Chapter 24: Seat Cards

"What do I want," I said.

"Yes."

I lay on his chest and looked at the ceiling.

I thought about it properly, because he had asked properly.

"I want to wake up in this bed," I said. "Every day, with the curtains shut."

"Done."

"I want to take my father's seat and do it better than he was allowed to."

"Done."

"I want my name on the door of my house, and Rosalind at Sunday dinner."

"And you never watching me from a screen again."

"Done," said Lucian. "All of it."

"And I want you to stop asking me if I stayed out of pity."

His hand stopped moving in my hair.

"Rosalind told you."

"Rosalind tells everyone everything. She's been shut up for three years."

I lifted my head.

"I stayed because you came and stood behind me, Lucian. That's all. That's the only reason there ever was."

He closed his eyes.

I felt something loosen in him through the bond, a thing that had been knotted for weeks.

"Thank you," he said.

"Don't thank me. Kiss me."

He did.

Three weeks later, the Hierarchy met in the Gilt Room.

It was an old custom, the first session of the year, held in the hotel where it had all begun.

The council sat at one long table on the top floor, under chandeliers, with the doors open to the city.

I walked in on Lucian's arm in a dark red dress, with my father's ring on my right hand.

Forty people turned to look.

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