Chapter 26 A Dangerous man
The council chamber erupted the moment the doors closed.
"This is a disaster," Elowyn hissed, pacing before the long table where the High Lords had gathered. "A human lord, here, for weeks? He'll be spying on everything. Reporting back to his uncle. Looking for weaknesses."
"Then we should make sure he finds none," Cardan said.
"You don't understand. The humans have been..." She stopped herself.
"Have been what?"
Silence.
Lord Percival was studying the table with intense fascination. Lord Castellan was frowning. Lord Ambrose, the military commander, was watching Elowyn with the particular expression of a man who suspected he was about to be blamed for something.
"The humans have been what?" Cardan repeated, his voice dangerously soft.
"They've been pressing for better trade terms," Lord Castellan said smoothly. "It's a minor dispute. Lord Percival has been handling it."
"Minor?" I couldn't stop myself. "I heard that Aurelia has been borrowing money from the humans."
Every head in the room turned toward me.
"Where did you hear that?" Elowyn demanded.
"We hear all kinds of news in Hel. The truth is not as hidden as you think it is."
"The Queen Consort is spreading rumors," Elowyn said, her voice sharp. "She doesn't understand our court, our customs, our..."
"The Queen is right."
Cardan's voice cut through the room like a blade.
He was looking at me. Really looking at me, for the first time in weeks. His silver eyes were unreadable, but there was something new in them. Something that might have been respect.
"Lord Percival," he said. "We will discuss those loans. Tomorrow. Bring every record, every document, every scrap of paper. If we owe the humans money, I want to know exactly how much and for how long."
Percival looked like he was going to be sick.
"And Lord Valois stays," Cardan continued. "Not as a guest. As a window. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." He turned to Elowyn. "You taught me that."
Elowyn's face was a mask of controlled fury. "Of course, Your Majesty. As you wish."
The council dispersed shortly after. I lingered, hoping for a word with Cardan, but he left without looking at me.
I told myself I didn't care.
I was lying.
\-———————————————
The conservatory was quiet at night.
I had taken to visiting after the palace slept, when the only light came from the moon filtering through the glass dome and the soft phosphorescent glow of the night-blooming flowers. It was the closest thing to Hel I had found in this golden prison, a pocket of darkness and silence and strange, luminous beauty.
Tonight, however, I was not alone.
"I wondered if I'd find you here."
I turned. Lord Sebastian Valois was leaning against a pillar near the moon-lilies, his arms crossed, his expression one of pleasant curiosity. He had changed out of his formal attire into something simpler, a dark tunic, no ornamentation, no pretense.
"You've been asking about me," I said.
"Has it been that obvious?"
"You're not subtle."
"Neither are you, Your Majesty." He pushed off the pillar and walked toward me with the easy, unhurried gait of someone who had never been intimidated by anything in his life. "The servants say you spend every night here. Among the flowers that only bloom in darkness. Very poetic."
"I'm not feeling particularly poetic tonight. What do you want, Lord Valois?"
"Sebastian, please. Lord Valois makes me sound like my uncle."
"What do you want, Sebastian?"
He stopped a few feet away, close enough that I could see the gold flecks in his hazel eyes. "Honestly? I wanted to meet you. The Princess of Hel. The bride of shadow. The monster under the bed." He smiled. "You're much more beautiful than the stories suggest."
"You've said that already."
"It bears repeating."
I crossed my arms. "Flattery will get you nowhere."
"Then what will get me somewhere?"
"Honesty."
He laughed, that same warm, surprised laugh from the throne room. "I see why he married you. You're not what I expected."
"Neither are you. The nephew of a human king, sent to negotiate debts. You're not a diplomat. You're a spy."
"I am both. The best spies always are." He didn't deny it. He didn't even look ashamed. "My uncle wants to know what's happening in the Aurelian Court. The rumors coming out of the north are... concerning. Border raids. Burned villages. An army stretched too thin. And now a new Queen from Hel, of all places." He studied me. "You're a wild card, Your Majesty. No one knows what to make of you."
"Including me, sometimes."
"That's probably for the best. Keeps everyone guessing." He stepped closer. "Can I be honest with you?"
"You've been honest so far."
"I like you." The words were simple, unadorned. "I came here expecting a monster. I found a beautiful woman who is clever and fierce and profoundly out of place in this horrible place. I find myself wanting to know more about you."
"Careful, Lord Valois. That almost sounded like a declaration."
"Maybe it was." His eyes held mine. "Or maybe I'm just curious about Hel. The stories my people tell about your realm are... so fascinating. Sanctuaries for the hunted. Refuge for the forgotten. A kingdom of monsters that is kinder than the surface world that fears it."
"You know a lot about my home."
"I make it my business to know things." He smiled. "I also know that your marriage is unconsummated. That your husband hasn't touched you. That you sleep in separate chambers."
My blood went cold. "How do you know that?"
"I told you. I make it my business." He reached out and gently touched a strand of my hair. "You deserve better, Queen Nyx. A husband who sees you. A court that respects you. A kingdom that values your strength instead of fearing it."
"And you think you could give me that?"
"I think I could give you a great many things." His voice was low, intimate. "But I suspect you're not the kind of woman who takes. You're the kind who fights. Who carves her own path through the darkness."
I stepped back. His hand fell away.
"You're very charming, Lord Valois. I'm sure that works on most women."
"But not on you."
"But not on me." I met his eyes. "You have an agenda. Everyone in this court does. You want something from me, information, alliance, access. I don't know what it is yet. But I will find out."
Sebastian smiled. It was a different smile than before, less warm, more calculating. The smile of a man who had been seen and was not displeased by it.
"I look forward to it, Your Majesty." He bowed, deeper this time. Genuinely respectful. "Enjoy the flowers."
He left me alone in the conservatory, surrounded by moon-lilies and silence and the growing certainty that the game I was playing had just become much more complicated.
\---
I did not sleep well that night.
Sebastian's words echoed in my mind. A husband who sees you. A court that respects you. A kingdom that values your strength.
He was dangerous. Not because he was a spy, or a diplomat, or a charmer. But because he had looked at me and seen exactly what I wanted. Exactly what I was not getting.
And part of me, the lonely part, the tired part, the part that had been ignored and dismissed and told to know my place, had wanted to believe him.
Not yet, I told myself. Not ever. I am not so easily won.
But as I stared at the canopy above my bed, I found myself thinking of hazel eyes and warm laughter and the way Sebastian had looked at me like I was something precious instead of something monstrous.
Dangerous, I reminded myself. He is dangerous.
And I would do well not to forget it.