One Dark Throne (Three Dark Crowns #2)(59)

“The Arrons took Braddock. Arsinoe never would have let them if she were alive. And they found her blood. Right where Queen Katharine said they would.”

“I didn’t say she wasn’t shot,” Joseph says, trying to explain without having to tell Madrigal the truth about Arsinoe’s poisoner gift. “I just don’t know where Jules would go. If she needed someplace safe.”

“There’s nowhere Jules feels safe,” says Madrigal. “Not since the Ascension started. Or maybe ever. She’s always been watchful. Ready. That was the war gift, even then.” Madrigal takes a breath, and her face falls. “Only someones have ever made Jules feel safe. You used to, Joseph. And my sister, Caragh.”

“Caragh,” Joseph whispers, and Madrigal’s eyes brighten as she realizes what he means.

“The Black Cottage. But that’s so far.”

“You know our Jules. She would have tried.”

Flustered, Joseph picks up his bucket and sloshes filth across his shoes. He feels like a fool for not thinking of the cottage before. He wants to run for it immediately, so sure that he will find her there.

“We have to be careful,” Madrigal says. “The Council has spies here now. They will be watching. We have to wait for cover of dark.”





GREAVESDRAKE MANOR





The Arrons hold a grand party at Greavesdrake Manor in honor of Katharine’s victory. Small celebrations along the road from Wolf Spring were not enough. Nor was the parade back into the capital, with Katharine riding point before the revived and roaring bear.

“The beast was such a spectacle,” Renata Hargrove comments to several gathered guests. “Thrashing against the ropes and swinging its head back and forth. Even though it had just been poisoned and badly bled!”

“Where is it now?”

“Caged in the courtyard of the Volroy. I can barely look at it without shivering.”

“Wait until I parade it into Rolanth for the Reaping Moon,” Katharine says. She reaches for a flute of champagne and does not bother to sniff for toxin before draining nearly half. “Poor Mirabella will probably faint.”

Nicolas slips his hand around Katharine’s waist and pulls her onto the dance floor. He holds her very close and whispers things that make her heart pound. And Pietyr watches from their table, clenching his jaw so hard his face looks like it is about to shatter.

“Why do you look at him?” Nicolas asks.

“At who?”

“At Pietyr Renard. There has been something between the two of you. I can see it in the way he watches us.”

“If there was before, it is over now.” But even as she says so, Katharine’s eyes flicker toward Pietyr. Nicolas is handsome. He is bold, and he wants her. But he has not replaced Pietyr, and she fears bitterly that he never will.

“Send him away,” Nicolas whispers.

“No.”

“Send him away,” he says again. “Soon I will be in your bed, and I don’t want to look over my shoulder and find him standing there.”

Katharine pulls back. She gazes at him coolly. It was a request. But it sounded like an order.

“Pietyr will stay as long as he likes,” she says. “He is an Arron. He is family.”

Nicolas shrugs, and his voice returns to its normal softness.

“As you wish. But will he take part in the Hunt of the Stags?”

“He may.”

“And will he try to poison me there? Cut me with a poisoned blade?”

“Will you try to put your knife in his back?” Katharine counters, but Nicolas only laughs.

“Of course not, my sweet,” he says. “When I kill a man, I look into his eyes.”

Katharine forces a smile. Of course he is joking. He must be. No one must ever be allowed to harm Pietyr. No one but her.

Something across the room catches Nicolas’s attention, and he steps away.

“One moment, Queen Katharine. I have a gift for you, and it has just arrived.” He excuses himself and cuts through the guests toward the main doors, where Natalia’s butler, Edmund, is waiting.

Pietyr approaches her from behind.

“He leaves you in the middle of a song?”

“He says he has a gift for me.”

He turns her into his arms, and they begin to dance. It is easier and more natural feeling than with Nicolas. She and Pietyr are matched. When she looks into his eyes, she sees herself. Her better self reflected back at her.

“Whatever gift it is, it will not be worthy of you. He does not know how to treat a poisoner queen.”

Nicolas returns, with Edmund following and carrying a silver tray. A vase at its center holds a small bundle of greens capped with tiny white blossoms, and along the outside edge several cups stand filled with a white liquid.

Nicolas leads them off the dance floor to Natalia’s table, where Natalia sits talking with Genevieve, their brother Antonin, Cousin Lucian, and other members of the Black Council.

“If you will permit me,” he says, and they look up. “I have brought a gift, in honor of Queen Katharine’s victory.” He sets a glass before every poisoner at the table, even shoving a cup into Pietyr’s hand, before serving Natalia and Katharine last. “I hope you don’t mind my use of your staff, but . . . I wanted it to be a surprise.”