For a moment, she could hardly breathe. It wasn’t as if she had never expected to meet these boys, of course, but she had thought it would happen some four years in the future. Instead, she was facing the people who would become her greatest threat, and she was completely unprepared. As a result, she responded with what was most comfortable and familiar: the rules of etiquette that Miss Hartwright had drilled into her.

She dipped her head in greeting. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintances, my lords, Mister Strayed.”

“I heard you were a rude girl, and that you failed to Bloom,” Lord Valian said abruptly. He was looking at her with narrowed eyes. Some other members of the group gasped, but the prince just looked on with a slight smile as if it was some great play.

Alicia grit her teeth. With anyone else, she would not have to tolerate such an insult. Unfortunately, she also knew that Lord Valian’s father was a Duke, the same rank as her own father, and that the prince favored the young lord. She wouldn’t be surprised to find that Prince Alsander had put the boy up to this. Responding to his rudeness in kind would only prove him right at best, and cause a diplomatic incident between the dukedoms at worst.

Instead, she just said, “I hope that you shall find those rumors entirely baseless. I have already demonstrated proof of Blooming, to the satisfaction of many witnesses. As to my manners, I shall leave that for you to judge.”

The young Lord Valian seemed about to respond, but Alicia caught the prince shaking his head slightly and the Lord shut his mouth. Instead, Marcus Strayed stepped forward, a young man who was dressed in finery and jewels that seemed designed to flaunt his wealth. It was by any account a breach of etiquette. As he was not even a member of the gentry, it was not his place to speak to a Duke’s daughter, not without her express permission. Yet that would only hold if he were the average commoner, and not the son of the richest commoner in the whole country, not to mention another favorite of the prince. “Forgive me, Lady Alicia, but it is one thing to be pleasant to those who stand above you, and quite another for those who you hold power over. There are those noblewomen who would smile kindly at a suitor, and then beat a servant when they returned home.”

Alicia felt her blood flush to her cheeks, despite her best efforts to maintain a stoic expression. It hurt not just because it was such an unexpected attack from someone of such lower status, but also because she couldn’t deny that there was some truth to it. Not that she had ever beaten a servant, but she had thrown things when she was mad, and it was true that she had amassed a bad reputation amongst the servants at home. Now she wanted to punch Marcus in his smug pretty boy face, to use her standing to crush him where he stood, but of course she couldn’t. Not only would that prove him right in his assessment, but it could similarly cause a split between the Senius house and the Strayed Corporation, which would be quite unfortunate.

Instead, she managed to reply in a stiff, cold tone. “I believe that such false-faced behavior is unsuitable for a noblewoman, and that any who behave that way are hypocrites and brutes.”

The young man arched an eyebrow. As he brought a hand up to his chin, Alicia could see that each of his fingers was adorned with a thin golden ring set with a shimmer of small sapphires, clearly a matching set. Even as she was aware of the importance of money, Alicia couldn’t help but feel that this flaunting of wealth was exceedingly tacky. But perhaps this was the only way he could show his power, that even as all the nobles looked down on him for his blood, he still had control over many of their pocketbooks. Alicia could almost respect that, if it wasn’t for the way he had clearly sought further power by allying himself so closely with the second prince.

“Pretty words indeed,” he said to her, with a short bow. “It would seem that the Lady is every bit the paragon of virtue that our Prince deserves as his fiancée. Tell me, is it true that our prince visited you shortly after your Blooming?”

Alicia nodded, letting the jab go unchallenged. She was busy trying to decipher this new trap. “Indeed, he came to visit after I fell ill. I recovered quickly, no doubt because of His Highness’ attention and kindness.” The words felt slimy leaving her mouth, especially given the prince’s prior invasive actions, but there was no choice.

The mousey Lord Richmond spoke up suddenly. “The scriptures state that falling ill when one has Bloomed is an unlucky omen. I pray that you were not thusly afflicted, Lady Senius.” His voice was thin and reedy, yet that gave it a strange weight, as if his words contained some truth that others could not see or access.

This trap, at least, was familiar. “I do not know of omens, but I assure you I have been quite well since I Bloomed. It was merely a brief fever from all the excitement.”

“Did you not collapse during the ceremony itself? I have it on good authority that such was the case.” His pale blue eyes stared directly at her, and she found it hard to look away. “Or do you deny the word of the Bishops of the Church?”

Ah, so that was his game. To lie would be to challenge the church, while being honest would play into his hands. She would have to step quite carefully to get through this unscathed. “Indeed, I did collapse shortly after the ceremony completed. As I said, my excitement overwhelmed me, as the ceremony brought me closer than I had ever been to the glory and power of the Nine-fold God.”

The boy didn’t seem to have a good answer to that, and after a moment instead said, “I understand the depths of faith, Lady Senius. I pray it may protect you from such omens.”

Alicia subtly looked at the three other men, wondering if they would join in on this as well, and if she would have to fend off an attack from a whole different angle that she was quite unprepared for. Fortunately, they didn’t seem to have been given such a role. It made sense: Lord Valian, Lord Richmond, and Marcus Strayed were all well protected from any retaliation by their status or position. The other men, who she did not recognize, seemed to be of lesser standing, and therefore were far less useful when it came to this assault.

And then, as if on an unseen signal, Marcus Strayed struck up a discussion with Lord Valian about the stuffed chimera in front of them. Predictably, the conversation was focused around how one would kill and sell such a beast. The other young men joined in, and even Lord Richmond joined in, to comment on how such creatures were an inherent heresy against the Ninefold God. Prince Alsander spoke up occasionally, often with some quip that would leave the rest of the men laughing.

It was quite clearly a discussion which a young lady of good breeding should have no part engaging with. What’s more, the body language of the young men all turned inwards, seeming to shut her out. Alicia did find the subject fascinating, and would have gladly engaged in such talks with someone like Elizabeth, but here she just had to silently observe. Nor had she been given permission to leave from the prince, and so she could not return to the side of Lady Bywin and the Marchioness. It was a special kind of agony, and the whiplash she felt going from intense scrutiny and attacks to being completely ignored was almost physically painful.

At length, Prince Alsander said, “My friends, I believe that the Lady is tired by all this talk.” His voice was prickly soft, yet everyone instantly fell to attentive silence as soon as he spoke. “Lady Senius, shall we take a tour around the room?” He held out his arm, all chivalry and kindness. The rest of the group immediately responded, stepping away and quickly leaving the two alone.

She took it reluctantly, and he started to lead her around the perimeter of the hall. To any who were watching, she was sure that they looked the picture of a young couple, bound by both promises and love. Quietly, she was seething. It was always a pain to talk with Prince Alsander, but in the past she had always just been with him alone at her estate. This had been different. She knew exactly what he was doing: he had gathered the sons of some of the most powerful men in the country, and he had used them like puppets to attack her. She was sure that any retaliation on her part would have had harsh and immediate consequences for the whole Senius house. Even having largely escaped their ploys unscathed, it still sent a message: the prince had connections and power, and he was more than willing to take aim at her family.

She could not contain it anymore. Quietly, in a carefully controlled tone, she said, “I do not appreciate being toyed with, your Highness.”

“Oh? And who was doing such a hurtful act? I promise I shall punish them for you,” he said, with a wide smirk.

It was too much. She gripped his arm tightly and leaned close to whisper in his ear. “I do not know why you seek to antagonize me, or why you want to drive wedges between the Senius house and other establishments. I do not know what pleasure you get from seeing me struggle, but it must stop. If you pursue this further, it will begin to affect your reputation, as well as the crown’s connection to my house.”

He took this all in, and she was furious to see that the slight grin never left his face or his eyes. He stopped walking, and she was forced to come to a sudden halt. They were in front of one of the cases, containing the massive skull of a dragon. It was over twice Alicia’s size, and she could scarcely imagine how big the full creature might be.

“Do you know, we once saw the dragon as the ultimate predator?” His voice was light, and Alicia’s eyes narrowed at the non sequitur. “They can grow to be truly massive, over one hundred feet tall, and their flames can reach up to two thousand degrees. They can kill a man as easily as we kill a rat. And yet, here is a skull, taken from a dragon slain by men.”

“Where are you going with this?” she asked, not caring if it was impolite.

His smirk turned into a full-on grin. “This dragon died at my father’s orders. I was there, you know; it was a grand hunt, and my father sent me to officiate. I got to watch as they crippled it, first the wings and then the legs, and then I watched as they began stripping the beast for parts while it was still alive. It’s better that way, you know; that way, its regeneration will repair the wounds, and you can get more materials. It struggled the whole time, and to its last moment, it could never understand how it had been beaten by mere humans.

He leaned in close, and Alicia felt a terrible chill rush through her. “Your father thinks that he can just do as he pleases. He thinks that he can marry his daughter to a prince of the land, just because he holds some sway. He forgets that the throne is the seat of all power, and that all he has is borrowed, and I believe it is time for him to remember that fact. So I do not care much for the crown’s connection to your house.”

“Besides, Ally.” His lips touched her ear and she felt like throwing up. “It’s fun to watch you squirm.”