He laughed. “And you think Andō loves you for real? You’re just a tool to them.”

“No, I am not.” She held her head high. “After the scandal I thought I was ruined, never to wed. Hotaka came to me. He said he did not care whether I was a virgin on our wedding night. He did not want a bride, he wanted a wife. My company, my counsel, my trust, my powers to draw in friends and lay waste to his enemies, that was what he wanted, a partner for his long journey to break the Chinese hold on the Chief Director’s seat and rule the Mitsubishi as they should be ruled. Madame and her tutors gave me this power over people, but Andō taught me to realize that I had it, and to use it, and trusts me to choose my own tools, and my own victims.”

Dark Kosala dug angry fingers deep into her skirts. “You mean me, don’t you? My CFB?”

Danaë smiled softly. “Later, dear Bryar, you, and the Count, and I can retire to settle that issue ourselves, but kindly grant me some moments more to deal with my betrayer.”

“Betrayer?” Kraye mocked.

The Princesse faced him boldly. “Lifelong trust, that is what a husband and wife give one another, Merion, not the heat of passion.”

“You expected me to trust you when you were suddenly pregnant with someone else’s child?”

“That shouldn’t have mattered if you truly loved me. You failed the test.”

“Test?” His words grew chill. “You had your brother impregnate you to test my sincerity?”

She squeezed her brother’s hand. “If you had loved me, you would have stayed by me, embraced any child of my flesh, whatever its sire. And then I would have loved you forever, just as you had promised me. What joy we would have shared! Instead you…” Her fingers strayed to her cheek, drawn by the tactile memory of old blows. “You never loved me. I should have realized it sooner. Ganymede warned me. Every day you smuggled in letters swearing to love only me forever, while every night you vented your impatient lust on my twin! You didn’t want me for myself, you just wanted my body, and you didn’t care what mind and personality were inside, mine or Ganymede’s!”

The Prime Minister seethed, hands twitching with the urge to seize and tear. “You’re angry because I slept with your brother? Your husband sleeps with your brother. Everyone sleeps with your brother. That’s what your brother’s for!”

Ganymede ran out of syllables, but, sparkling like sun gold on angry water, writhed and screamed.

“I should have listened to my brother,” Danaë continued, strong. “But I wanted to think better of you, Merion, to think that you only turned to Ganymede in desperation in your wait for me. But I had to be sure. The pregnancy was my test, to make you think that I had been with another man, to see how you’d react. And it was my escape too, so we could be together. I knew you could never pay Madame as much for my hand as other suitors could, but if I was spoiled, scandalously with child, then petty lovers would turn away, and only you, my true, true love, would stay. It was the only way that we could have each other. It was my brother who brought me your seed.”