“We should probably get back to the ball,” he said, to which my heart took a disappointed plunge. But then the grin spread over his face once more. “I wouldn’t want you thinking your betrothed wasn’t a gentleman.”

CHAPTER 44

The plain girl was becoming suspicious.

It was getting to be a problem, which was why the parasite decided something had to be done about it. Tonight.

The night of the first ball, during which the parasite first danced with the prince, the girl had gone with the most reasonable explanation—the Madame had obviously scammed her out of her hard-earned coin and peddled her a sleeping draft instead of a beauty elixir.

But the girl had been so overcome with a flood of conflicting emotions—what with the prince’s engagement and her reluctant concession that Ellie Payne was not as awful as she might have imagined—her indignation with Madame LeFleur had effectively slipped her mind.

That had all changed the night she’d woken soaked in Ellie Payne’s blood.

The parasite hadn’t had time to wash off, to burn the plain girl’s clothes, to bury the evidence of what had happened like she’d intended. When Ellie Payne had screamed, she’d alerted every guard stationed within three floors. The parasite had done well to reach the servant girl’s room before the moon peaked at its apex and the parasite surrendered the girl’s body over to its host.

The plain girl had sobbed.

She’d at least had the presence of mind to wash the blood off herself, to throw the clothes that bore the blood of Ellie Payne into the burning hearth. Later that night, when the plain girl had gone to check on Ellie, she still stank of blood.

Thankfully, no one had noticed. Not with the scent of Ellie’s wound overpowering her stench.

She couldn’t remember what had happened before, but there was no questioning that she’d done this. Not once the girl remembered the night of the ball, the hours she’d lost, the waking up in the streets. Not remembering how she’d gotten there.

The girl was many things. Jealous and lovesick and desperate. But she was not stupid.

She’d had conflicting feelings when she heard the news: Ellie Payne would make a full recovery.

She lied to herself about it regularly, but she could not hide the truth from the parasite. Disappointment had dropped like a jagged mace through the pit of the girl’s stomach. She’d shooed the feeling almost immediately, but not before the parasite tasted it.

The girl hated herself for that, even now. She considered it a lapse.

The parasite knew better.

The reaction had aligned with the girl’s truest self, her utmost desire, though she tried to deny it to herself.

She was the most desperate thing the parasite had ever inhabited.

It was intoxicating.

The next day, the plain girl had snuck away to Madame LeFleur’s, intent on demanding the shopkeeper confess what sort of draft she’d given the girl.

One “For Lease” sign and a handful of innocent questions to the neighboring shopkeepers later, and the girl learned of Madame LeFleur’s mysterious demise.

The parasite had feared the whole excursion would be quite the waste of time.

But the girl had been convinced. She had murdered the Madame. She was sure of it.

So the plain girl had started researching. Pamphlets stolen from the back of Madame LeFleur’s empty shop, books swiped from strange libraries on the outskirts of town.

With Madame LeFleur out of the way, the girl had no one to ask, no one to question.

Of course, with no professional direction, the girl had taken a wrong turn, chosen a faulty route.

She’d been wondering if she was a lychaen the past few weeks—not the faerie type, but the kind made from fanatical humans who dabbled in strange magic.

It had been dull at first, having to listen to the girl’s inner monologue take her down an erroneous path.

But the parasite had paid attention anyway. Just in case.

The girl was bound to happen upon the right information at some point, the key to freeing the parasite from her moonlit shackles, the answer to taking this body as her own. Permanently.

Then she could marry the prince, murder the insufferable king, and become Queen of Dwellen.

It shouldn’t have, but recently her thoughts had lingered more on the marrying the prince part than the becoming queen part.

Ellie Payne needed to get out of the way if that ever was to happen.

CHAPTER 45

ELLIE

I could still feel the warmth of his lips on mine, even when he escorted me to my room after the ball.

We’d danced to three more waltzes, until my feet were raw in my shoes. I would have danced with him more, would have ignored the pain for another fleeting moment as he twirled me around the room, that boyish grin on his face seeping into mine.

But he’d caught sense of my blisters and convinced me I’d danced enough.

And now as we stood at my door, I wanted nothing more than to feel his mouth on mine again.

“Goodnight, Ellie,” he said, bringing my hand to his lips and pressing a warm kiss against it. My face rushed with heat.

“That’s it?” I laughed.

He grinned. “What were you expecting?”

“You tried to seduce me back when you thought I hated you. Now you’re just offering a goodnight and a kiss to my hand?”

“Oh, I won’t be trying to seduce you again. Clearly that didn’t work, so I’m trying out a different method.”

“And what’s that?”

He leaned over me, gently pushing my back up against the door as his face hovered just above mine. “Goodnight, Ellie.”

The door creaked open behind me, and he flashed me a grin before sauntering away.

When I entered my room and shut the door behind me, I wondered how long it would take for the smile to fade from my cheeks.