We finally take our seats. Rhoda sits in the middle between me and Hestia, the chair to my left unoccupied.
“Remind me why we brought him with us?” Rhoda asks.
“I had no choice. My father demanded I introduce him to some new people,” I lie.
“Quick thinking on getting rid of him, though,” Hestia says.
“Thank you. I wish I’d never been—friends—with him.” I hurriedly interject the word I’d almost left out. “He’s only using me due to my favor with the king.” I glance to the girls to my right. “Is that the only reason we’re friends?”
Hestia looks affronted. “Of course not! It was your dress that made me want to be your friend! And now that I know you, I couldn’t care less about what you wear! Well, for the most part,” she amends.
“I admired your ability to snag a man so quickly,” Rhoda adds. “It had nothing to do with the king specifically. Aren’t we all drawn to our friends in the beginning by trifling things? True bonds develop afterward, when character is revealed.”
Satisfied with their answers, I look out toward the empty stage.
A gentleman with tan locks eyes the empty spot beside me and gives me a grin.
Leandros.
“Alessandra,” he says after walking over. “I’m so delighted to see you’ve joined us outside the stuffy palace for a night. However did you manage to separate yourself from the king long enough? You wouldn’t be giving me false hopes, now, would you?”
Oh, he’s such a flirt. I love it.
“It’s all in your head, I’m afraid, Lord Vasco,” I say.
He throws his hands over his heart dramatically. “You wound me with your formal address.”
“Where are your cohorts this evening?” I ask, looking behind him for signs of Rhouben and Petros.
“I’m surprised you can’t sense Rhouben’s distaste from here. You’ll find him to the right. Third row from the front.”
The brightness of his attire stands out like a beacon. I would have seen him if I had but looked. His clothing shimmers with golds and reds. On any other man, it would look ridiculous, but he pulls it off with confidence. To his right, I can see the very reason for his distaste.
Melita Xenakis. She has his arm in a death grip, looking quite pleased with herself. As though Rhouben were a fish she’d just caught. As if sensing my stare, she looks in my direction. Once she sees the empty seat beside me, where the king should be sitting (or perhaps she’s thinking of Orrin?), she grins to herself and looks away.
What a little bi—
“And Petros is off giggling in the corner with Lord Osias.”
“Isn’t that the man who was flirting with his beau at the ball?”
“Yes, well, Petros has decided that two can play at that game.”
“How very conniving of him,” I say with a smile.
“Oh no!” Hestia suddenly says. “A footman is bringing Lady Zervas this way. Leandros, sit down!”
Leandros attempts to eye me for permission, but Hestia rises and shoves him into the empty seat beside me before regaining her own. The footman doesn’t miss a beat, slightly altering his course to deliver Lady Zervas to a new location.
“Why don’t we want her sitting with us?” I ask, leaning into Rhoda.
Hestia does the same, bending over Rhoda’s lap so I can hear her whisper. “She’s a terrible bore. So melancholy all the time. We wouldn’t have any fun with her around.”
“I don’t recognize her from the queen’s sitting room,” I say.
“That’s because she doesn’t join the other ladies,” Rhoda says. “She keeps to herself most of the time.”
“I wonder why she sticks around the palace at all if she doesn’t enjoy the company.”
“She has to!” Rhoda explains. “Her presence was ordered at the palace just like the rest of us.”
Ah, she was there the night the king died. Now the palace is her prison until the culprit is found.
I watch Lady Zervas take her seat. As soon as she does, she looks right at me, her expression practically lethal.
Leandros chuckles from next to me.
“Why is she looking at me like that?” I ask.
“All ladies will look at you like that when you’re sitting next to me. It’s the jealousy.”
I give him a doubtful look.
He grins. “All right, it might not be because of me. But it is the jealousy.”
“Because I’m courting the king? He’s less than half her age!”
“No, not Kallias. It was the late king whom Lady Zervas fancied. They had a brief courtship before the king’s heart was stolen by the late queen. Zervas never got over him. She sees you in a position where she once was, and she envies you for that, I imagine.”
Now I look at the lady in a new light. Her voluminous hair is streaked with gray, but it doesn’t make her look old so much as dignified. She carries herself with an air of importance but doesn’t deign to look at anyone around her now that she’s done with me. Yes, she carries herself as if she fancies herself a queen.
“Tonight, she’s my favorite person,” Leandros continues. “I don’t know how else I could have persuaded you to let me sit beside you.”
I roll my eyes at him, just as some of the lights in the room turn off, dimming the makeshift stage.
The actors take their places, racing up the gaps between the rows of chairs to reach the center. And the performance begins.
* * *
THE PLAY IS SO dreadfully dull. By the end, the two lovers still weren’t able to reconcile their differences in order to be together. The entire performance was one long argument, really. There was no swordplay, no fisticuffs, nothing exciting at all.
The next outing I’ve agreed to attend is the debutante ball for the sixteen-year-old daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Demetrio, far-removed cousins to the king, but relations, nonetheless.
I send another note to Kallias, inviting him to join me, hoping this time it might be different considering he has a connection to the family, but his response is the same.
My dear friend Alessandra,
I do wish I could accompany you. I rather enjoyed the last time we danced. Alas, I am hard at work putting your plan for Pegai into action. With any luck, we’ll have the rebels put down before the month is out.
The council and I are also dealing with the latest attack by the masked bandit, this time far too close to the palace for my liking. We at least have a more accurate description of the man. Brown hood. Brown mask over his eyes.
That was, of course, sarcasm.
I’m afraid I will also have to skip dinner this evening. The council will be taking it in the meeting room tonight.
I sincerely hope you are enjoying your time among the nobility. I hear your friend Calligaris accompanied you to the play at the viscount’s. I’m glad to see you were able to find a replacement for me.
Yours,
Kallias
A replacement? Is that bitterness I detect in the strokes of his hand? Or perhaps a subtle warning?
I need to get rid of Myron and fast. In order to do that, I need to talk to Rhouben. Yet I also need to speak to Kallias in an attempt to strengthen our courtship. I weigh the two options, trying to decide which to do first. It’s been far too long since I’ve seen the king. I must locate him.