“I want him to come back.”

“That is the last thing you should want, Highness.”

“I want him to be as he was before her.”

I was fairly certain her was me, and if Roland blamed me for his brother’s changed behavior, that would explain the intensity of his dislike.

“You know he was only pretending to be that way before,” Angoulême said. “He deceived everyone.”

Roland did not reply, and I wished desperately that I could see his face. There was something about his tone of voice when he spoke about wanting Tristan’s return, something that made me think he actually cared for him in some fashion. It made me realize that I knew very little about the relationship, such as it was, between the two brothers. It made me wonder if there was something worth salvaging in that monster of a boy after all.

“Anaïs is upstairs,” Angoulême finally said. “Why don’t you bring the game to her? I’m sure it would please her greatly to play with you.”

“It would be the kind thing to do?” Roland asked, as though he really was not certain what was kindness and what was not.

“Yes, Your Highness. Most kind indeed.”

No one said anything, but moments later a door opened and closed, and I heard the patter of small feet running up a flight of stairs.

“You said you had him under control,” the Dowager Duchesse snapped. “Blasted creature is a menace to all!”

“I do have him under control.” Glass clinked again. “It isn’t as though I can go ordering him about by name in the middle of the street.”

“What choice do you have?” Her voice was bitter. “Roland is as mad as any I’ve encountered – a Montigny mind and power utterly corrupted by iron. If he were anyone other than who he is, Thibault would have had him put down years ago. He feels nothing – cares nothing for anything but his own black pleasures, and while he may not be so clever as his brother, he’s wily enough to find ways around your weak controls.”

“We need him for there to be any chance of taking the throne.”

Both were silent for a long time, making me believe that Damia was in agreement. But then she spoke.

“He has outplayed you, my son.” Her voice dripped with mockery, and I felt a moment’s pity for him having her as a mother. “Thibault has been playing a longer game than anyone believed, I think. And if Tristan succeeds in breaking the curse, the Montignys will rule in a way that has not been seen since the time of the great kings and queens of old.”

“What is it you would have me do?”

“Send Roland to kill his father now. With the boy on the throne, we control Trollus and its gold. With that, it is only a matter of sending every greedy cutthroat at our disposal after Cécile. She is their weakness in every possible way, and she will die for it. And once they are dead, we will play our long-held trump card and the world will bend its knee to us.”