Originally, I had come seeking Bram. I wanted to tell him about what Lo and I had found at the farming village. He was already gone when I arrived, but none of it mattered—because I couldn’t begin to describe what happened next.
First, I caught a glimpse of King Lionel through the ajar door of the council chamber. Without his crown, he looked almost ordinary. A man, not a monarch. And worried, too.
I rarely saw the king at all. As for the queen, I saw her even less. She visited the academy on occasion only because the princess studied within its halls. Magic ran deep in Valdum blood, which was why magisters held seats at the Court, and why the Crown and the academy were like old brothers, bound by power, tempered by need.
Perhaps it was the threat of more riots that worried King Lionel, though something—yay, seerling—told me this wasn’t it. It had something to do with Kael, I dared think. Better not pry. The king’s worries were none of my business.
Then I saw him.
Kael. In his black, leather-belted tunic, as if wizard robes were too modest for him.
He was deep in conversation with Selena. A conversation I had apparently interrupted.
The moment she saw me, she excused herself, and then his gaze found mine and everything changed.
Fool that I was, I curtsied.
What in the nine hells?
As if he were some prince from a ballad and not the man who could smite Befest into ash with a thought. My body moved before my brain caught up, and now my brain was desperately pleading to the gods of embarrassment to make me look less stupid.
Did I really just curtsy totheCourt Wizard?
Next time, maybe I’d throw myself at his boots for good measure.
His eyes changed, dark, threatening clouds behind them, and for a moment I was certain lightning would strike if I didn’t move. I stepped back, heart pounding, but he followed with that quiet, unbearable intensity. His gaze pinned me like prey.
All I felt was fear, pure and instinctive, because I knew he could end me with a thought, with a flick of his hand. It looked like he wanted to.
And gods help me, that made me more intrigued than terrified.
I wasn’t afraid. Not really.
I was… excited? Thrilled?
Aroused?
Gods.
I cursed myself. I didn’t want to feel this way, not about him. Not about a man who held more power than I ever would, in the Court or in magic. That kind of power was never safe.
And then there were Lo’s words, echoing like a warning.
They never come out quite right.
The women. The ones Kaelapparentlybrought to his chambers.
Whatever that meant, I didn’t want to think about it.
Had he noticed the chaos in my head just now? The way he looked at me, that flash of anger in his blue eyes—it was like I’d done something unforgivable.
If anything, it was proof enough that Kael Forloren,theCourt Wizard, truly didn’t like me.
I just hated myself for wanting him so. And worse, I didn’t even know what I wanted. In that moment, when he had me cornered, his face so close, I wanted to know what would happen if I closed the distance.
Thank the gods for Lo’s arrival. He interrupted something that would have either destroyed me or humiliated me beyond repair. Kael Forloren was a disaster waiting to happen.
If I wanted to keep my post, I needed to avoid him.
