence and found the thing I had been refusing to name, and he had found it because it was there to be found. No amount of fury would make that untrue.

At the terrace steps he paused, all charm again, moonlight shining on his pale blue coat. I wondered if I should take it as a warning or a blessing from Diana.

“Think on it,” Renaud said. “You needn’t answer before Caspien’s nameday ball. But the world is turning, Yves, whether Marius permits it or not.” He looked at me fondly. Like a little brother would. “I intend to turn the page and build a new future for us. I’d have thought that you, of all of us, might want that.”

He set his hand on my shoulder, and I shrugged it off.

When I spoke next, I thought only of my chessboard and protecting my pieces.

“You may have your ball at my home, but do not mistake my hospitality for allegiance,” I warned. “You will give Severin the complete guest list. Half your guard will remain under his command, and every carriage, crate, servant, and musician entering Château du Mer will be searched. If I decide the threat cannot be contained, I will cancel the celebration regardless of who has already crossed the Unified Territories to attend.”

“I hardly think it will come to that, but of course.”

Renaud left me standing among the salt ponds with a broken stake still in my hand. I found a rock to sit on and stayed there for a long time, contemplating all that had been said. And unsaid. Renaud sought to legitimize his sons and his paramour, and he was willing to weaponize anything and anyone to get what he wanted, including Cora.

She might desire me at times, but she had no intention of acting on it. And even if she did, my vote was not for sale. Marius, whatever else he was, had kept five hundred years of children from dying in wars their ancestors started.

Yet I still held on to the stake. Gripping it as tightly as I had when I tore it from the ground.

If Renaud could see my lust for her… others could. I already knew Severin suspected as much. And Duval.

I decided this was a side effect of my continued celibacy. I had starved myself of human touch for so long that I’d forgotten who I’d used to be. A hot-blooded man who wanted things. Who sailed. Who fought and fucked and… I shook my head.

While Rochefort was content to piss on his mate's memory, I was not.

I needed to write to Bastien tonight. And Marius. They needed to know of Rochefort’s plans. Which meant I needed to get off this rock. Just as I rose, a scream split through the night.

Chapter 21

Soutenue

CORA

Igripped the balustrade of Adrien’s balcony, searching the dark grounds for his shadow. “Yves!” I shouted, tears burning in my throat. “Hurry!”

Behind me, the room I had found so charming an hour ago, with its star charts pinned over the wallpaper, and the books stacked in leaning towers, and the small brass telescope aimed hopefully at the sky, had become the scene of my newest nightmare.

The whole room smelled of my blood. My blood, which the heir of Valemer had just retched up like poison.

Adrien was shivering while Mr. Duval knelt beside him with a damp washcloth pressed to his brow. I had no idea how to fix him, and the only person who could tell me what to do wasn’t here.

A rush of wind tore through my hair as Yves vaulted over the balcony rail. He grabbed my hand, searched my face, and saw the terror. “What happened? Did someone hurt you?”

I shook my head, tears blurring my vision. “No. But I think I hurt Adrien.”

His attention slipped over my shoulder, and he finally saw his son. A second later, he was at his bedside.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

Yves cupped the back of Adrien’s head and tilted his face to the candlelight. His bronze skin had gone gray, and dribbles of my blood stained his chin. “What happened? Tell me everything,” Yves demanded.

The words stuck in my throat, but thankfully Mr. Duval stepped in.

“I pricked Miss Ravenwood’s finger and put the blood into the same cup as always. Master Adrien drank it. But he took two gulps and started throwing it back up like a green sailor on his first voyage.”

Yves looked to me for confirmation. I gripped my skirts and nodded. That’s exactly what happened. It had all happened so quickly.