I whirled around, searching for the source of the whispers.
And found Arabella.
Of course.
She was standing in a cluster of noble ladies, hand pressed to her chest in mock concern, speaking just loudly enough to be overheard.
"I'm just so worried about my sister," she was saying, her voice dripping with false sympathy. "First the scandal with Duke Asterion, and now she's throwing herself at King Cassian? It's... it's unseemly. Inappropriate."
"Well, she was raised as a commoner," one of the ladies said. "Perhaps she doesn't understand proper decorum."
"Or perhaps," another added with a sneer, "she's exactly what everyone feared, a gold digger using her newfound status to seduce powerful men."
My hands clenched around the champagne glass.
More whispers rippled through the crowd. Nobles glancing at me, then looking away. Judging. Condemning.
The Emperor was moving toward me, clearly having heard the rumors, his expression thunderous.
