Page 107 of Enchanted Kingdom
He huffed. “Is not one of them. Nor will ever be.”
I let out a relieved sigh.
“I won’t give you names though. That’s up to them if they want to tell you. It’s their choice and I won’t take it from them. Getting pegged as disloyal in this castle is a death sentence. So much so that I have rarely even acknowledged it thus far in the Assemblages.”
“Then how do you know?”
He was still holding my hand and he brought it to his lips, tapping twice with his middle finger from underneath my hand. “It’s in our greeting. A secret cue.”
I gasped. “The tapping! You did it to me that first night.”
He laughed. “I was trying to let you know, even then, we were on the same side.”
My eyes went wide. “That’s how you know?!”
He nodded. “It’s how we all know. Whether it’s in a handshake between gentlemen or in how I greeted you.”
I shook my head. Another little thing now made sense.
He leaned in to kiss my temple. “I need to let you sleep now, sweetheart. Sorry I woke you. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I’m almost relieved Owen messed it up and forced Krew to tell you. It’s on Owen and Krew now and neither can be mad at either one of us.”
Everything he said made sense, I just couldn’t help but wonder... if our relationship really was as strong as I thought, wouldn’t he have told me anyway and trusted me to keep quiet? Trusted me enough to keep all the secrets, or even just keep a few of them?
For some reason, he had preferred me in the dark.
CHAPTER31
“How much ball prep is required?” I groaned to Silvia.
She smirked. “You should have been in the two hour long meeting I had with the Assemblage advisor. I thought I was never going to get out of that room.”
I sighed. The good news was that Keir’s Assemblage was down two more consorts to nineteen women total. I assumed to match the two that Krew had sent home earlier in the week with Lydia and Taleah. The bad news was that Keir was still dating eighteen other women despite sharing his wing with me.
“Not much longer,” Silvia encouraged as she curled a lock of my hair. She was talking about getting me ready, but I wished she was talking about the Assemblages themselves.
I had to admit, I did look nice. Keir’s women were to wear red. The top of my dress looked like it was made with flower petals woven into lace and it tapered off the farther the dress went. I now understood what Silvia had meant about there being another level of gowns for the balls. The detail on this thing was so intricate I felt sorry for the seamstress. I was afraid to turn too fast for fear of losing a petal on the dress.
“I’m leaving your hair down,” Siliva told me as she ran her fingers through my fresh curls, loosening them slightly. “Because I know how uncomfortable you feel about bare shoulders. And also probably being this fancy.”
I sighed. “It’s like you know me.”
She smirked. “Now. Between twenty and thirty Savaryn families will be there also. These balls are not just for the princes to parade you, they are for you to learn diplomacy.”
I just sat there thinking. “Will Aiyana’s family be there?”
She shook her head. “Not for the first one.”
I let out a breath. “Thank goodness.”
“Renna’s family will be, I think,” she offered.
I already felt better about the evening in learning that. “Any other words of wisdom?”
She bounced her shoulders in a shrug. “Other than the obvious? Stay away from the king? Whenever he and his most loyal gather, debauchery is sure to follow.”
My eyes went wide open.
“Sometimes the entertainment choices are, from what I understand... interesting.”
