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her?
    Well, it hardly mattered. She wasn’t here to make female friends. This was a world ruled by men. The way a woman got by was through manipulation.
    She noted Tadui Edaeii, second cousin to the Czz’ar, a small distance away with a female companion Evangeline did not recognize. Tadui was tall and lithe, with a hook nose centered in a not-completely-unpleasant face. Now he stared openly at her. Evangeline smiled at him and looked away, searching the crowd—albeit with bored affectation—for Roane. Finally, she located him. He was surrounded by, unsurprisingly, a bevy of female admirers. They laughed and hung on his every word, practically elbowing one another out of the way in an effort to win his favor.
    Entirely the wrong way to go about it. Really, she sniffed. How pedestrian.
    Not only was Roane first in line to the throne and still unmarried, he was handsome beyond all reckoning, with a muscular build, strong chin, and dark hair and eyes. Although not as physically appealing as the useless-to-her Anatol, if she were to be truthful. Roane was a complete and utter contrast to his brother, the Czz’ar, and made one wonder what was going in the family’s lineage.
    Roane made far more the dashing and virile character one would expect a Czz’ar to be, and, indeed, many had often said that Roane truly should’ve been the one to take the ruler’s scepter. True to form, Ondriiko seemed, at least outwardly, to show no consideration of these sometimes open concerns, or unease at the relative proximity of his brother to his throne.
    Perhaps he was oblivious to the danger.
    After Evangeline had taken a turn around the ballroom, she took up a position near Roane. Those she knew stopped and conversed with her and moved on. She kept her conversation light and her smile constant.
    Several courtiers asked her for dances, all of which she—seemingly, anyway—reluctantly agreed to. It would be important for her to seem to be sought after by many men, yet she could not encourage any single one of them too much. The last thing she needed tonight was her time monopolized. She crafted her body language and comments to engage her admirers at first, and then gently nudged them away.
    Charlotta Edaeii, cousin thrice-removed from Czz’ar Ondriiko, brought her a glass of fine red wine. When Charlotta gave the glass to her, her fingertips deliberately brushed the back of Evangeline’s hand. Ah, she was interested. That was a surprise.
    Evangeline lowered her eyes in a feigned gesture of demureness, then looked up and gave the woman a coy smile. Charlotta was a beautiful woman with many connections. Allowing herself to be seduced by her would be neither foolhardy nor a chore.
    The wine slid down her throat with velvety richness as she watched Charlotta walk away in her fine, shimmering gold gown and wondered how she’d be in bed. She took another sip of the wine and closed her eyes for moment, thanking Joshui for her magick. Without it, she’d be tending pigs in Cherkhasii right now.
    Tadui approached her and gave her a deep bow. “The lovely Evangeline, as beautiful as her personality is cool. I welcome you to our extended family.”
    As he straightened she offered her hand, which he kissed. She gave him a genuine smile, the first of the evening. He was a pleasant man. “Tadui. I wondered when you’d venture over to say hello. You’re as silver-tongued as ever.”
    “And you are as sly. Don’t think I can’t tell what you’re doing.” He put his hands at the small of his back, widened his stance, and affected a serious frown. “Tell me, miss, did you know you have positioned yourself in the line of sight of my illustrious second cousin?” He glanced at Roane.
    She laughed. “Oh, Tadui, I didn’t do that on purpose,” she lied. “Why, look, he hasn’t even noticed I’m here.”
    “Believe me, miss, he has noticed. I know my cousin too well. He doesn’t fail to detect any attractive females in the room.”
    Oh, she