30
Assassins Play
Jess did her part, dressed to the hilt as the Lady Jessalan, Companion of the Fourth. She mingled, chatted, and was polite to everyone. Now that the full Royal Court was at the Summer Palace, the first of the Summer Balls had been thrown on the arrival of the King and as a celebration of Alex taking a Consort Elect. Well, not quite on his arrival, but a few days after they had arrived and settled in. Still, as pleasant as the ball was and more relaxed than the balls held in the capital, Jess kept her eyes on Kyle. She laughed at Lord Matterling’s embellished description of the annual migration of the court and the terrible hardships they’d faced ‘on the road’, but her eyes tracked across to Kyle.
Jess spotted him over to one side with a veritable gaggle of the court’s
