“A low blow, Cécile.” The fury in his voice made my skin burn, and I stepped back despite knowing it was an act. “You’d do well to remember that it’s to save your kind that I have to do this at all. That it’s my friends and people who are suffering to ensure their survival.”

I flinched, because his words were the cold truth.

“I’m going to finish packing up, and then we’re leaving,” he said. “Courville is a long ways from here.”

I waited until he’d gone to the far side of the clearing, then, whirling, I stormed around the fire and kicked Angoulême in the ribs. “I hate you,” I snarled. “This is your fault!”

The snow crunched as someone ran up behind me, then Chris lifted me off my feet and pulled me back. “Cécile, don’t!”

“Why not?” I demanded. “He deserves it a thousand times over for what he did to Vincent. And to Victoria.”

“Because he’s bound and helpless, that’s why.” Chris’s words sounded rehearsed, and I prayed the Duke didn’t notice.

“He’s not helpless.” I slumped on a stump next to the fire, every inch of me tense with having the Duke in such close proximity. Especially knowing that Victoria’s magic was slowly unraveling. Knowing that he could hear me. “Do you think Tristan would be treating him with kid gloves if he was helpless? Would be negotiating with that backstabbing whore?”

“Easy,” Chris replied, sitting across from me. “Tristan knows what he’s doing. He’ll make the deal, and in a matter of days, Roland will be cured and the Duke will be dead. The war will be over.”

“But at what cost?” I blew my nose on a handkerchief. “Do you know what deal Lessa offered him before? That he set me aside and take her, pretending to be Anaïs, as his wife. Her allegiance in exchange for him making her queen.”

“That’s revolting.” The disgust in Chris’s voice wasn’t feigned. “Wait, you don’t actually think that he’d…”

I stared into the fire for a long time before saying, “No. He’ll never forgive Lessa for killing Anaïs or her part in killing his parents, but he will string her along if it means defeating Angoulême.” My eyes burned from the smoke. “Where is Victoria? She’s supposed to be keeping an eye on him.”

“Off trying to get Vincent to speak, I expect,” Chris said. “God in heaven, but I feel for her.”

“I do too,” I said, “but she needs to stay focused. I doubt Angoulême is out of tricks just yet.”

“Cécile.” Tristan came up behind me. “It’s time to go.”