Lilianna. What brings you to Montrice, Lord Holton?”
“Merely passing through.”
“Is that so?”
“Traveling to claim our late grandfather’s estate,” Cal says smoothly.
The ambassador nods. “Very nice.” He claps for something the king said about the prize money.
“If you don’t mind,” Cal says. “Aren’t Renovia and Montrice . . . ? I’m curious how this arrangement came about?”
“Well, you know how it goes. If I told you, then I’d have to kill you,” the ambassador says, grinning.
Cal puts his hands up. “Understood.”
“And . . . if you don’t mind me asking, why the masks?”
“Well . . . I suppose the same answer applies.” Cal smiles broadly.
The ambassador slaps his arm. “Funny!” he says to Cal.
“It’s an Argonian custom,” Cal explains.
“Back to the house for food and libations!” Duke Girt announces.
“That’s my cue,” Ambassador Nhicol says. “Looking forward to speaking with both of you more tonight.”
“Likewise,” Cal says. I simply curtsy. I feel sweat pooling under my wig. Now I’m certain I’ve met the ambassador before. I can’t place him. The voice, I know it from somewhere, I’m sure of it. Why do I think I heard it in Deersia? But that’s not possible. Perhaps I wasn’t fibbing when I said he’d purchased honeycomb at the marketplace. As soon as he walks away, I exhale a breath I didn’t even realize I was holding. How are we going to make it through this visit? We can’t wear masks the entire time.
We step in line and begin the procession back to the house for the resting period before dinner. Behind us, servants load the dead stag onto a cart. They’ll bring it to the taxidermist to be stuffed and mounted on a plaque. I wonder if all the duke’s hunting trophies are phonies.
When it’s our turn to file into the duke’s great hall, I step through the door to find King Hansen standing there. I curtsy; Cal bows. “Your Majesty.”
“I’m sorry to have missed you at the hunt,” he says to me, as a beautiful courtier behind him sneers in my direction.
I curtsy once again. He’s holding a bouquet of wildflowers, which he hands me. “I picked them myself.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” I’m supposed to flirt with him, but all I want to do is run upstairs.
“They reminded me of you. Wild and beautiful,” he says, his voice thick.
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” I repeat, taking them from him and keeping my eyes on the floor.
The king exits abruptly after that, his personal servants trailing after him.
I turn to see Cal watching me. He raises an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Caledon
“WE NEED TO PROVE OUR suspicions,” Cal says. “About the duke being the mage and the hidden conspirator.”
“Yes, but how?” Shadow asks. They’re convening in Shadow’s room while the rest of the guests are napping before dinner.
The two of them have changed from their hunting outfits into daywear, though Cal hardly finds it comfortable. If this is the life of a nobleman, they can have it. The land and title and prestige come with too many conditions and obligations.
Shadow bites her thumbnail. “We have maybe, I don’t know, until the fourth bell? I need time to get ready for tonight.”
“Not a lot of time. How about the duke’s office?”
“That’s the most logical place. But how can we be sure he isn’t there?”
“We’ll just have to take our chances. If he is, I’ll make up something. Say I want to buy some land.”
Cal peeks out the door. It’s clear. He and Shadow start down the hallway and tiptoe down the wide staircase to the first floor. Cautiously, they head toward the room where they first met the duke when they arrived.
The door is closed. Shadow sidles against it and places her ear on the wood. She nods and Cal pushes the door open. They slip inside and close the door behind them.
The library is stuffy and masculine, lined floor to ceiling in dark walnut bookcases on three sides. The