Page 12 of A Pact of Blood

My frustration spills out of me in a growl. “I saw her right after she stepped away from Tarquin. There was a moment when she looked as if the whole weight of the world had been taken off her shoulders.”

Lorenzo offers me a pained smile.“Being glad he’s gone doesn’t mean she murdered him.”

He probably doesn’twantto believe Aurelia would resort to murder. That’s the problem with all of them, isn’t it?

I’m the one who sparred with her, who stirred up her hotter emotions. She was mostly soft with them, but I saw how fierce she could be.

Aurelia has every bit as much grit and fire in that gorgeous body as I do when I’m slaughtering opponents in the arena.

Except I’ve only imagined the bodies I toppled were ourImperial Eminences. She was brilliant enough to take on the real thing.

I give it one last try, for her. “Iknowit was her. It wouldn’t have made any sense for her to stay here after she saw what callous fucks Tarquin and Marclinus were—unless she was sure at least one of them would be out of the way soon. Whatever you can say about her, she was never stupid. She’s a fucking hero.”

Lorenzo’s head droops, as if complimenting the woman who once lit him up brighter than that lantern now pains him.

Bastien only gives me a brief grimace. “You’re making the assumptions you want to be true.”

Neven’s hands ball at his sides, but he stays silent. I couldn’t expect anything else from the kid—he’s been on the sidelines this whole time. He doesn’t know what Aurelia is capable of.

Clenching my jaw, I spin on my heel. “Just wait until she proves it to you. We owe her better than this. We promised her we’d be there for her no matter what.”

Since none of my foster brothers seem inclined to get their heads out of their asses tonight, I stalk off to do just that on my own.

Gods above, how alone must Aurelia be feeling right now? She hasn’t risked talking to us in two days, and it’s not as if she has any other allies, let alone friends, in the entire court. She sure as fuck can’t count her husband as one.

Our princess—no, ourempress—is so strong, she can endure almost anything. She isn’t going to let a little loneliness get in the way of her mission. But I saw how she came alive in our arms.

I know she craves so much more, so muchbetter, than the jackass now on the throne could ever provide.

She deserves to know I’m still standing with her, that I’mspeaking up on her behalf with the others. That she won’t have to see the rest of her brilliant plans through on her own.

There’s got to be something useful I can contribute.

I don’t have many options for approaching the new empress, of course. Thanks to her heightened status, she’s got at least a couple of guards monitoring her everywhere she goes… except the privacy of her own chambers.

So I head straight from the library to the unused bedroom in the same hall as my own.

The secret passages in the walls go all the way up to the imperial apartments on the third floor. Each of the bedrooms up there has its own entrance, from back when the imperial family trusted their staff enough to allow them easier access.

Each of those discreet panels was bolted shut with the closing up of the network. It wouldn’t have done us any good to gain access to Marclinus’s or Tarquin’s chambers anyway, not as soon as it became clear just how well their guards were able to protect them even at a distance from any threat we could present.

I’m not looking to threaten now, only to talk.

I took the little spare time I’ve had in the past two days working the bolts free and setting aside the metal slabs that secured the sliding panel in the wall of the empress’s bedroom. This morning, I peeled off the last of them. When I reach the right branch in the passage, there’s nothing left blocking my entrance.

Pausing outside the panel, I hesitate. Is it worth the risk of using my gift? I don’t even know if Aurelia has left the ball. If she has, it’s possible the guards who’d have followed her have the same gift for detecting magic as some of Marclinus’s.

The consequences of a misstep would destroy everything I’ve come here for.

I waver in indecision and then lean my head close to the edge of the panel, my ear grazing the wood. If I can’t “see”what’s going on in the shadows beyond, maybe my regular senses will help me out.

For the first few minutes, I pick up nothing at all. Just as impatience digs its claws into me so deep I almost give in, there’s a faint rustling sound, like a restless body turning over beneath the sheets.

A smile crosses my lips. I’m about to nudge the panel open when a raspy snore carries through the wall.

My body goes rigid. I don’t think that sound is from Aurelia.

In fact, it sounds an awful lot like the snores I remember from various times Marclinus got drunk to the point of passing out on a sofa or a rug somewhere around the palace.

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