Harmless was not a word I would have applied to the Countess, even disregarding the necklace of linked fingerbones that dangled into the plunging neckline of her gown, or the small, sharp-toothed lizard that watched me, unblinking, from the depths of her upswept, silver-laced black hair. But I wasn’t surprised when Leander gave a small sigh and took his leave as she’d commanded—and it had nothing to do with any necromantic powers that she might have possessed.

“Now, my dear.” She tucked one hand into the curve of my arm and swept me firmly forward into the close-pressed crowd that circled the dance floor. “Tell me all about yourself.”

As an order, it would have horrified me from anyone else in the room—but apparently, some things were universal, even amongst the most sinister of professions. So, sighing, I allowed myself to be swept along. “I take it you’re Leander’s mother?”

“Ha!” She let out a crack of laughter. “You do have a brain about you. But no, I’m not that mealy-mouthed weakling. She and that useless father of his gave him up to the Necromancers’ Council decades ago, as all that type do when their children develop powers they can never understand. We’re abominations, don’t you know?” Her upper lip curled into a sneer. “But—”

“Decades?” Leander couldn’t be more than a year or two my senior, and I was barely four and twenty. Involuntarily, I turned, my gaze sweeping the crowd in search of his tall, elegant figure.

“Oh, yes. Perfectly customary, I assure you. It was only unfortunate all round that I wasn’t on the council myself at that point. Just because the old Master couldn’t take a bit of helpful advice about his fashion sense…well.” She sighed. “He never did have any sense at all. Otherwise, he never would have placed young Leander in Netherpool’s care.”

“Wait.” I dug in my iron heels on the tiled floor and forced us to a halt. “Are you telling me that Leander was actually raised by Sebastian Netherpool?”

So much for every necromancer being acquainted as the explanation for their tangle. I’d known Leander was keeping secrets from me!

“Shh, my dear.” The Countess tutted and gave my closest foot a quick kick to startle me forward, like a recalcitrant horse. “We don’t reveal our emotions in public, you know, especially not in this gathering of vultures.” She sneered meaningfully in the direction of a looming nearby necromancer with blood-red eyes and lethally sharpened, inch-long fingernails that dripped with toxic-looking goo.