Ulrich left the center of the dance floor as the musicians carried the waltz onward.
The brief disturbance caused by his dance with Airam had not stopped the celebration. It had merely changed the character of it. Conversation had returned in careful layers beneath the music yet glances still followed him across the hall.
He ignored them.
He moved toward the outer edge of the hall, where marble pillars broke the sightlines between the dancers and the servants' passages beyond. From there, he could observe the flow of attendants entering with trays of wine, musicians' pages moving near the raised platform, and guards exchanging their positions at the doors. Every path through the hall mattered. A poisoned drink could pass through a servant's hands. A concealed blade could emerge amid the press of dancers. A spell might require only a clear view of its target and a moment in which every eye was turned elsewhere.
The demon had intended to strike Queen Kaliantha tonight yes.
