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With a breathless wail, Jonas crumpled in a hard heap to the ground, staring at the empty space where Lysandra had been only moments ago.
He stayed like that, motionless, tears burning in his eyes, for some time, and he didn’t notice when the circle of fire disappeared, or watch as Lucia and Kyan left the abandoned market, leaving Jonas and Nic there all alone.
CHAPTER 19
FELIX
KRAESHIA
Felix woke up with the urgent knowledge that something was terribly wrong. If only he had any idea what it was.
He tried to ignore it, though, because life had never been better for him. He’d earned back King Gaius’s trust. He’d traveled beyond the shores of Mytica for the first time ever, to the beautiful empire of Kraeshia. And a gorgeous princess had invited him to share her bed for not one, but seven nights.
Seven. In a row.
Felix’s life had become so shiny and bright, so why did everything suddenly feel so damningly dark?
He crawled out of Princess Amara’s huge feather bed, draped with green silks and diaphanous veils of pale gold, and hastily got dressed.
His stomach grumbled. Perhaps he could attribute this dark feeling to hunger—ever since his arrival in Kraeshia, he’d consumed too many fruits and vegetables and not nearly enough red meat.
“Felix, my pretty beast . . .” Amara said sleepily. She wrapped her arms around his waist as he sat on the side of the bed to put on his boots. “Leaving me so soon?”
“Duty calls.”
She slid her hands down his bare chest. “But I don’t want you to go yet.”
“The king might disagree.”
“Let him.” Amara pulled his face to hers and kissed him. “Who cares what the king thinks, anyway?”
“Well, me for one. I work for him. And he’s very strict.”
“Leave him and work for me.”
“And be what? One of your lowly manservants?” He was surprised by the amount of poison in his voice. Where had that come from?
He knew theirs wasn’t a relationship with any potential or future. Amara was a princess with a large appetite and a short attention span—nearly as short as his own. But of course he wasn’t complaining. Amara was beautiful. Willing. Enthusiastic. Double-jointed.
So what the hell was wrong with him today that he wasn’t thanking the goddess for his enviable current situation?
He cast a wary look at her as he stood up and her hands dropped away from his body.
“Oh, dear,” she said. “My pretty beast is grumpy this morning.”
He wasn’t sure he liked that nickname, but knew enough not to correct her. “You know I’m not the grumpy sort.”
Amara leaned back against the pillows and watched him put on yesterday’s shirt and coat. “Tell me,” she said, her tone less playful now, “what will happen if my father refuses the king’s offer?”
They hadn’t spoken a word about politics all week, which was fine with Felix. He wasn’t the king’s advisor or confidant, nor did he have any interest in being anything more than his muscle and brawn.
“Don’t know,” he said. “You think he’ll refuse?”
Amara raised an eyebrow. “Do I think my father will refuse to hand over half his empire for a shiny bauble and a threat of magic?”
When he’d watched King Gaius wave the air Kindred under the emperor’s nose, Felix had been certain the Silver Sea had risen up and crashed over him right there at the banquet. It had taken every last sliver of his strength to keep his expression neutral. “It does sound pretty crazy, doesn’t it?”
Felix didn’t know much about the crystal, but he knew enough to be sure that it didn’t belong with an emperor who would use it to conquer the world.
