“And how is the new Brotherhood chosen?”
His lips curve into a grin. “You’re full of questions, aren’t you, my sweet girl?”
“I’m just trying to understand it all.” Slowly, we move down the hall once more.
“The Brotherhood shifts power every twenty-five years or so. Each house bears the duty of producing a male heir born under its zodiac sign. Once all twelve heirs come of age, the tradition renews, and a new virgin queen is found.” He gives me the side-eye. “This is privileged information.”
“It sounds like a tradition based on superstition.”
“Men have tested the tradition over the years. The outcomes were never good.”
“How so?”
“Disease and death, mostly. When we follow tradition, we prosper. When we don’t…”
A shiver takes hold of me. Or was that an actual cold draft hitting my back? Suddenly, I wish I’d chosen a dress that wasn’t backless—or at least left my hair down. Gooseflesh erupts on my skin.
“Why is the queen always a virgin? Evangeline wasn’t a virgin to all twelve.”
“She was a virgin to only one.”
“Which one?”
A shadow seems to cross his face. “The House of Leo.”
I’m curious about his issue with Leo, but I don’t want to risk shutting down this conversation. We take a few more steps toward the open doors leading into the dining room, and I wait for the furrow between his dark brows to disappear before asking my next question. “What happens if one of the houses can’t produce an heir?”
“If fertility issues arise, we do whatever is necessary to produce an heir. Surrogates have been used in the past. So have mistresses.”
Something close to possessiveness rushes up inside me, and I imagine the man I’m to marry in bed with another woman. I don’t like that idea at all. And I don’t like that the man in my hypothetical vision is Liam. I’ve only known him for a day, but I’m becoming…attached.
How will I navigate the next twelve months without crushing my heart in the process? The potential for total annihilation is too great. No matter the outcome, someone will get hurt.
Several someones.
“What if a member of the Brotherhood is the one with the fertility problem?”
Liam stops, and the look he gives me is so intense, I’m tempted to take a step back. “That’s never happened, Novalee.”
“That’s…improbable at best and impossible at most.”
“The tradition hasn’t let us down yet.”
He urges me forward, and we arrive at the entrance of the formal dining room where my ladies are waiting. As Faye greets Liam with an air of coldness degrees below her usual aloofness, I suddenly remember my conversation with her before my bath.
The bath.
The one he interrupted and punished me for.
How could I forget, even for a moment, how absolute his power is? He pulled me in with his history lesson in the hall, seducing me with the mystery of the Brotherhood’s origins. Liam stimulates my mind as much as he stimulates my body.
What a dangerous combination.
“Ready to go in, ladies?” Liam gestures for us to enter first. I step into the elaborate dining room, my ladies on either side of me, and take in the circular space. Above a giant round table hangs a massive chandelier. There are no windows in this room, as we’re deep in the middle of the tower on the first floor.
It’s a stifling place, especially with eleven sets of eyes gawking at me from their thrones around the table.
Liam moves us forward, and I realize the table is sectioned into twelve slices. He clears his throat. “I’m pleased to present our queen, Novalee Van Buren and her ladies, Faye and Elise.”
I bow my head in a show of respect. Liam gestures for me to take a seat, then he settles into the chair on my right as my ladies sit on my left. We’re all connected at this table—a continuous circle that never ends.
“Before we make formal introductions,” Liam says, “I’d like to present Novalee with a gift.” He waves a hand at Selma, who crosses to the table carrying a white round box sitting on a gold tray. Liam picks it up and opens the top before setting it on the table.
A humongous diamond ring glitters under the light of the chandelier.
His brown eyes are warm, and there’s a hint of a smile on his lips as he takes my left hand in his. “Every member of the Brotherhood will present you with a gift at the beginning of his time with you. This ring is mine. It symbolizes the Brotherhood’s commitment to you and your duty to us.”
He slides it onto my ring finger, and I can’t help but gawk at the brilliance of the stone. It’s beautiful and weighs down my hand as much as the next twelve months weigh on my shoulders.
But I’ve recently learned that beautiful things come with hard realities.