Page 19 of A Dagger of Ice and Intrigue
Fabrian shrugged. “History has a strange way of circling back. The Serpents will stand on the victor’s side now.”
My brows furrowed. Fabrian was horrid, but he was no fool. The sweet wine might have loosened his tongue and reddened his eyes, but there was still that vicious, calculated spark in them.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Evie, despite being a Vegheara, didn’t have any political power–unless she took the throne.
“Can’t tell you all my secrets, you might steal the opportunity straight from under me.” He shrugged again, this time with less grace. “Though you’d never do that, would you? Those self-righteous principles of yours are going to get you killed.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It’s a warning,” he said, sounding serious for the first time. “Your face is pretty enough to keep around.”
“You are the worst specimen of a man I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting.” I rolled my shoulders back. “May your worst enemies live long enough to witness everything you love crumble in front of you.”
Fabrian huffed a laugh through his nose. “Always had a thing for spearing a man with words, didn’t you, Huntress?”
“Thank your gods it’s only words this time.”
“You know what? I actually believe you.”
It was a pitiful day indeed when a louse like Fabrian had more faith in my abilities than I did.
We both shut up as the priest appeared behind us. He was the most gilded of all, his saintly hat rising at least three feet inthe air, his white robe trimmed with silver leaves, just like the heavy book he carried.
A stillness brimming with anticipation settled on the entire courtyard as the storm inside me raged. I placed a hand on my stomach to settle the sudden knots, the only show of weakness I’d allow myself.
A strange fog overtook my mind. It lingered, no matter how much I tried to blink through it.
Something wasn’t right.
Tense moments had never dulled my thoughts, they’d only sharpened them.
Before I could figure out why my body and mind spun out of my control, the music rose.
Evie’s small frame speared the end of the aisle, all eyes darting toward her.
All concerns for my own being vanished as I took in each one of her hesitant steps, face shrouded behind that Elysian veil Fabrian had made a show of buying.
A ripple of palpable unease rushed through the Protectorate side of the garden. Too many members of my Clan were still sipping from their glasses, trying to give Fabrian a run for his drunken ways, as if they too needed some help to get through this day.
Meanwhile, the Serpents murmured among themselves, parvenu noses stuck high in the air.
As if she wasn’t Evie “Evelina” Vegheara, who’d been born to lead our entire Clan.
As if their little reptile-wrangling powers would stand a chance against a Protectorate First Family magic wielder.
As if their Clan could have even remained standing if not for those overflowing vaults of theirs.
They acted like Fabrian was the catch of a generation, not the waste of space he actually was.
Yet here they were, having the absolute gall to whisper aboutourEvie.
I growled as a Serpent member–who looked one moon away from dying–had the nerve to curl his thin lip at my cousin. He had the good sense to avert his gaze and pretend to be checking his jewel-encrusted watch instead.
Fabrian, meanwhile, didn’t notice any of it.
The fast gulps of alcohol had finally caught up with his arrogance. The groom was blinking fast, his cheeks turning a pitiful shade of overheated red.
