Page 35 of Fate of the Sun King

“You,” Apricia says, snapping her fingers under the woman’s nose. “Pay attention. The first rule is don’t gawk at the warders. Well, that’s not the first rule. The first one is to pay attention to me at all times, but it is one of them.”

She turns her gaze back to Apricia and nods before the future Sun Queen starts rattling off an endless list of frivolous duties her new attendant will be responsible for. Zerra, I’d rather die.

I turn my attention back to the woman one more time, wondering why she seems familiar, but it doesn’t really matter. After that conversation with Atlas, I need something to take the edge off. Something warm and wet and eager to distract me from this throbbing pain behind my eye.

Maybe I’ll go find a guard or a courtier who doesn’t mind some teeth.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

NADIR

Standing against the wall with my arms crossed, I watch Mael and Lor spar in the sheltered backyard of the house. He’s teaching her how to use that dagger under her pillow, and she’s a quick study.

It’s obvious she’s used to fighting, though I can tell from the lack of finesse and her brute force that it was with her fists and not a weapon. My jaw clenches at the thought. I know she spent her years in Nostraza defending herself against countless lowlifes. She told me. She hurled it in my face exactly the way I deserved. Sometimes I wonder if we’ll ever be able to get past this rotten thing that sits between us like a decaying organ left to fester in the sun.

She had some training with Gabriel during the Trials, but that was with a sword, and I’m assuming he didn’t have much opportunity to finesse her skills. I wonder how hard he tried or if it was just another obligation he rushed through.

“Remember, a dagger is small, so you have to get close,” Mael says. “It does no good to wave that thing around. I’m just going to walk up and snatch it from you.”

“Try,” she says with a challenge in her tone, and I can’t help the smile that creeps to my face. Lor is fierce, but Mael is going to wipe the floor with her. There’s a reason he rose through the ranks of the Aurora army as quickly as he did. He moves like shadows, and though he keeps his true power concealed, he has the ability to unleash hell when pushed to his limit.

That skill saved our lives in the prisoner camp where we first met, suffering side by side for months under a battalion led by Atlas, who did everything he could to humiliate and punish me. Aphelion captured us during a raid behind their lines, leashing me and anyone else they suspected of having magic with long, thin chains of arcturite. Mael stayed under the radar because they had no idea what he could do. I left Atlas alive that day, though I didn’t have to, and he’s always hated that he owes me anything.

Mael grins and then goes on the offensive as they duck and weave while Lor slices her blade. He’s far too well trained to fall for any of her feints or tricks, and before long, he sweeps a leg behind her knees, sending her onto the pavers, where she lands on her back with an “oof.”

“Fuck,” she wheezes, and I tense, resisting every urge in my body to help her. I hate seeing her hurt in any way. Mael stands over her with his arms folded, wearing his signature irreverent smile, and she glares up at him with that ferocious expression that always makes my dick stir. I don’t like it when she looks at anyone else that way, but then she might never look at anyone again.

When she asked me for friendship in the clearing, it nearly broke my fucking heart. Of course I want to be her friend, but I want so much more. I’m doing my best to understand. She needs time to come to terms with everything she’s lived through.

Mael holds out his hand and pulls her up before they resume training.

“You just going to stand there?” Mael taunts me. “Afraid your girlfriend will realize I’m the better fighter?”

“I’m not his girlfriend,” Lor growls, and those words explode inside my chest, making me wince. I push it away. Much like I’ve been doing with all my feelings lately. I don’t know why it’s bothering me so much. I’m used to this. Pretending I don’t feel anything is how I’ve survived. But I do. Fuck, how I feel everything.

Mael rolls his eyes. “Sure you aren’t.”

Lor responds with a low snarl as they begin circling one another. I have a feeling Mael is about to pay for that comment.

The door to the courtyard bangs open, and to my surprise, Gabriel strides out. He stops and looks at the three of us as Mael and Lor pause in their fighting stances.

“What is it?” I ask, instantly on alert. “Does he know?”

Gabriel’s anger is evident by the deep groove between his eyes and the lines cording his neck. His hair is wild, and his cheeks are pink. His shoulders are so tight I’m surprised they haven’t snapped right off. “No,” he grinds out. “He doesn’t know yet.”

My posture relaxes at that. “Then what is it?”

“You have two weeks. That’s all the time I can give you.”

“Why?” Lor asks. “What happened?”

“He set the date for the bonding with Apricia, but only because he was forced into it. He’s ordered me to find you before then or else…”

He trails off, and he doesn’t have to finish that sentence for all of us to understand what he’s saying. It’s Lor or him, and he’s not choosing her.

Lor nods.

“Of course. Two weeks.”