Page 141 of Hellbound

She ceased to breathe, hidden beneath his desk.

A stack of papers was dropped onto its surface, scattering a pen to the floor in front of her.

She stared at it, praying he’d let it lie.

She was Sevrant, but he would execute her without a second thought still. And there was no possible way she could excuse her way out of breaking into his private study.

He turned to the shelf she had been examining and pressed a lever in the wood’s vertical trim, revealing a compartment.

From the folds of his robes, he produced a well-worn black notebook and deposited it into the space before clicking it shut, his fingers lingering on the wood.

She couldn’t tell how much time had passed, but she waited until that ear-splitting sound faded into the distance.

Only then did she allow herself to suck in a breath. Balled up in a fetal position, clutching her head.

She grasped the edge of his desk, leaning on it for stability. He had left behind a guest list for Kindling in a few days. Her eyes swept over the paper, her finger tracing the parchment, smirking as she noted a strike through Archbishop Serafin’s name.

She turned to the shelf and repeated the same actions Karsan took.

Click.

The panel popped open, revealing the notebook neatly fitted into the wood.

Her gloved hand trembled as she took hold of it. The journal spanned years, starting benignly as the writings of an immature young prince.

Criticizing his brother, his father, and the court.

The criticisms paused when a new name began to appear on those scribbled pages: Vezna.

From there, it took a darker, more obsessive turn.

She asked my opinion on the border disputes. Not Aleksander’s—mine. She values my intellect over his charm.

Another entry.

I dream of her, of a kingdom where merit and hard work, not birth order, determine succession, where Vezna looks at me not as a shadow to the throne but as the one who deserves to sit on it. Why does she scorn me in favor of Aleksander and Iskra? Does she not see the power we would wield together?

The latest entry.

I can’t stop seeing her in my nightmares. And yet, I would endure her haunting me for the rest of my life because no other woman will ever compare. I tried to offer her a way out, but I knew she would never bend. I loved that about her. But it was exactly why I had to break her. She understood at the end, I think. Some obsessions are too dangerous to refuse.

A slow smile crawled to Ksenia’s face.

She would desecrate everything he held dear.

She snapped out of her reverie as the shifting rays directly shone in her gaze. She quickly returned the journal to its hiding spot and shifted the panel back until she heard the corresponding click.

Hastening down the stairs, her heart beating in her ears, she peered through an open window at the base of them, spying the brazier beneath her. She stuck her hand out of the window and deposited the last few resin shards into the open flame.

Like before, she counted the thudding bodies outside the tower door as she opened it and picked her way around their strewn limbs.

She passed through an open-air hallway, the wind biting through her shawl.

Nobles were leaving from the solar to a nearby courtyard, drawn to the rare bit of sunlight.

“Sevrant.” His voice iced the blood in her veins.

Shit.