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He snorts. “Of course not. Those girls are distractions. I had to hide you, Astra. Again, it wasn’t easy, but our effort will be rewarded.”
I sigh. “So that’s it? All I have to do is seduce him? Without any other information, right? I’m guessing you want me to whore for you while you keep the plans to yourself.”
“Whore? Women dream about marrying a king, Astra. It’s your chance for glory, for everything you’ve always wanted. Don’t make me change all my plans.”
Maybe upsetting him when we’re so high in the air and he could toss me out the door is not a good idea. I shake my head. “Sorry, I’m just… traumatized.”
“I know.” There’s sadness in his eyes. “Did you take any precautions? Not to get pregnant?”
“I was taking the tonic you gave me.”
“Good, good.” Oh, great. That’s all he cares about. “We’ll double check. You’ll need to give Renel an heir.”
Exactly. Whoring. But I swallow my words, and think about another issue. “Wouldn’t he want to marry a virgin?”
“Fae are not like us. And if anything, that will draw his interest even more.” He sniggers. “At least he’ll be able to claim he took one thing from his brother.”
Thing. Charming.
“What’s he going to do to Marlak?” I ask. “Kill him?” I don’t know how to feel about that.
“I think not. The brothers have a deal or something.”
A deal. A deal Marlak wanted to break. But if it was keeping him alive, then he wouldn’t break it now. “I see. And how did Renel find us?”
Otavio sniggers again. “Renel. That kid is incompetence personified. And quite stupid, frankly. It’s going to be so easy, Astra.”
“Who found me?” I insist.
“You need to give me more credit. I found you.” He points to my hair. “The color tincture was enchanted.” He frowns. “You were hidden for days, though.”
Hidden because of the river, but when I was outside the island… A chill runs over my body. “You sent bloodpuppets after me?”
He frowns. “No. Bloodpuppets?”
“There were also Crystal Court mercenaries. In the Court of Bees.”
“That wasn’t me. You’ll need to tell me everything in detail, so we understand. The magic of the coronation in the Court of Bees also hid you, and I couldn’t take you from there. Now I finally found you.” His voice cracks with emotion. “I never gave up on you, Astra.”
Of course, he’s all emotional about his plan, not about me. Still, I don’t even know what to do with my life, so I’d better play along—at least for now. I give him a smile, paying attention to smile with the eyes as well. “Thank you. I… should have listened to you.”
“Sometimes what we need are hard lessons. You’ll be stronger now, and we’ll have the Crystal Court by our side.”
Something else comes to my mind. “Are there others… like me?”
“With your hair, no. Tiurian, yes. The time for you to meet them will come. Focus on your task for now, Astra.”
Lovely task. “Sure.”
“Once we control the Crystal Court, then things will change.”
We. He thinks he’ll control the Crystal Court. The worst is that until a few days ago, I wouldn’t have seen anything wrong in that, wouldn’t have realized I was being manipulated. Perhaps I needed a hard lesson. Hard. That only reminds me of Marlak. It felt good, though, to feel his hardness inside me, feel his body against mine. Now it’s all so tainted that I want to swim in a pool of alcohol to get rid of the memory of that touch.
Otavio then points to the sword on my back. “What’s that?”
Can’t he see what it is? “A sword.”
He chuckles. “What for?”
