The Blood Spell (Ravenspire, #4)(22)
Should she try to force Blue to comply by threatening to reveal her experiment to the queen and the royal magistrate? The de la Cours were close to the queen, so that could go badly for Dinah.
Should she try appealing to Blue’s father? Perhaps convince him that Dinah would offer protection for the de la Cours if he would get his daughter to produce gold for her?
There again she ran into the possibility of him reporting her to the queen. It was possible the queen would be upset with Blue’s actions. But it was even more likely that she would be furious to discover the precarious position Dinah was in. Without control of her empire, she had no way to protect the people in her quarter or bolster Balavata’s economy and outside business interests. Without control of her empire, she had nothing to offer in the way of an alliance for the betrothal season.
Without her empire, Dinah was perilously close to becoming friendless, penniless, and powerless once more, and this time, she’d be taking her daughters down with her.
No, whatever step she took next, it had to be bold. Decisive. It had to put her firmly in control of Blue and her experiments without anyone questioning a thing.
NINE
THREE DAYS AFTER the street fight that he would’ve won had Blue not stuck her nose once more where it didn’t belong, Kellan stepped out of his carriage in front of the Mortar & Pestle and was instantly flanked by two guards. Lady Gaillard, who had both her daughter Genevieve and two of her nieces in tow, was waiting beside the shop’s entrance. Someone in the palace must have been bribed into giving her the prince’s schedule. How many other head families knew his every move and were waiting to ambush him? No wonder he couldn’t get a single moment to himself without resorting to sneaking around like he was ten again.
The weight that had settled over his chest the moment he’d returned home to Balavata felt like it was crushing him as he straightened his shoulders and moved toward the shop.
“Prince Kellan!” Lady Gaillard swooped toward him, her delicate voice rising over the clip-clop of horse feet and the rumble of carriage wheels on the cobblestone street behind the prince.
“Lady Gaillard, you look positively delicious today,” Kellan said with a wink, smiling as the color rose in the woman’s golden cheeks. He’d quickly learned that flattering the mothers was an essential weapon in his arsenal.
“Oh, you rogue.” Lady Gaillard swept into a curtsy that left her neckline gaping open before him. Kellan averted his eyes and found Blue standing at her shop’s front door, one slim brow raised in scorn as she observed the situation. Her riotous curls framed her head, and her brown skin glowed in the sun. Her full lips twisted into a smirk as he stared. It should have made her look like the smug know-it-all he knew she was. Instead, he found himself wondering what she would look like if she smiled. A real smile, not the painfully polite version she usually trotted out when he was present.
It was an annoying thought, and a distraction he couldn’t afford. Especially when a smile from Blue probably meant she’d found another way to drain the fun out of his life.
“Of course, you remember my daughter, Genevieve. My nieces also came along to the market today, but Gen especially has been anxious to see you again.” Lady Gaillard shoved Gen toward the prince while managing to block her nieces’ bodies with her own.
Kellan caught Gen’s arms as she stumbled over her long skirt, and Lady Gaillard trilled with satisfaction. “How gallant of you, Your Majesty. I do think you favor our sweet Gen. Might we expect you to call upon us as her parents soon?”
There was no right answer to the question. If he said no, he would send the message that he wasn’t interested in Gen, and the Gaillards might change tactics from flattery to threats in their efforts to secure the betrothal. If he said yes, it would take Lady Gaillard less than a day to have the entire city discussing the prince’s upcoming commitment to her daughter, which would infuriate the other families, who would feel they hadn’t had enough of the prince’s time to get a fair shot at the throne.
Fortunately, he’d spent the last ten years learning how to artfully dodge questions about his misdeeds at the academy. As Gen mouthed, “I’m sorry,” with her face turned away from her mother, he gave her a charming smile and then extended the same to Lady Gaillard as he said, “I’m afraid my secretary keeps my engagement calendar. I really couldn’t say if you are on it at the moment. But do send an invitation if there’s an event you’d like me to attend.”
A snort of laughter came from the shop’s doorway, and Kellan sent Blue a withering glare. It wasn’t like he was enjoying the situation. He was making the best of the responsibility he’d been given. She should be ecstatic.
She shook her head and disappeared inside the shop. Kellan moved to follow—picking up his mother’s headache cream and finally seeing Pierre again were the reasons for his trip—but Lady Gaillard wasn’t through with him yet. It was a full five minutes of flattery, compliments, and dodging questions before he was able to extricate himself and enter the shop.
The main room was a light, airy space with dark red shelves against the walls, polished tables to display larger goods, and a few bins of candy or little potted creams near Pierre’s coin till. Pierre was busy explaining the differences between two types of powders to a woman who looked like a farmer. He looked up when the door’s chimes sang, and his face split into a wide, welcoming grin as he saw Kellan.