Page 59 of Their Blood Queen

My hand falls to the place above my navel as it throbs in memory.

“What views do Earl Rinhold and Duchess Rinhold differ on when it comes to me, if I may ask?” Turning to Beatrix, I give her an encouraging smile.

She is holding a variety of trays and stops eyeing them to look up at me. Her brow crinkles, seeming to mess up her dark makeup that slashes onyx lines over her wilted eyelids. It rubs me the wrong way that Duchess Rinhold won’t even give a few drops of anti-aging elixirs to her staff. “I watched the young master grow up from a mere babe. I’ve been here for a long time, and I’m a good judge of character, Lady Scarlett, so I will tell you this.” She leans in as she lowers her voice. “Duchess Rinhold has never loved the Earl like she loves her daughter.”

It’s my turn to crinkle my brow. “Earl Rinhold has a sister?”

Julie and Beatrix share a look. If I was supposed to know that, I didn’t.

I bite my lip. “She wants her son to produce an heir, but she doesn’t want me to outshine her daughter,” I surmise. “Because, technically, I could surpass the role of Duchess, leaving it to Earl Rinhold’s sister, should I be deemed unfit for the role.”

Beatrix gives me a wry smile. “Something like that, my lady. And given Lady Liliana’s exposure to anti-aging elixirs during the Duchess’s unexpected pregnancy…”

My eyes widen. “Edward’s sister is barren?”

Beatrix places a finger to her lips. “We don’t know for sure. Her mother has always used the elixirs, even when pregnant, we suspect. Which would have an impact on the child growing in her womb.” She sighs. “We certainly don’t gossip about it. But…” She lowers her hand and gives me a grave nod. “I know what kind of tonics a fertility test requires. I had administered them to Lady Liliana during a routine doctor visit when she came of age.”

Irritation prickles my skin. Duchess Rinhold wants it all. She requires her son to produce an heir for the family because her daughter cannot. But she wants this Lady Liliana to inherit the Duchess role all the same.

So where does that leave me?

I’m to be nothing more than a breeder…

“Which fragrance would you like, my lady?” Julie asks while presenting a tray of labeled bottles.

The dismal thoughts fade away as I peruse the selections. The important thing for me to remember is that I have thirty days to secure my place. I never planned to become a Duchess. In my own family, I was preparing to take over a smaller settlement with the population created by offsetting inhabitants from Nightingale Village.

With all the extra selections, though, there won’t be much of a population to offset anyway.

So where does that leave me now?

If I did return home, it would be to ruin.

But if I stayed… I refused to play a role determined for me.

I’m Scarlett Nightingale and I make my own fate.

Nightmares won’t control me… and Duchess Rinhold certainly won’t, either.

A thrill runs through me that I’m not accustomed to. I rarely play Elite games, but now that I’ve been thrust into the biggest one of my life, I’m determined to win.

For some reason, I feel that my selection of fragrance will determine the tone for tonight, so I judge each one carefully. I’m drawn to the bottle titled Peach Elegance in a scrawling script on a glittery label. “That one,” I say with a pointed finger, then smile when she sprays it along my collarbone and a frosting of peach-colored glitter shimmers on my skin and pushed-up breasts.

“Would you like me to fetch the Earl?” Julie asks, her eyes bright with wonder as she gazes up at me. I can tell I’m everything she hopes to be.

That only makes me want to succeed so I don’t let young girls like Julie down.

“No,” I decide aloud as I rest my hand above my navel. “I’ll make my entrance alone.”

CHAPTER 14

SCARLETT

Beatrix and Julie escort me as far as the entrance hall. Once the harmony of wind instruments and deep, dreamlike notes of a cello thrums in my chest, they’re gone.

So I endure the rest of my journey alone, venturing through a wide-open archway that lets the sounds of mirth and richness spill through.

My view as I step forward takes my breath away.