“He knows this is a trap,” I whispered. “He knows what she plans to do.”

“That will not save him.” Marie went to my costume, tracing a finger down the silken fabric. “I want you to know, Cécile, I don’t relish this task. Harboring Anushka from the trolls is a burden those in my position have borne for five centuries. The duty of protecting the woman our husbands are oath-sworn to hunt down and kill. And she does not make it easy.”

The Regent didn’t know, and neither did Aiden. That explained much.

“It all makes for such strange irony that you – who are destined to be part of what keeps the curse in place – are responsible for unleashing one of the worst of them upon the world.”

“What has he done that is so horrible?” I demanded.

“It is what he can do that is terrifying,” she snapped. “Which is why he must be contained or killed. Those are your choices.”

I glared at her for a long moment, then let my shoulders slump in defeat. “I will do as she wishes. For his sake.”

“You’ve made the right choice.” She went to the door. “Finish getting ready. The guests have already begun to arrive.”

I waited until she was gone before wiping the fake tears from my face. Then I peeled the hair off my sweaty palm and examined it. There was no way of knowing who it belonged to, but it was my last chance. Tristan was planning to arrive promptly, and he’d be expecting to hear from me. I wasn’t ready to think about what might happen if I didn’t deliver.

Chapter 51

Tristan

“Eyes up,” I muttered under my breath, trying to keep my apprehension regarding Cécile’s silence out of my voice. “Remember, you’re supposed to be here.”

Sabine dutifully lifted her chin, but her death grip on my arm didn’t lessen.

“You told me once that information was free for the taking to those who watched and listened,” I added. “This is the same. Watch them, and do as they do. They may not know who you are, but that is not same as them knowing you’re the daughter of an innkeeper from a town in the middle of nowhere.”

“Right.”

I nodded at a pair I recognized from one of the many parties I’d attended during my first week in Trianon, introducing Sabine as an old friend of the family, before moving on. I heard their whispered speculation about how I secured an invitation to such an exclusive event, but none of that concerned me. Cécile should have contacted me by now, if not with answers, then at least to let me know our plan had failed.

“Do you see Marie?”

Sabine shook her head. She’d assured me she’d recognize the Lady du Chastelier, and I’d set her to watching the woman to see whom she spoke with. In the worst case, I needed to have the woman within reach in case I needed to force answers out of her the hard way. “But that’s the Regent over there,” Sabine added.