My people have a saying:the Winds of Fate blow for all men.And my own fate has been inextricably linked to the Rings since I was ten years old.
Alone in the town square, I stop, tip my head back, and breathe deeply, letting the wind encircle me. Veteria is here. Now I just have to find this sorceress who hates the aristocracy and can conceal herself with magic to ask her to save the monarchs who erased her order.
She’s my only chance escape this fate and be free of the Rings once and for all.
Chapter Five
Dietan
I wake up in my bed at the inn, panting and flushed. The air in the room swirls around me. Despite the closed window, the fluttering curtains settle down and the vase of flowers stops teetering on the edge of the table. I collect myself, shielding my eyes with my arm, shuddering as another nightmare passes. They seem to be getting worse the closer we near to war. I never get a good night’s sleep anymore.
I have a sinking feeling that dark magic is already at Loegria’s gates. I’ve got to speak to the sorceress before my power completely overwhelms me.
At a sharp knock on my door, I leap to my feet. On the other side, I hear Jared’s voice. “You in there, bud?”
I grunt as I pull on my clothes, taking a deep breath to calm my nerves.
Jared opens the door and peers at the mess of my room. “Looks like someone had fun last night,” he says with a you-dog-you grin.
“Ha, you know it,” I say, playing along.
Jared comes in, shuts the door, and wipes the jovial expression from his face. He knows the truth: I haven’t slept with a woman in years. The last time I did, it ended in death and disaster—and guilt that’s haunted me ever since. I vowed to never share a bed with another person until I get these Rings removed. But of course, a reputation for promiscuity helped stave off marital prospects. More strategically, if anyone noticed the sudden change in the player prince’s habits, they’d have asked questions that led straight back to my father…and the Rings. Jared helps me maintain my lie.
At court, I’m still known as a lover of women, parties, fine wine, and a good time. No one would ever guess that I’m celibate, that I only flirt with my so-called conquests but never take them to bed, that I always send them home in a carriage instead of bringing them up to my suite. The women are so insulted by this—rejection from the prince who’ll bed anyone with a pulse—that they never reveal they didn’t actually sleep with me. Instead, they burnish my reputation even more.
“Bad night?” asks Jared with sympathy. I grimace. I don’t want his pity. I pull on my boots, then fling open the door.
I shrug. “Not the worst. I guess it’s time to test the waters and meet the lovely ladies.”
“You know it, chum,” Jared replies, plastering that grin back on. “Get ready for some sharks.”
He briefs me on the day’s agenda and the latest intelligence reports over breakfast. There have been more sightings of dark magic and strange creatures along Loegria’s border with Penrith, but the royal scholars dispatched to investigate didn’t find anything—which just means that the Usurper is being subtle, hiding something.
It’s too early for bad news. I’m still hungover from last night’s ale, blurry and bleary until my first cup of strong, black coffee. I want nothing more than to track down the elusive sorceress so I can give my father his magic back, but first, I’ve got to act the merry prince of Loegria for all of Evandale to see.
“You know, I’m coming around to this place,” Jared says as he spreads butter across his bread. “The ladies here are…” There’s a sparkle in his eye as he searches for the word, then emphatically kisses his fingers.
“You’ve changed your tune since yesterday.”
“Well, now I’ve seen what this town has to offer, and you were right. Fresh-faced country girls are exactly what we need.”
I laugh into my plate. Jared’s mood is often as capricious as the wind itself, and clearly, my friend is not immune to a pretty face. “Today’s a good day, then.”
“Just you wait,” Jared says.
“Found a bride?”
“Two, in fact.”
“Two? I only need the one. I’m not sure Loegria or Alarice would accept a polygamous marriage,” I say, amused.
“Sisters. Twins. You’ll see.”
I laugh again. Jared always has a way of lifting my spirits. “Jared, have you fallen in love again?”
He makes a pained expression, clutching his chest and reeling back dramatically. It’s then that General Marcus enters, helping himself to the breakfast spread between Jared and me. “They’re already waiting for you,” Marcus says around a bite of sausage. “The ladies, I mean.”
Based on the way Marcus’s eyes sparkle, he, too, is smitten.
