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Wrong pocket.
Silently cursing myself, I plucked the message from the other pocket and unrolled it.
L,
C’s spies have learned of the hourglass. His suspicions were correct. C advises caution and silence for now. It is possible the hourglass will soon be moved.
—P
I didn’t know who P was. But that hourglass…
It belonged to the hybrids.
Lorian’s footsteps sounded once more, cutting through the silence of the night. I didn’t bother moving, just raised my head until my eyes met his.
He was shirtless, drops of water still dripping down his chest. He angled his head and swept his gaze over me, still poised on his bedroll, his private correspondence in my hand.
I waved it like a weapon. “None of my concern?” I hissed.
Something that might have been satisfaction gleamed in his eyes before it was replaced by annoyance. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you not to snoop through other people’s belongings?”
“Where is it, Lorian? Where’s the hourglass?”
“I don’t know. And if I did, I couldn’t tell you.”
Fresh betrayal flooded me. My hand trembled. He watched me, his expression coolly patient. “My loyalty will always be to my people, Prisca. To my brother.”
Some tiny spark inside me—one I hadn’t realized was still burning—went out. Lorian’s gaze just fell to the letter I was holding.
“Think, wildcat.”
“Fuck you, Lorian.” Getting to my feet, I stuffed the stolen message into my own cloak pocket and stalked past him toward the river.
Caution and silence.
Telean had told me the hourglass had made it easier for my ancestors to wield their power and protect their kingdom. If I could find it, I could truly help the hybrids. That hourglass had been given to them by the gods. How dare the fae attempt to keep it from them?
Caution and silence.
I kicked out at a stone, watching it fly into the water. It splashed, and the sound tickled something at the edge of my memory.
Lorian was fae. When he wanted to be quiet, he didn’t make a sound.
And he didn’t leave his personal belongings behind. Given our current relationship, he would never be stupid enough to leave his cloak near me once I’d seen him slip that message inside his pocket.
Even as he’d warned me that his loyalties would always lie with his brother, he’d wantedme to read that letter.
Pulling out the note, I read it again.
He’d said hecouldn’ttell me, not that hewouldn’t.
I was forgetting that while he was a fae prince, he served at the pleasure of his king.
Blowing out a frustrated breath, I began to pace.
I had to start thinking like one of them—the men who ruled the continent. The men who’d been wielding their power since before I was born.
If I were a fae king, I would take one look at the “hybrid heir” and see her as a symbol. I’d want her to be just powerful enough to rally her forces to kill Regner, but never powerful enough to present an actual threat if she decided to turn on me. If, say, she decided to make me pay for the way my people had abandoned hers.
