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“What gave me away?”
“The taste of your magic.”
She frowned. “In there,” she said, tapping Zander’s arm and pointing to a door I hadn’t noticed.
Zander shoved me toward the door. He dragged me into what looked like a formal sitting room, with hard wooden furniture and uncomfortable looking cushions. The furnishing was in stark contrast to the harsh gray architecture, and it did nothing to make the room cozy.
Zander pushed me onto one seat and stepped away, taking a position a short step away with his arms crossed over his chest like a bodyguard. Lucia sat down in a seat that looked far more comfortable than mine and looked down her nose at me the way she always had.
“I thought you went back to your parents after you left,” I said. “I thought…”
I suddenly wasn’t sure where I was. Maybe I was in the fortress where she’d grown up. If this place was the life Lucia was used to, being at the palace with Ren must have been like a hotel.
Lucia laughed again.
“You’re a fool if you think I’m going to settle for nothing. Far be it from me to let this slide.”
I glanced at Zander, who stared at me with his jaw clenched and eyes serious. He was watching me like a hawk, and he was close enough to the door that he would stop me if I tried to make a run for it.
It was exactly what I’d wanted to do, but I pushed the thought out of my mind. I was going to have to escape some other way if I wanted to get away from the two of them.
“So, a Conjurite, huh?”
Lucia rolled her eyes. “Everyone acts like it’s such a bad thing.” She looked at Zander and smiled before looking at me again.
“Itisa bad thing,” I said. “What good came of it?”
She shook her head. “It takes time to put things in place. Jasfin wasn’t built in a day.”
“No…but it can be destroyed in one.”
Lucia glared at me. “That’s not what this is. I don’t want to destroy the kingdom. I want to rule it.”
“With Zander?” It had been the plan all along. “Did you ever feel anything for Ren?”
She sighed. “You humans and your fantasies. It was a marriage of convenience. Well, it would have been ifyouhadn’t ruined the whole thing.” Bitterness twisted her face into a scowl. “But no matter, we’ll make it work.” She held out her hand to Zander, who took it and squeezed briefly.
The contact between them pulsed darkness into the room before it faded again. When they drew apart, I made a mental note; those two together were trouble.
I had to figure out how I was going to get out of here. And for that, I needed her to keep talking. I needed time.
Zander hadn’t been willing to monologue his evil plans when he’d attacked me, but Lucia liked it when she looked cunning. She loved herself.
“So, how do you know each other? Did you meet at a Conjurite convention?”
Zander clenched his jaw. Lucia smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Under her cute mask, a predator lay in wait to strike.
“Your tongue might get you killed one day.”
“And here I thought you would have Zander do it.”
She laughed. Ihatedit when she laughed.Make it stop. She was a maniac; she needed serious help.
“Zander and I grew up together,” she said when her laughter faded.
“So, bonded from the start,” I said. “And then you chose the darkness together, too.”
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she asked.
