Cécile nodded.
My father rose to his feet. “There you have it Damia. You will give us Lessa.” He paused, tilting his head in thought. “Or you will give us your head. Your choice.”
The Dowager Duchesse made no attempt to hide her fury. She had gambled heavily and lost. To a human. I smiled inwardly.
“I’ll have her papers delivered in the morning,” she hissed, then stormed out of the room.
Lessa straightened, turning to watch her former mistress leave. She did not, I noticed, look particularly pleased with this turn of events. Cécile may have thought she was doing her a favor, but Lessa seemed to think otherwise.
My father flicked his fingers in Cécile’s direction. “You can go.” She hurried out, Marc and the twins trailing after her. I started to follow them, but my father held up his hand. “You stay.”
I waited silently as my father contemplated Lessa, but as to what he was thinking, I could not say. Sighing deeply, he raised a hand and a dark sphere encircled her, blocking off both sight and sound.
“I’ve always hated that manipulative old bat,” he muttered. “It was high time one of her plots turned back around to bite her on the ass. Although I didn’t expect Cécile to be the one doing the biting.”
I made a non-committal sound.
“I hate that whole bloody family,” he continued, pouring a glass of wine.
“Then why did you foster Roland with them?” The words were out before I could think.
A glass floated my direction and I snatched it out of the air, drinking deeply.
“You know why,” he said. “I didn’t want your aunt whispering in his ear like she did to you.”
“But why them?” I persisted. “Why a family that has been our enemy for centuries? Our most powerful enemy.”
“Ah.” He stared into the depths of his glass. “It was because they are our enemies.” He cleared his throat. “I wanted the girl Ana?s for you – she had all the makings of a good queen, and uniting the two of you would have done much to reduce tension between the houses. Angoulême was of an accord, with the exception of one aspect of the contract: he would not allow her to be bonded. And I could not risk such a union – there would be too much chance that she’d stab you in your sleep.”
I nodded slowly. Those of that family did not bond – they considered it a weakness. Ana?s’s mother had died mysteriously a few years ago, and there were whispers that her husband had murdered her. It was to his advantage – he had only two daughters, one of them now dead – and a new young wife gave him another chance at a son. Though in my opinion, anyone who married him was a fool.
“I gave them your brother to sweeten the pot, so to speak. The Duke agreed, and the contract was finalized.” He drank deeply. “Later, of course, we discovered that Ana?s and her sister were afflicted, and I broke off the engagement. She was unfit – something your cousin did a fine job of demonstrating when he made the mistake of bonding Pénélope.”
I was glad Marc was gone – he did not consider Pénélope a mistake.
“I did not know there was a contract,” I said.
“I know,” he said, regarding me with an unreadable expression. “Despite what you might think, there are a great many things you do not yet know.”
I shrugged. “Then enlighten me: why not take Roland back? It would be in your right.”
“And do what with him?” He drained his glass. “Your brother is a bloody menace, and the Duke’s family is the only one other than us with the mettle to control him. And I can’t very well bring Roland to the palace with Cécile wandering about. He’d slaughter her on sight. And that,” he inclined his head to me, “would be most unfortunate.”
That was an understatement.
“Ana?s knew about the contract,” he said, almost as an afterthought. “I’ve always been surprised she didn’t tell you.”
I wasn’t surprised – my friend did not suffer shame well. “Ana?s is loyal to me,” I said, “not to her father.”
“As you say,” my father replied, waving away the conversation. His eyes settled on the swirling black orb obscuring Lessa from view. “Go,” he said abruptly. “I need to deal with this.”