Chapter 94 — "Exit Strategy"
Kael met his gaze.
Didn’t look away.
Lord Valois studied him.
Then said:
"You protected her."
Not a question.
"Yes."
"The whole time."
"Yes."
Lord Valois nodded once.
Looked forward.
"Good."
One word.
Carrying considerably more than one word’s worth of meaning.
Kael said nothing.
But something in him had settled further.
The hall continued around all of them.
Noise and chaos and nobility and scandal and celebration and confusion.
All of it.
At once.
And at the center of it—
Seraphina Valois.
Who had walked in wanting to end a ceremony.
The ceremony ended the way most things ended around Seraphina.
Loudly.
Then suddenly quietly.
Nobles filtered out in groups.
Some scandalized.
Some were delighted.
The diplomatic representative had filled four pages of notes and left looking personally overwhelmed.
The suitors departed with varying levels of dignity.
The duke’s heir maintained his.
Barely.
The merchant’s son took his gifts with him.
Which felt correct.
The foreign royal representative walked out without looking back.
A reasonable decision.
Cassian left last among the guests.
He paused near Lord Valois at the door.
Said something quiet.
Lord Valois nodded once.
Then Cassian was gone.
The hall breathed differently without the crowd.
Larger somehow.
Quieter.
The gold chandelier catching afternoon light.
Daren had found food somewhere.
Obviously.
He sat on the steps of the hall eating and looking at the chandelier with the expression of a man who had accepted his new reality and was processing it through snacks.
Rowan stood nearby.
Reading something.
Because of course he was.
Tax had relocated from the chandelier to a window ledge.
Watching the garden outside.
Seraphina was crossing the hall toward the corridor when Lysette appeared.
Quietly.
The way Lysette did everything.
Her injured arm still held carefully.
Her expression was controlled.
Her good hand extended.
Holding something small.
Seraphina stopped.
Looked at it.
A small piece of ribbon.
Dark blue.
Simple.
The kind of thing that shouldn’t mean anything.
"From Corvin’s notebook."
Lysette said.
Quietly.
"It was holding his pages together."
She paused.
"When I found it."
"In the ruins."
Seraphina looked at the ribbon.
At Lysette’s steady expression.
At the careful way she held it out.
One armed.
Still precise.
Still herself.
"I thought."
Lysette said.
"You should have it."
"More than me."
Seraphina took it.
Her fingers closed around it.
The ribbon was soft.
Worn at the edges.
Something that had been used.
Something real.
She looked at it for a long moment.
Then at Lysette.
"Thank you."
Two words.
Carrying everything she wasn’t going to say directly.
Lysette nodded once.
Then walked away.
Back toward the south wing.
Back toward recovery.
Back toward being Lysette.
Quiet.
Precise.
Present.
Seraphina stood in the corridor holding the ribbon.
Then carefully tied it around her wrist.
Simple.
Secure.
There.
She looked at it for one more second.
Then kept walking.
She found Kael in the smaller sitting room off the east corridor.
He had clearly come here specifically to be somewhere quieter.
Which was Kael.
He looked up when she walked in.
Then at the door behind her.
Then back at her.
Something in his expression still carefully managed.
Still slightly red at the edges of his ears.
Still present.
She closed the door.
He watched her do it.
"Aina."
"Yes."
"What are you doing?"
"Closing the door."
"Why."
"Because I need to tell you something."
He waited.
She crossed the room.
Sat in the chair across from him.
Looked at him directly.
"That was an exit strategy."
Silence.
Kael looked at her.
"What."
"The ceremony."
She gestured vaguely.
"The suitors."
"The kiss."
A pause.
"I need them gone."
"This was the fastest way."
Kael said nothing.
For several seconds.
His expression is doing something.
Something quick.
Something that moved through his eyes and was controlled before it reached anywhere else.
Gone in under two seconds.
Then:
"I see."
His voice is completely even.
"So."
Seraphina continued.
"I need you to pretend."
"For a few months."
"Then I’m going to study abroad."
"Another nation."
"By then the suitors will have moved on."
"You’ll be free."
"I’ll be free."
"Nobody gets hurt."
She looked at him.
"Deal?"
Kael looked at her for a long moment.
The particular look he had when he was thinking several things and choosing which one to say.
Then:
"Deal."
Simple.
Immediate.
She nodded.
"Good."
Stood up.
Turned toward the door.
"Aina."
She stopped.
"Yes."
"Since we’re pretending."
Something in his voice was different.
Just slightly.
She turned back.
He was already standing.
Holding something.
A small box.
She stared at it.
"Where did you get that?"
"I asked one of the staff."
"When."
"While you were talking to Lysette."
She stared harder.
"That was ten minutes ago."
"Yes."
"You bought me something in ten minutes."
"I asked someone to retrieve something from the market."
"Kael."
"You’re my fiancée now."
He said it completely seriously.
Completely naturally.
Like it was an obvious statement of fact.
"Fake fiancée."
"Fiancée."
"FAKE."
"The distinction seems unnecessary."
She pointed at him.
"The distinction is extremely necessary."
He opened the box anyway.
Inside—
A small hair pin.
Silver.
Simple.
With a tiny dark blue stone at the center.
The exact color of the veins running through her dress.
Seraphina stared at it.
"You matched it to my dress."
"Obviously."
He used her words.
Completely without expression.
She looked up at him.
He looked back.
Waiting.
Something in his eyes that was very calm and very focused simultaneously.
"Kael."
"Aina."
"This is fake."
"The hair pin is real."
She opened her mouth.
Closed it.
He tilted his head slightly.
"Is there a problem?"
"You’re being weird."
"I’m being appropriate."
"This isn’t appropriate."
"You announced we were in love in front of forty people."
A pause.
"A hair pin seems proportional."
Seraphina stared at him.
The absolute composure on his face.
Complete neutrality.
The ears that were still very slightly red if you knew where to look.
She knew where to look.
She always knew where to look.
"Fine."
She took the pin.
Put it in her hair herself.
Without looking at him.
"There."
"It suits you."
"Obviously."
She turned toward the door again.
Then stopped.
Because Tax was sitting on the door handle.
Directly on the door handle.
Looking at both of them with the expression of someone who had been there the entire time.
"Tax."
"Boss."
"How long have you been there?"
"The whole time."
"The WHOLE time."
"Yes."
She pointed at the door.
"Were you listening?"
"Obviously."
"TAX."
"ehehe."
The crow hopped off the handle.
Landed on the floor.
Walked between them.
Looked at Kael.
Then at Seraphina.
Then at the hair pin.
Then back at Seraphina.
"Exit strategy."
He said.
Completely neutrally.
"Yes."
Seraphina said immediately.
"Mm."
Tax said.
Nothing else.
Just mm.
Then flew back to the window ledge.
Sat there.
Tail flicking once.
Seraphina looked at Kael.
Kael looked at Seraphina.
"He doesn’t believe you."
Kael said.
"Obviously."
She said,
Then walked out.
The door closed behind her.
Kael looked at the window where Tax sat.
Tax looked back.
The crow tilted his head once.
Then looked out at the garden.
Saying nothing.
Kael looked at the door.
At the space where she had been.
At the chair she had sat in.
At the box still in his hand.
He put it in his pocket.
Then sat back down.
Looked at the window.
At the summer garden outside.
On an ordinary afternoon.
At nothing specific.
His expression doing the controlled neutral thing.
The thing that wasn’t neutral at all.
Not even slightly.
The next morning.
Seraphina came downstairs to find a small wrapped package on the breakfast table.
She stared at it.
Her mother was already sitting with tea.
Looking at nothing specifically.
"That arrived early."
Elena said.
"From where."
Her mother picked up her cup.
"A very earnest young man."
Seraphina looked at the package.
Then at the door.
Then at the package again.
She opened it.
Inside—
A small notebook.
Leather bound.
Dark blue.
With a card attached.
She read the card.
For the fashion empire. — K
She stared at the notebook.
Then at her mother.
Elena Valois was drinking her tea.
Looking at the garden.
Completely uninvolved.
"Mother."
"Hm."
"He sent a gift."
"I noticed."
"We’re fake."
Her mother set down her tea.
Looked at her daughter.
Said nothing.
For a long moment.
Then:
"Obviously."
Picked up her tea again.
Seraphina looked at the notebook.
At the card.
At the dark blue leather.
At the ribbon tied around her wrist.
At all of it.
Then put the card in her pocket.
Opened the notebook.
Looked at the blank first page.
Then closed it.
Set it beside her breakfast.
Said nothing.
Ate.
Tax landed on her chair back.
Looked at the notebook.
Then at her.
"ehehe."
"Tax."
"Yes Boss."
"Don’t."
"I wasn’t going to say anything."
"You were absolutely going to say something."
"I was going to say good morning."
"After the ehehe."
"The ehehe was separate."
She pointed at him.
He looked innocent.
Which was the most suspicious he ever looked.
Outside—
The summer morning continued.
The garden bloomed.
The world moved forward.
And somewhere across the city—
Kael was probably already looking at market stalls.
For no particular reason.
Except one.