SOPHIA
I didn’t stop running until I was outside. Most of the attendees were milling around near the maze’s entrance, but no one paid attention to , so I hurried up a nearby hill, away from everyone.
I found a spot under an oak tree. Here, I could see everything while staying out of the fray.
The main attraction of the Hunter’s Ball was the "hunt." This ga was very popular among the elites and had been for the last fifty years.
The host of the Hunter’s Ball was responsible for building the maze and providing the prize. Naturally, the hosting families were competitive, and tried to outdo each other with both the complexity of the mazes and the worth of the prizes.
For participants, the goal was to make it to the center of the maze and claim the reward.
To start the ga, the "prey" would be released into the maze. After ten minutes, the "hunters" would be allowed to enter. The hunters and the prey were decided before the event. If you received a red marker with your invitation, you were a hunter. Blue markers were prey.
Hunters were allowed to "kill" other hunters as well as prey they didn’t wish to claim. To kill a player, a hunter used a special gun that shot little balls of paint. Anyone who had even a speck of color on them would be ousted from the maze.
Prey didn’t have any weapons. They could only hide, run, or negotiate.
A hunter was allowed to claim only one "prey." Once they did so, hunter and prey worked together to find the center of the maze and take the prize.
Only a team of hunter and prey could win. No single person or teams with two hunters or two prey could win even if they found the center of the maze first.
The year before, when the Flowerbys hosted, Penelope and Jace won the ga.
This was probably the beginning of the misunderstanding about who, exactly, Jace was married to. He’d returned to Amaranth Manor the month before last year’s Hunter’s Ball and Penelope was the only woman at his side.
At that ti, our interactions remained sparse. I was busy with wedding planning and what amounted to wife training while he and Penelope entered society.
It wasn’t like people were unaware of the Willowmarch-Pagemoore marriage, but I wasn’t a well-known face among the elites.
I spent my whole life under the watchful eyes of my parents and older brothers. I was rarely allowed to attend society functions.
If I left Chapter House it was in the company of a family mber, and usually it was to attend weddings or funerals.
With my blinders off now, I could see that I had been unbelievably naive.
My parents liked to pretend that Penelope didn’t exist. After all, the Willowmarches were marrying "down" to us untitled Pagemoores.
The Pagemoores had stellar reputations as scholar-officials, but no real titles or properties. We weren’t poor, but neither we were rich. Certainly not by Willowmarch standards.
Even if Jace had brought ho several mistresses, my parents would’ve insisted that I marry him. I was a tradeable commodity. My marriage opened doors for my family, and at the end of the day, they cared more about what benefits they would receive than they did about my happiness.
In my previous life at this Hunter’s Ball, Penelope humiliated several tis during the evening. She spilled wine on . Maligned my reputation and insinuated I was a loose woman. Pushed into a dessert table.
And Jace hadn’t attended. He was still in the Capital. Why he was here this ti, I didn’t know.
Perhaps his presence is why Penelope hadn’t tried too hard to embarrass this ti around. Not that I expected that restraint to last. After all, Jace had made the grievous error of actually paying attention to .
I knew Penelope would make pay for that.
As for the Hunter’s Ball in my previous life, the evening ended when Penelope she locked in the kitchen larder while everyone else went outside to play the ga.
A servant found later. I was a blobbering ss. I went ho, defeated and humiliated, and imdiately penned a letter to my husband. I demanded that he send Penelope away.
I had no real leverage, though.
I had no title, no power, no money. My only true value was in how I ran the household and took care of Grandfather Willowmarch.
Everyone, including my own kin, didn’t think of as anything but cannon fodder.
Jace did not send Penelope ho. He didn’t even answer my letter. A few days later, two soldiers under his command arrived to pick up Penelope. She would spend a few days in the Capital while I, the victim, stayed ho to reflect on my mistakes.
Was it any wonder Penelope believed she could get away with killing ? Jace had made it clear he didn’t give a damn.
"What has made you frown so, Miss Pagemoore?" The man’s deep voice sent a thrill right through . Even before I turned to see who the speaker was, my heart recognized Duke Stonehart.
"Your Grace," I said, offering a curtsey.
"Would you be willing to call Nathan?" he asked softly.
"I can’t do that. We’re neither related nor married."
"We could change that." He reached out as though he might touch my hair, and then hesitated. He dropped his hand. Sighed.
"You’re quite shaless, Duke Stonehart."
"When it cos to you? Absolutely." He nodded toward the crowd. "Are you a hunter or prey?"
"Prey," I said. "Though I don’t think I’ll enter the maze. What are you, Duke Stonehart?"
"Hunter." He smiled. "I would very much like to capture you, Miss Pagemoore. Won’t you consider playing the ga?"
"How do you know you’ll be the one to find ?"
"I won’t allow another hunter to take you. When I want sothing, Miss Pagemoore, I am never deterred."
I stared up at him. His dark eyes t mine, and I felt my heart turn over in my chest. A fluttery feeling claid my belly as he leaned closer.
I really was playing with fire. Even with my intention of divorcing Jace, continuing this flirtatious ga as a married woman bordered on disgraceful.
"Are you saying you want ?" I asked boldly.
He lifted his hand again, but this ti, he didn’t hesitate. He pushed a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "Oh yes," he said a low voice that made tremble. "I very much want you."
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