Midnight Jewel (The Glittering Court #2)(117)

“Glad to know you’ll be so torn up about it,” Grant called. Turning to me, he pitched his voice low. “I’ll be back. No need to find some other man’s bed yet.”

“You think I’m that kind of woman?”

“I think someone as brave and beautiful as you could find other company if she wanted to. Oh, and brilliant too. You were brilliant tonight.”

The earnestness in his voice took me aback almost as much as the words themselves. I grasped for a witty response but ended up blurting out: “I don’t want you back for your bed. I want you back . . . for you. It’s just that simple.”

Grant faltered a moment, as discomfited as I’d been. “This has never been simple.”

“Mira!”

Aiana sounded impatient, and Silas was returning from the bedroom. I gave Grant one last look of farewell and then scurried off after her.




We didn’t speak much as we walked back. The brief high of the discovery at Silas’s faded, and the effects of so little sleep slammed into me. It took a lot of effort just to put one foot in front of the other. Still, I managed to tentatively ask, “Are you . . . mad? About . . . you know.”

“Mad? No. Not exactly. Worried for both of you. And surprised. You never seemed interested in anything like that.”

“I’m interested in it with him.” As soon as I said those words, I felt my face heat up and was grateful for the darkness. “And it’s . . . I mean . . . it’s better than I thought it would be. A lot better. It’s also easier than I expected. Well, in bed, at least. Outside of it, things are more . . . complicated.”

She laughed loudly at that. “That’s the way it always is. And I imagine it’s doubly true with Iyitsi. You probably never know which face is going to show up.”

Her words hit harder than she realized, and I thought back to the moments before she’d arrived. “What did you say to him when you walked in?”

“Oh, I called him a few names. Maybe more than a few.” The mirth vanished. “And I told him he was leading you into things you aren’t ready for.”

“And what did he say?”

“That you were doing the same to him.”




It was another of those nights when I felt like I hadn’t even had a chance to close my eyes before waking. And when I stepped outside of my room, the whole house was buzzing about what had happened in Hadisen.

“Did you know?” Sylvia kept asking me. “Did you know Adelaide was the Countess of Rothford?”

But that wasn’t even what they found most shocking. Apparently during his arrest, Cedric had been caught possessing Alanzan artifacts—which increased the stakes for him. No one thought to ask if I’d known about that, but they speculated on everything else. The chatter was grating.

“No one knows for sure what he was caught with. And even if he did have something, that doesn’t mean he’s one of them.”

“Why else would you have something Alanzan?”

“Do you think Jasper and Charles knew?”

“I don’t think so. Jasper won’t even come out of his office.”

“Yeah, but if he did know beforehand, of course he’d pretend he didn’t.”

The gossip persisted in the days that followed, and I stayed away in my room as much as possible. The delay caused by Cedric’s recovery in Hadisen only fueled the excited speculation. Everyone was eager for Adelaide’s return, simply to hear more of the drama. I wanted her back so that I could see with my own eyes that she was safe and sound. Her continued absence gnawed at me, as did Grant’s. I had no idea what had happened on Ramiel’s Day. Silas, reported Aiana, didn’t either. It worried her too, and she continued with the crossbow lessons when time allowed. She needed the distraction as much as I did. What I really longed to do was don Lady Aviel’s mask and strike out into the city. When my housemates could drag themselves away from gossiping about Adelaide, they had plenty of tales of danger and intrigue they’d heard about in Cape Triumph. Petty robberies, assaults. The militia could only follow up on so many—and the ones they did usually only involved influential citizens. The injustice of it made me restless, and I longed to stand up for the downtrodden. But I held myself back, both to avoid being the type of vigilante I’d lectured Tom about and because I didn’t want to cross paths with him.

I almost wished I had the backing of Tom’s crew again so that I could go see Warren Doyle in jail and . . . what? I wasn’t actually sure what I’d do. Even though he was locked away, I heard that he was well treated and even allowed fine food and clothing from his father. It incensed me to think of him enjoying those luxuries while Cedric healed from his beating. And there was Tamsin, of course. Warren knew more than he’d revealed, and I wanted to shake the answers out of him. I wanted him to pay for the way he’d made my friends suffer, but the law would have to decide that, not me..

To my surprise, a few social events crept into my schedule. Jasper and Charles were making a last, desperate effort to throw me in the path of eligible men, but it was to no avail. I didn’t even have to try to dissuade any would-be suitors. My mind was full of Grant, and I hardly spoke to anyone.




A little less than a week after he’d left, I found myself at a party honoring some visiting delegates from Williamston. There’d been no further communication between Lonzo and me, and I made an attempt to be charming tonight, in the hopes of learning more about the territories he worked in. But partway through the event, Aiana slipped into the elegant drawing room. She wasn’t assigned here tonight, and I stopped mid-sentence in a conversation I’d been having. Her eyes quickly scanned the crowd, and she hurried over to where Charles chatted with a few merchants. She pulled him to the side and said something in his ear. He looked across the room and, after spotting me, gave Aiana a nod.