The Broken Ones (The Malediction Trilogy 0.6)(57)

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Pénélope said, and I turned to find Tristan standing in front of me. He waved a hand, and the half-blood élise came forward with a large vase full of living flowers of a myriad of colors. “These are for you, my lady.”

Pénélope’s eyes widened and the first genuine smile I’d seen on her face all night appeared. “They are so lovely. Thank you, Your Highness.” Then she glanced at me and added, “I want to make certain these are properly cared for. If you’d excuse me.”

She drifted away with élise in tow, leaving me and my cousin alone together.

“I didn’t think you’d come,” I finally said.

He shrugged, staring at his boots. “Yes, well.”

The silence was so awkward it made my teeth ache.

“Come on,” he finally said. “I’ve always wanted to have a look inside this place.”

We went into the manor, Tristan leading the way through the corridors, opening and closing doors as he went with little regard for privacy or decorum. “It’s nice,” he grudgingly admitted.

“Did you expect it to be otherwise?”

“No.” Opening the door to a sitting room, he looked around and then took a seat on one of the sofas. “Am I to assume Pénélope knows everything?”

My heart skipped. “You told me to keep her in the dark.”

“You’ll excuse me for questioning whether you listened.”

I leaned back in my chair and glared at him until he looked away. I hated abusing his trust in me, but I was afraid of how he’d react. Afraid he wouldn’t understand why I’d needed honesty between Pénélope and me. Afraid that he’d use it as an excuse to cut me out completely.

Not that it ended up mattering.

He said, “I need you to set up a meeting with Tips. It’s time he and the rest learned about me.”

Gripping the door handle with magic, I swung it shut. “You sure this is the place for a discussion like this?”

“I thought we were all about taking unnecessary risks these days,” he snapped, then scrubbed a hand through his hair. “It’s as good a place as any, especially since our aunt is keeping the Duke occupied.”

I sat across from him, then immediately rose because I couldn’t stand to be still. “You’re certain that’s a wise plan?”

“We are.”

“We?”

“Me, Ana?s, and the twins.”

So they had been meeting without me. I’d suspected as much, but the confirmation hurt. “I would’ve liked to have been included in those conversations, especially given that I’m the one who knows the half-bloods. The one who’s been meeting with them the past year.”

Tristan opened a drawer in the table before him, examined the contents, then closed it again. “I thought you wanted to spend your time with Pénélope.”

“I did. I do. But…” I gave my head a sharp shake.

“But?”

“You’re followed all the time. How exactly do you plan to meet with them without getting caught?”

Putting his boots on the table, he leaned back. “I’m going to take Ana?s up on her plan. She’s already made arrangements to purchase the building next to the tavern through an agent – not that everyone doesn’t know it was her doing the buying. We’ll put in a tunnel between the two buildings so that I can go between without anyone noticing.”

“Tristan…”

“We’ve already had two rendezvous there, put on a bit of a show for those who followed us. Another few times, and they’ll start to lose interest. Then I can start meeting with the sympathizers. Once they know it’s me–”

“Tristan,” I interrupted. “It’s not the right time. It’s too soon. If you get caught now, we’re in no position to make a move and win.”

He stared at me. “Do you think I don’t know that? But what other damnable choice do I have?”

“I could–”

“You could what?” he snapped. “You’re the one forcing my hand on this, Marc. You’re the one who put us in this position.”

“I had no choice.”

“Yes, you did.” He was on his feet. “You chose her. Now the rest of us must make sacrifices to accommodate that choice.”

“It’s not like I’m dead,” I said, all the arguments I’d prepared for this moment abandoning me. “I’m still more than capable of leading. The half-bloods trust me. The humans trust me. Can you say the same?”

“No, I can’t. Which is exactly why we need to make the transition while you’re able to facilitate it. Because if we wait until the worst happens, it will go badly. It could set me back years. Stones and sky, it could end everything I’ve worked for.”

Everything we’d worked for. And I was being cut out of the decision-making completely. No longer reliable enough to lead, and how long until I was no longer reliable enough to be included at all? This had been as much my dream as his, and he was taking it away because he was angry with me for doing something without his blasted permission. A frantic sort of desperation took hold of my mind with the realization that I was about to become irrelevant. Extraneous. So I played my trump card. “Have you stopped to think that this is exactly what the Duke wants you to do?”