Chapter 8: Queen's Killer's Daughter
“Oh!”
Crema turned toward the bathroom doorway and quickly pulled on her robe.
Giovan stood there, watching her.
She had locked the bedroom door without realizing he was already in the adjoining bathroom. He had returned before she expected him.
“I thought you were still at the office,” she said.
“I came back to get ready.”
His voice was easy, almost gentle.
For a moment, Crema felt the familiar pull of hope. Then she looked at the clothes laid out beside her.
“We should get dressed. I don’t want to be late.”
She kept the robe closed and moved toward the wardrobe.
Their recent private encounters had left too many questions unanswered. She did not want another one to replace the conversation they still needed.
Tonight, they had somewhere to be.
Giovan let her pass.
Crema dressed and checked her hair in the mirror. She put on the jewelry she had chosen, then gathered her purse.
When they stepped into the hallway, Janine was waiting.
“Shall we?” her cousin asked.
Giovan glanced at her.
“You’re ready too?”
“Yes. Your father said I should attend with Crema. I’m her assistant.”
Crema looked at the small items Janine had brought for taking notes. At least she had followed that instruction.
Giovan shrugged and walked toward the stairs.
He did not linger beside Janine or invite her into a private conversation.
Crema was relieved, though she wished she did not have to watch for such things.
What she had seen in his office remained clear in her mind. Janine had kissed him, and after noticing Crema, he had pulled her cousin closer.
She knew what she had witnessed.
She did not know what had happened before she arrived or after she left. Janine’s silence could not answer that question, and neither could Giovan’s attention tonight.
Crema followed them downstairs.
The journey began quietly, but they had to return to the palace after Giovan realized he had forgotten something.
Crema waited in the car while he went back inside.
By the time they set off again, the delay had made her anxious.
She watched the road, hoping they could still arrive before the discussion began.
At the Blossoms, a receptionist rose as they approached.
“Your Majesty’s guests are already seated, Prince Giovan. They’re waiting for you.”
Giovan looked toward Crema.
“This is why I said we needed to get ready quickly.”
She stopped beside him.
“We also had to go back.”
His expression tightened.
Crema did not raise her voice. She would not accept the whole delay as her fault, but she did not want to argue in the entrance while everyone waited.
“I offered to help her get ready,” Janine said. “She said no.”
“That wasn’t what delayed us,” Crema replied.
Janine opened her mouth again.
“Enough,” Giovan said. “We’re already late.”
He turned toward the meeting room.
Crema followed, with Janine behind her.
The interruption had been stopped, but her husband had not acknowledged his part in the delay. She kept that thought to herself as the doors opened.
Several people turned.
Crema wanted to lower her head. Instead, she greeted those nearest the entrance and walked to her place.
“Now that everyone is here, we can begin,” King Dior said.
His expression was stern. Crema could not tell whether he was displeased with her, Giovan, or the delay itself.
She sat straight and listened.
The discussion concerned pack rules and changes within the royal family. Crema’s new position was among them.
Hearing herself included made the responsibility feel more real.
She was not simply attending as someone’s guest. Decisions made here would affect people who would expect something from her.
King Dior also spoke about the future of his title.
He intended to hand it to Giovan soon.
Crema glanced at her husband.
He was still the prince. His father’s announcement concerned a transfer that had not yet happened.
She turned her attention back to the discussion.
Beside her, Janine began taking notes.
Crema followed each speaker as carefully as she could. There was much she needed to learn, and she did not want the evening’s awkward beginning to keep her from doing so.
When the meeting ended, the guests were invited to remain for the reception.
Crema put aside her questions for later.
For now, she needed to meet the people whose voices she had just heard across the table.
King Dior watched the guests move into the reception area.
Crema stayed near Giovan at first. Janine followed at a short distance.
The arrangement had brought Harbon’s daughter within reach.
Dior had not known enough about her family when his son’s marriage was first settled. If he had, he would have considered a different bride.
Now he had to work with the situation before him.
Harbon had disappeared three years earlier, after Queen Sheilamer’s death.
As the queen’s guardian, he had been close enough to her to draw suspicion. His disappearance had only deepened Dior’s anger.
Dior believed Harbon was involved.
But belief had not brought him back, and the questions surrounding the queen’s death remained.
She had died from poison associated with vampires. That did not establish who had given it to her or who else had helped.
Dior still wanted Harbon found.
He looked toward Janine.
Keeping her close might give him a way to reach her father. It also meant giving her opportunities he would not otherwise have allowed.
Tonight, he intended to put her beside Giovan while Crema was unable to take part.
He called a servant aside.
“Lady Crema will be offered wine,” he said quietly. “Put something in her drink to make her sleepy.”
The servant looked toward the reception.
Dior kept his voice low.
“See that it reaches her.”
He gave no explanation Crema could hear and sought no agreement from her.
To him, the interruption to her evening was a step in a larger plan. He concentrated on what he hoped to gain from Janine, pushing aside the harm his order could cause.
The servant moved away.
Dior returned to the guests.
“Lady Crema.”
Crema turned as a servant approached with wine.
“Thank you.”
She accepted the glass.
She had not heard Dior’s private instructions. Nothing about the brief exchange told her that the drink had been altered.
She took a small sip.
The room was filling with conversation. Music played beyond the tables, and people began moving toward the open space for dancing.
Crema did not particularly want wine, but she held the glass while greeting the guests introduced to her.
She tried to remember names and connect them with the discussion she had heard.
Knowing who carried each responsibility would help her understand the pack. She wanted to learn through listening, not pretend she already knew everything.
Across the room, Janine was dancing.
Her cousin smiled at one man, then turned toward another who approached.
Crema watched briefly before looking away.
After the morning’s arguments, she was glad to have some distance between them. She had asked Janine to take notes, and that work was finished.
She would not spend the reception following her every movement.
As long as Janine behaved appropriately, Crema had other people to speak with.
She took another small sip and listened to the guest beside her.
Janine moved through the reception with a smile.
Crema was occupied with introductions. Giovan was elsewhere among the guests.
For the moment, nobody was giving Janine instructions.
She enjoyed the attention and the freedom to speak without being reminded that she was an assistant.
But the palace was not a place she had entered without a purpose.
Years earlier, Marcedes had taken her into the family home. Janine had grown up close enough to Crema to learn her habits, her hopes, and how reluctant she was to argue.
That history made it easier to stand beside her now and appear familiar and harmless.
Harbon’s disappearance had left questions Janine could not escape.
So had Queen Sheilamer’s death.
The pack had lost more than its queen. Vampires had attacked while the werewolves were still mourning, and Harold, Dior’s brother, had been killed. He had been responsible for protecting the pack.
Those losses remained part of the royal family’s grief.
They also gave Dior a reason to pursue revenge.
Janine glanced toward the king.
He knew she was Harbon’s daughter. He had made that clear in the garden.
But he did not know the part she had played in the events surrounding his wife’s death.
She kept that knowledge hidden.
His questions had frightened her, yet his decision to keep her near Crema also gave her access. Whatever he hoped to accomplish through her, she had reasons of her own for remaining.
She turned back to the people around her and smiled again.
Dior believed bringing her closer might help him reach the truth.
He had not understood that, by giving her a place beside his family, he could be putting the whole pack at risk.
