The Capital was a game of deception.
And she had just discovered that one of her most useful pieces was a highly intelligent, stressed, and extremely shiny administrator who was remarkably easy to manipulate.
She would have to be careful with him.
After all, Alistair was clever; he might eventually figure her out.
But that was a problem for another day. For now, there was a banquet in three days, and every major faction in the Imperial Court would be watching.
Seraphina's dark eyes gleamed over the top of her book.
'Let them come, bring their questions, spies, and their little schemes.'
She turned another page.
'I also have my ducks.'
And somewhere inside the Capital Estate, hundreds of tiny paper wings rustled simultaneously.
***
The morning sun over the Nacht Capital Estate was bright, cheerful, and incongruous with the suffocating academic warfare occurring within the primary drawing room.
