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I recited those names over and over and over. Again and again.
I wouldnotbe attracted to the murderer of my family. I wouldnotrespond to him as I just had. And I certainly wouldnotenvision the kiss we’d shared last night.
Gripping the sheets to my lap, I fought against my ridiculous innate urges. For whatever reason, my body wanted him, but my mind did not, so I wouldnotshow wanton longing or be weak or allow myself to feel any of the tumbling emotions that were spiraling through me at this very second.
This male was my enemy.
The only emotion I would allow myself to feel for him was hatred.
Images of my brother and parents suffering, then dying in the throne room pierced my mind. Pain threatened to engulf me, but I latched onto those mental pictures, and slowly, any heightened sense of longing for the prince faded.
“Back to fetch me already?” I said coolly.
His eyes narrowed, and he cast my sister a side-eye. “Leave us.”
My hand shot out to cover Cailis’s before she could rise from the bed. “No. She stays.”
The prince’s power vibrated the room, making the stones beneath my bed shiver. “I said she was toleave us.”
“And I said she wasto stay.”
Cailis’s hand trembled. I could only imagine the vivid fears running through her mind. She had no idea that I commonly challenged the prince.
“I see your insolence hasn’t changed in the slightest despite the fact that you may be my wife.” A flash of wildness shone in his eyes, but in a blink, it was gone.
I frowned. “I won’t be your wife.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Because I’d have to win the Trial to be your wife, and I don’t know how to control any of my affinities or wield magic, so how could I possibly win?”
“You’ll win because you’re going to train. Speaking of that, you’ll begin training with your tutor today. Your studies will start in earnest this afternoon, and since she’s the best tutor on the continent, I have no doubt you’ll succeed in three months when the tests commence.”
I eyed him warily, not for the first time sensing he wished me to be the victor. “It sounds like you...wantme to win.”
His eyes shuttered, then flicked down to my neck. To where bruises lay from Vorl’s attack. The crown prince’s hands pumped into fists, and his aura flared hotter.
My brow furrowed, and my heart thrummed faster, just like it did every time I thought of my village archon.
“Where is Vorl anyway?” I asked, changing the subject.
“The castle dungeon. Still alive. I haven’t decided what I’m going to do with him yet, but I have no doubt it will include some kind of torture.”
Cailis recoiled, a small sound of disgust parting her lips as I choked out, “You’re going to torture him?”
Prince Norivun smiled darkly. “At the very least. He touched you.Hurtyou. For that he will pay.”
The air seemed to thin between us again, and the tension rolling from the crown prince was so thick I could have drowned in it. He was going to hurt Vorl. For me.
“What if I don’t want that?”
His eyebrows rose. “You don’t want him punished for what he did to you?”
“Of course, I want him punished, but torture is—” Nausea roiled my stomach.
The crown prince’s twisted smile grew. “I won’t make you witness it if you’re squeamish. I shall be the one who enjoys that pleasure.”
“Do you hate him that much?”
