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The promise of riches is one of them.
But my concentration shatters as a pair of familiar voices reaches my ears.
It’s Kaithar and the girl. My most trusted war-commander and Finley Solisar, my apparent bride-to-be. They’re down in the square, walking.
I’ve been told she’s sharp-eyed and restless; curious, quick-witted, and not afraid to speak her mind.
And she isn’t the type to sequester herself in her room, despite the fact that I ordered the servants to make it warm and luxurious.
No. She wanted towalk.In the biting cold of morning.
Accustomed to the comforts of their opulent palaces in the sunny midlands, most ladies of the nobility would show little interest in the frozen surroundings.
Even from here, I can smell her. Her blood-scent is the sweetest, purest, most tempting thing I have ever smelled in my entire cursed life.
The hunger hits me like a punch between the eyes.
The world swirls around me. My vision blurs.
Need. Her.
I grip the edge of the desk, steadying myself.
Three days.
That’s as long as I can go, apparently, after drinking her blood.
Three days without the terrible thirst.
And then it all falls apart.
It was presumptuous of me to hope that her glorious blood might be some sort of cure-all for my condition. That the feeling of satiety might be a permanent one.
No; life is never that simple.
I’m craving her blood again,terribly,and she’s down there in the square, walking around with bloody Kaithar.
And even though I’ve been preoccupied with my work, I can’t help but listen, can I?
As they speak.
As Kaithar tells her things about me.That I’m a good person, despite my failings. And heknowsI can hear him.
My commander… my old friend. He’s doing this on purpose, because he doesn’t agree with me on certain things, which he’s made very clear. An exasperated puff escapes my lips as I try and put a leash on my temper before it turns foul.
We’ve had this conversation before, more than once.
Kaithar’s one of those rare souls who’s never afraid to speak his mind around me.
“This avoidance business is pointless, Corvan. She’s here now. Doesn’t seem like she wants to be, either. You might as well just talk to her.”
“I have my reasons.”
“Well, you need to snap out of them, Your Highness. Because the way I see things, the Rahavan Empire is turning to shit in a handbasket, and recluse or not, you’re one of the few people that can keep it from going to the dogs.”
“Hell.”
“What?”
