Claiming the Prince: Book One (51 page)

“I could not betray someone to whom I was never loyal,” he said with a sneer.

“No, only pretended to be,” she said. “But thank you for the reminder.” She splayed open her right hand and released her daggers in a flashing arc, holding them up where he could see them clearly. He remained breathlessly still.

“I’ll see what I can find out,” he murmured.

“Thank you. I meet with the Crown in the morning.”

Slowly, she retracted her knives. The moment they were clear, Kirk vanished. She wasn’t sure if she’d see him again or not, but she had to trust her gut that he’d been genuinely shocked by the news that she no longer had the Enneahedron. Almost as shocked as she was.

“T
HAT WAS DRAMATIC,”
Kaelan said with a sigh.

Meer suddenly popped in, standing near the door. “Is everything—?”

“Get out,” Magda said. “And don’t come back unless called.”

Meer sucked in her cheeks, hesitating a moment too long for Magda’s liking before disappearing again.

Sinking again to the floor next to Hero, she dropped her head back against the bed. Kaelan, seated on the edge, folded over, resting his arms across his knees.

“You could still—”

“Don’t even say it,” she said. “You don’t know how much I want to leave, but I can’t. Not now. I have to try to stop Lavana. Even if I don’t have a real chance. I can’t stand aside and let her take the family. Not after everything . . .” A breathy, humorless laugh escaped her. “I guess you understand that, don’t you?”

“I wish I didn’t,” he said. “Then I might be able to convince you to forget about all of this and go back to the mortal world”—a smile peeked out above his bicep—“and your pizza.”

She shifted, resting her arm on the bed and her head on her arm, touching Hero’s front paw lightly with her finger.

“He told me something,” she said, meeting Kaelan’s gaze, “about what our friend has been hearing.”

He slid off the bed and onto the floor next to her. “What’s that?”

“Every voice should sound different,” she said, “but they don’t.”

He frowned slightly. “He could hear them?”

She nodded.

He leaned back, brow knitted. “You don’t think that our friend is lying—?”

“I think our friend has been through a great deal,” she said. “The speaker is to blame, not the listener. Even after all that has happened, I don’t think our friend has that kind of guile.”

“The speaker…” he said. “But how? They know so much.”

She chewed her lip. “I can’t imagine, but . . . I believe him.” She touched Hero’s head gently.

The backs of Kaelan’s fingers brushed her cheek. “I’m worried about you, Magda.”

She shied from his touch and the shivers it inspired. “I thought you called me puppy.”

“It doesn’t really suit you,” he said.

“I don’t know why everyone always felt the need to give me a nickname anyway,” she said. “Riker used to call me Mags. I hated it. It sounded too much like rags . . . bags,”—her nose wrinkled—“sags.”

He gazed down at his hands, locked together between his bent knees. “Not as good as magpie, I guess.”

Her chest clenched. “Please don’t.”

“Tell me again that you don’t love him.”

She dropped her head. “I already—”

“Have you slept with him?”

Her throat dried out, her breath shortened. “Yes.”

He continued to stare down at his hands, his silver eyes seemed to flicker green. “And you expect me to believe that means nothing?”

“What do you want me to say?” she asked.

“Does it have anything to do with why you refuse to go back into exile?”

“Are you asking for yourself or for your new friends?” She gestured towards the hearth where Kirk had been pinned.

He was quiet for a long time, staring at his hands.

Finally, he said, “I know what you feel when I kiss you, Magda.”

Her face burned. She dropped her chin to the bed, looking over the top of Hero’s body, keeping Kaelan in the corner of her eye.

“You’re a Prince—” she said after a moment.

“What I don’t understand,” he went on, “is why you give everything to him and hold back from me.”

Pain lanced through her. She tried to speak, but couldn’t.

“And the only thing I can think,” he said, “is that you’re in love with him.”

She bit her lip.

“So I worry,” he said, clearing his throat and finally turning his own green eyes onto her, “that by helping you, I’m helping him.”

She continued to face Hero, Kaelan in her periphery. “I see. And I don’t suppose there’s anything I can say to allay your worries?”

“Nothing you can say, no.”

“I don’t want to be your enemy,” she said. “I already told you that I would never—”

“Love makes you do things,” he cut in, “you never thought you would do. Things you’re not proud of, but do anyway.”

Was that why she’d had sex with Endreas? Because she was in love with him?

She’d convinced herself that it had only been because she was in her Shine. A perfectly good reason for a Pixie.

But what if Kaelan was right? What if she was in love with Endreas?

In spite of everything she feared might happen if he fulfilled his prophecy, if she succeeded and became Radiant, if she claimed the Crown, what then? Would she really turn Endreas away because she feared what he might do? Like hunt down all the refugees from the Elven Realms and kill them? Like bring his laws to her Lands? She honestly didn’t know the answer.

Finally, she looked into his eyes, Kaelan’s deep green irises framed by Caden’s black lashes. “Are you saying you don’t want to help me anymore?” she asked.

“What other choice do I have?” he asked.

“You could leave,” she said.

“Would that make it easier for you?”

“I feel like you’re convicting me of something I haven’t even done yet.” She leaned forward. “I defended you. I nearly died—”

“But he saved you.”

“To use me.”

“Like you’re using me?”

She sank back, throat constricting. “Is that what you think I’m doing?”

“I don’t think you know what you’re doing.”

“You’re right. I’ve never done any of this before. Have you? You could leave whenever you want. I’m not keeping you here.”

Perhaps it was her imagination, but it seemed he winced ever so slightly, but then he was glaring down at the floor again.

“You expect me to let you stand before the Crown alone?” he said.

“No, I don’t, but I don’t want you to think that I’m only using you. I thought . . .”—her voice failed her for a second—“we were friends.”

“We’re more than friends,” he said, looking back up at her. “You have my heart, Magda.”

Her fingers grazed the bare skin above her corset. “When you were gone, it happened, just like he said.”

He frowned. “What happened?”

The ghost of hollow agony rose up within her. “I can’t let that happen again,” she said, then meeting his gaze, hard with cold conviction. “If he hurts you . . . I
will
kill him.”

His eyes tracked down to where her fingers rested. He started to reach for her, but she turned her shoulder to him.

“Because of what I did to you,” he said darkly.

“What does it matter why?” she said to her knees. “Whatever the reason, it’s true.” She gave him a hard look. “Isn’t that enough? You wanted to know if you could trust me, if you were helping him through me, but that could never be, because I could never put you at risk. If I joined with him, he would know the truth, he would find you, and that would destroy me and then I would have to destroy him.” She pushed to her feet. “Have you thought about that?”

“About what?” he asked softly.

“About what it will do to me if you follow through with your plan. If you lose?”

His jaw hardened and he stood. “But you forget, my heart, if I die, he can heal you. Tell me you would still turn him away then.”

“Would you believe me if I said I would?”

“That you would turn your back on love”—a taut pained expression rolled over his face—“for a friend?”

Before she could respond, he moved around her, heading towards the door.

“Where are you going?” she said after him.

He opened the door.

“You can’t—”

The door closed.

“Magda.”

She rolled over, her silken robe falling open over her bare legs.

Through the mist of sleep still thick upon her, she squinted at him.

He sat on the edge of the bed, near her shins.

“Kaelan?” She propped up on her elbows. “Where have you been? What time is it?”

She glanced towards the curtained doors, no light shone around the cracks. She had dimmed most of the lamps after taking off her clothes.

“Early,” he murmured, rubbing his face roughly. “I went to see Honey.”

“And?”

“And nothing,” he said. “If she knows anything, she’s a very good liar.”

Letting out a heavy sigh, she fell back. Hero remained curled in a ball at the foot of the bed, next to her face. She had fallen asleep watching him.

“And what about our small friend?” she asked of Kirk. “Have you seen him?”

“No. Damion and I questioned everyone who was still out in the field, but turned up nothing useful.”

Her hand flopped to her chest, only then did she realize that the robe had fallen completely open and she was naked. She sat up, body burning, clutching at her robe. Kaelan’s gaze slid sheepishly to the floor.

“Have you slept?” she asked.

“A bit, in a chair in my
mother’s
sitting room,” he said, eyes tracking from her exposed legs to her hand holding the robe closed at her chest and then to her face. “My mother and Damion both wanted me to return here sooner.”

“You shouldn’t have gone out without me,” she said, arranging her robe over her thighs. “You shouldn’t have gone out at all.”

“They want me to convince you to claim me,” he said.

She froze. “Damion knows I would never . . . he knows I promised I wouldn’t.”

“Things have changed now,” he said. “Won’t it be considered a strike against you that you haven’t?”

“It’s a minor detail,” she said. “You’ll be with me. That’s more important.”

“They didn’t think it was minor,” he said.

“Of course not,” she said. “Damion doesn’t pretend to understand why I would make such a promise in the first place.”

He put his hand down on the other side of her knees, caging her. “You’ll have to fight now, won’t you?”

She chewed on the word before spitting it out. “Yes. And claiming you won’t make any difference when it comes to that.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes . . .” She frowned. “You weren’t actually considering it, were you?”

“What if I was?”

“What about—?”

“Things have changed,” he said. “We’ve changed.”

“If I claimed you and I won, then
he
would kill you, even without knowing the truth about you,” she said.

His eyes darkened. “You sound very certain that he would succeed if he tried.”

She leaned closer. “You cannot fight him. You must know that.”

“I cannot fight him yet,” he said. “But give me time.”

Sliding her legs out from under his arm, she started to turn from him, but he caught her face in his hand and brought her gaze back to his.

“I’m not going to let him win.” His thumb ran up her cheekbone, eliciting a humming buzz under her skin. “And . . . I’m afraid you won’t be able to win this fight either.”

Her eyes burned, as if tears wanted to form, but couldn’t. She held up her left pinky. “All I need is one good shot.”

“What—?”

She edged away from his hand, though a part of her wanted to lean into it. The Rae part, she was sure.

“We should try to sleep some more,” she said. “Today will be very long.”

“Do you mind if I move Hero?” he asked, rising from the bed. “It might be easier to sleep if I could lie down.”

“Be careful,” she said as he slid his hands under the nesting coat and lifted Hero over to a nearby chair.

She perched on the edge of the bed, gazing at Hero, wondering if he’d ever wake up again, wishing that she could do something more to help him.

“Are you certain you can’t heal him?” she asked as Kaelan pulled off his vest.