The dress, made of the satiny white material she had selected, was unadorned. The women who had made it had followed Magda’s instructions perfectly in every detail. It hugged her curves in a way that gave it a feminine elegance no amount of lace and needlework embellishment could have matched.

The neckline was cut square. It complemented the cut of the dress perfectly and added to the grace of the design. It was a dress unlike any Magda had ever seen. For that matter, it was unlike anything anyone in the room had seen, and that was just what Magda had wanted to accomplish. Rather than draw attention to itself in an attempt to define beauty, it instead revealed the underlying beauty of the woman wearing it.

But it was meant to be more than simply an unexpected look for a dress. It was meant to be a lasting symbol.

It was a Confessor’s dress.

Lothain flashed her a sly smile before turning his attention to the crowd.

“This was to be a joyous occasion,” he said in a voice loud enough to carry across the sprawling room. The crowd quieted, looking unsure at what he meant. “I’m afraid that while I am to be installed as First Wizard, and that will go forward, there will be no wedding.”

Their unspoken question answered, the crowd erupted in chatter. Much of it unhappy at the news. Magda stood as stunned as everyone else. Lothain held his hands up, calling for silence.

“I’m sorry to have to inform you of this at this late moment, but I have only just learned the truth a short time ago, learned that Magda Searus had ulterior motives for agreeing to marry me. In truth, she harbored a monstrous reason.

“Her deadly plan was devious in its simplicity. It turns out that she only wanted to marry me so that she could bed me as her husband.”

Lothain let the scattering of chuckles spread, only to die out when he didn’t join in. Magda could sense, more than she saw, soldiers closing in behind her. There was nowhere to run.

“She wanted to bed me as her husband,” he said in a clear voice that everyone could hear, an accusatory tone honed as head prosecutor, “because she planned to stab me to death in the night. She only wanted to marry me to be able to get past those brave men who protect me, get close enough so that she could assassinate me as I slept beside her.”

He lifted an arm toward her as he gazed out over the crowd. “You see, Magda Searus is a traitor. But she is no ordinary traitor. She is the architect of all the strange murders that have been taking place here at the Keep.”