The grand hall was a wreck. It smelled like dying roses and sweat. I couldn't stay in there, I felt like I might pass out from the suffocating smell. The broken chain of my fox mask dangled from my fingers, clinking against my rings. Winning felt like shit. It was just a cold, empty hole in my chest where I thought I'd feel something.
I needed to breathe air that didn't taste like people lying to each other. But the hallway to the gardens was blocked.
Emmeline was standing there. She looked like someone had smashed her with a hammer. Her makeup was a disaster, black streaks running down her face like she was leaking oil. She looked hollowed out.
"You smug bitch," she whispered. Her voice sounded like it was about to snap in half. "You think you've won? You think you just climbed to the top?" She took a step toward me, huffing like she'd been running. "You didn't climb anything. You just started an avalanche. And it's going to bury you right next to me."
I stood up straight. "The avalanche was already happening, Emmeline. Your family built their house on a crack in the ground. I didn't start the earthquake. I just decided I wasn't going to die quietly."
"Quietly?" She let out this ugly, broken laugh. "You made us a joke! Do you even get it? It's not just the money. It's the connections, the friends, the name... It's all gone." Her voice got high and shaky. "My mother is in the back room and the trustees won't even look at her. We're contagious because of you."
I looked at her. This was the girl who had spent all that time making my life a living hell for fun. I wanted to feel a rush. I wanted to feel like I'd finally evened the score. But I just felt tired. We were both in the same boat now. She'd lost her crown, and I'd never had one to begin with.
"Then get used to the dirt," I said. My voice was way too calm. "It's not as bad as you think. You get used to the taste after a while."
I tried to walk past her. She grabbed my wrist. Her fingers were like ice. "You ruined me," she hissed. Her eyes were wide, looking at me like I was the Grim Reaper. "You think that because he parades you around means he chose you? You are just a pawn in his little games. He will get bored soon enough. We could have... You could have just left. Why did you have to go that far?"
I looked at her hand, then I peeled her fingers off me, one by one. "You started it, Emmeline. You made a fool of my mother first. You dragged her name through the mud and called her a thief. Like that wasn't enough, you tricked me into believing you are actually sorry about that. Knocking on my door with your fake apology. I'm just returning the favor, Emmeline. Now you know what it feels like to have a laughing stock mother.
I left her there, looking like a crumbling statue in the middle of the hall.
I found Dmitri at the end of the Long Gallery. He was a black shadow against the moonlight. And standing across from him was the man who made him.
Viktor Volkov.
I ducked behind a pillar. The stone bit into my shoulder. I wanted to run, but I couldn't move. I had to hear this.
Dmitri's POV
My father was watching the party die through the archway like he was reviewing a boring movie.
"Feelings are a waste of time, Dmitri," Father said. He sounded like a man closing a deal. "You moved too fast. The Schuylers are a mess. Every vulture in the city is going to be picking at their bones before we can grab the land we want."
"I didn't care about the land," I said. The words slipped out before I could stop them.
He turned then. His face was all sharp lines and ice. "The goal is what I say it is. The girl was supposed to be a tool. A lever. Instead, you turned her into something else. Now she's starting fires you won't be able to control."
"I've got her under control."
He let out a tiny, pissed-off breath. "Do you? She stood in a room full of people who hated her and started a war using our ammunition. That's not a pawn, Dmitri. That's a rival. And you're letting her stay on the board." He stepped closer. "You're going to get the papers you took from my office. You're going to sign the guardianship forms. The Valois girl becomes a ward of the Volkov estate. We'll manage her. We'll keep her quiet and comfortable. And mostly, she'll shut up."
The thought of Isabelle reduced to nothing but a piece of paper made me want to puke.
"No."
The word fell between us. I've never disobeyed him since… my mother's death. He looked a bit shocked.
"She stays with me. Not as a ward. As a partner."
"Partner." He said it like it was a swear word. "You're my heir. Your partners are companies. Your friends are contracts. This... obsession... with a broken, messy girl is a massive failure. Nothing that wasn't supposed to happen in the first place. It's over."
The anger I'd been holding inside my whole life started to boil. "My judgment is the only reason you're winning tonight. Without her, the Schuylers would still be sitting on our necks. She isn't a problem. She's the key to everything after the money. She's the story people actually believe."
"And you believe your own bullshit," he replied. His gaze hardened. "You see a dynasty. I see a kid playing with matches in a room full of gas. This is your last chance. Hand over the girl and the documents. Return to your responsibilities. Otherwise… you're finished."
The ultimatum was a knife at my throat. I felt the weight of it all, the empire, the name, the power I'd been raised to take. Then I thought about Isabelle's face withering away because I sold her off. This isn't part of the plan. If I want to get to my father, I must be prepared to lose things.
I looked him in the eye. "If she's the price for the job, the job is shit. Keep it."
For the first time, I saw a crack in the ice. He was just shocked.
"Then you're out," he said, his voice going quiet and deadly. "The Volkov name, the money, the protection, it's gone. I'll make sure the lease is short. Don't come begging for a second chance." He paused. "The girl you choose over your life? She'll find out that without my shadow, she's just a target in an open field. Let's see how long she stays with a prince who owns nothing but ashes."
He didn't wait for me to say anything. He walked away. His footsteps echoed down the hall until it was just silence.
My knees nearly gave out. I had just traded everything, money, power, the throne I'd been raised to take, for a war with no army.
I was broke, kicked out, and completely screwed.
And yet…
There was something electric running through my veins.
Freedom.
I turned toward the pillar where I knew she was hiding. My asset. My mess. The only weapon I have left against my father.
I'd picked the fire. Now we'd see if we stayed warm or just burned to the ground together.