EMBER’S POV

Rayana tilts her head, thinking. “Not really. I suppose I was simply too fabulous for her.”

“Of course you were.”

“I’m serious. She disliked me, certainly, but it never felt like more than ordinary rivalry. Hale hates competition, and I was never invested enough in becoming Madame Governor of this house to care about whatever territorial nonsense she had going on.” Her expression shifts. “Celeste was different, though. My very reliable and absolutely non-stalkerish sources told me those two were constantly together. Tea parties, dinners, Celeste’s strange little circle of friends. Hale followed that woman around like Celeste had personally hung the moon for her.”

She pauses, then...