Chapter 2

"Poor woman," Nora said. "Imagine living with that executioner every day."

Ben did not relax.

She looked up. "Wait. Why is this bad news for us?"

"The king is choosing a male consort. Every unmarried gentleman in Newport between eighteen and twenty-one may be summoned."

Nora stared at him. Twenty. Precisely the wrong age.

Another voice shouted from the hall. "His Highness is here! Your grandfather says everyone must come to the courtyard!"

The rose fell from her hand.

Edmund Ward already knelt at the front of his household when she slipped behind the shrubbery. Adrian sat above them with a cup of tea. His guard Cole stood beside him, hand on his sword.

"What brings Your Highness here?" Edmund asked shakily.

"Business," Cole said. "You need not ask what kind."

"Yes. Of course."

Nora slid into place beside Helen. Her mother flinched. Nora bowed her head and prayed to every power this strange world possessed that she would not be selected.

Adrian rose. His boots stopped in front of her.

"Noah."

"At your service."

Her stomach growled into the silence.

"Hungry?"

"I wouldn't dare lie to you. Yes."

"What would you like?"

"Roast duck. Fried chicken. Braised beef. Lobster. Buttered cabbage. Game pie..." The list escaped before she could stop it.

Edmund closed his eyes. Surely his ancestors were already arriving to escort him into the grave. Helen thought of her dead husband and felt herself following him.

Nora could almost hear their despair. She had merely been hungry.

"You have considerable expertise in eating," Adrian observed.

"That's my only accomplishment, Your Highness. I'm a glutton. Quite useless otherwise."

"A good appetite is a blessing."

He lifted her chin. Nora froze under the examination. Helen went cold. Had he discovered the truth?

"Clear skin. Regular features. Acceptable." His hand dropped. "Be ready. I'll send for you tomorrow."

A household servant in blue rushed forward and bowed.

"Forgive me, Your Highness! Master Noah drinks, gambles, visits brothels—every vice imaginable. Let me serve you instead."

Nora stared. Apparently men competed for men as enthusiastically as anybody else.

"Are you qualified?" Adrian asked.

The servant faltered. "Spare me, Your Highness. Please!"

"Until you asked, I hadn't decided to kill you. But I don't enjoy being told what to do."

Adrian's boot struck. The servant fell and did not get up. Nora's breath caught. Adrian wiped his hands and walked away, leaving the household kneeling around the body.

So that was what an unpredictable temper looked like in practice.

After dark she took Ben and a shovel to Daniel Ward's grave.

"Why are we here?" Ben asked.

"I miss my father."

"Then why the shovel?"

"Dig over there."

He looked from the shovel to the headstone. "You aren't going to dig him up?"

"Do I look that depraved?"

She produced two small bars of gold. Ben understood at last and began a hole beside the grave, leaving the burial itself untouched.

Nora knelt. "Dad, keep my escape money safe. And if you have any influence, please make the regent reject me. I can't afford the honor."

High in a nearby tree, Adrian listened with folded arms. Rejected by him? The young man had chosen an unlikely prayer.