THE LAST TIME TATIANA HAD wanted to yell at me, she’d simply taken me to one of her private sitting rooms. It had made for a weird atmosphere, like we were at teatime—except people didn’t usually scream at other people during teatime. I had no reason to believe this would be any different . . . until I noticed my escort was leading me to the main business buildings of the Court, the places where all royal governing was conducted. Shit. This was more serious than I’d thought.

And indeed, when I was finally ushered into the room where Tatiana waited . . . well, I nearly came to a...