She had never said something sounrefined. She was absolutely mortified and she could imagine Liqin clicking her tongue at how crude that sounded. How very un-princess-like it was. But Nikator only grunted a response and closed his eyes.
Biyu’s legs danged over the edge of her mattress and she rose up to her feet. When she glanced over at him, his eyes were still sealed. She took unhurried, measured steps toward Jade so as not to alert him that something was off. When she reached Jade, she knelt in front of her, blocking his view and quickly plucked the note out. She stuffed it in her pocket while patting her cat a bit too aggressively. To him, it probably looked like she got distracted by her cat’s cute fluffiness and decided to pet her.
Later, after she finished her business—because shedidneed to pee—she unfurled the note.
It was a map. Just like Yat-sen said.
Her eyes widened as she scanned the twisting lines and halls.
She knew exactly where the wards were.
27
Biyu couldn’t focuson the book in front of her. It might have partly been because Minos was balancing a scroll on his head while juggling threeverysharp daggers in the middle of the library, or the fact that the she didn’t particularly want to break the magicked union between her and Nikator. When she re-read the same line four times and still didn’t comprehend it, her attention went up to the juggling Peccata member.
Nikator was seated across from her, his scroll splayed open and a smirk on his face as he watched Minos. Vita sat beside her, an equally amused expression on her face.
“Come on, this is child’s play,” Minos said, tossing the deadly blades in the air and catching them by the hilts expertly. His blue eyes flashed with mischief as he nodded to Nikator—whilst, impressively, not dropping the ancient scroll atop his head. “Toss me your knife too.”
“Hell no.”
“You don’t think I can do it?”
“I think you can do it,” he said with an arched brow. “But on the off-chance that you drop it and slice your fingers off, I don’t want to have to clean my dagger. This thing’s expensive and I don’t need your blood rusting it.”
“Wow. You’re a cold-hearted bastard.” Minos snatched the blades midair and strapped them back on his waist. His good-natured smile remained as he removed the scroll from his head and plopped it onto the center of their table. “I’m offended. I’d like to seeyoutry that.”
“No way.” Nikator grinned at him and Biyu found herself unable to look away as he bantered with hisbrother—it was so obvious now that she knew they were siblings. They didn’t look alike, sure, but their antics, their dynamic, and their conversations steered them in that direction without a doubt. Even Vita’s overprotectiveness, lack of being impressed, and her head shakes made more sense now.
Vita cleared her throat and tapped the open book in front of her, garnering everyone’s attention. “If you both are done with your ridiculous display of masculinity—” The corner of her mouth twisted when Minos looked offended. “I think I found something useful.”
Biyu straightened, glancing at the woman.
“It says here that most magicked marriage bonds have an emotional link between them. It seems like when some emotions are very strong—like anger, sadness, or fear—you should be able to feel them in your partner.” Vita’s voice rang clear in the mostly empty library, thought a few passing mages glanced over at them curiously—likely wondering why they were so interested in magicked marriages. Nikator’s expression remained unchanged while Minos’s eyebrows rose. “Did either of you ever feel that? You know, like feeling each other’s emotions?”
For a haunting moment, Biyu realized that she had felt strange emotions from time to time, particularly in the beginning of their bond. Mostly fury. She had thought maybe she had been imagining it, or that she was angry deep insidewithout even realizing it, but had she been feeling Nikator’s emotions the whole time?
“Well?” Minos asked when Nikator didn’t say anything.
“I think I noticed some,” Biyu said, voice coming out small. But then it hit her—was he able to feel all the guilt she felt? The fear of being discovered? The anger at her position of being imprisoned? Or maybe those emotions were too complex to feel; even when she did feel some of Nikator’s rage, it had only been in that moment that she felt a passing of it.
Nikator leaned back in his seat. Everything about him was neutral; from the way he lifted his shoulders to the dismissive wave that followed. “It doesn’t really matter, does it? We just need to find a way to break the bond; I have no interest in learning about how it works.”
“I suppose it doesn’t matter foryou.” Vita tsked and gave a side-eyed look at Biyu—which bordered between a look of pity and something else she couldn’t pinpoint—shook her head, and continued burying her nose in her book.
A coldness swept over Biyu. What wasthatlook for?
“I can’t believe Muyang—” Minos started, yanking back his chair with a loud screech across the floor.
“You meanHis Majesty,” Nikator corrected.
“Yeah.” He plopped down on his seat and pushed back his wavy black hair. His bright blue eyes—a few shades darker than Nikator’s vibrant sapphire ones—lit with amusement. “Can’t believe he married off Zihao. Makes you wonder if he’ll do the same withus.”
Biyu still found it odd how casually they spoke about Drakkon Muyang—anybody else who spoke his name without the honorifics could be sentenced to the dungeons. How close were they to him that they accidentally let his name slip?
Vita frowned. “I think it’ll be good for Zihao.”
Nikator scoffed, but didn’t elaborate.
