Page 117 of A Dawn of Gods & Fury

I groan.

He slips an arm around my waist and leads me toward the door. “By the way, who is this Genghis Khan?”

A low whistle slips from Jarek’s lips as he pulls something from a chest in the royal vault.

I let Abarrane, Zander, and Lucretia pass me and pause next to him to see what he’s admiring—an Ottoman bracelet studded with sapphires. “I didn’t think sparkly things impressed you.”

“They don’t.” His thumb smooths over the stones. “I remember my mother wearing something very similar. Only on special occasions. I imagine she was buried with it.”

I’ve never heard him speak of his family before. “They lived in Lyndel, right? Elisaf mentioned it.”

“Of course. The nosy guard who gossips more than the kitchen staff.” He frowns, displeased. “Yes, for their entire lives. My father was an army officer until his death.”

“In the last war against Ybaris.” Jarek was just a boy, according to Elisaf.

“Yes.” He sets the bracelet down gingerly.

“You can keep it, if you want.” Ybaris won’t miss it.

“And what would I do with a bracelet, Romeria? All that I own is on my body.”

“Give it to Eden.” She would cherish it.

His eyes snap to me. “Why do you say that?”

“Uh … I don’t know?” But I’ve clearly said the wrong thing.

“He has ended his salacious affair with the servant girl,” Lucretia purrs in my ear, suddenly there. “She is heartbroken.”

“How do you know that?” Jarek snarls at her while I exclaim, “You did what?”

If looks alone could kill, the eye daggers he’s stabbing Lucretia with would murder her ten times over.

“What happened?” I ask gently.

“Nothing happened. She is a mortal, and she will live a happy mortal life without me in it.” Spinning on his heels, he charges toward the nymph door.

I struggle to keep up. “Jarek!”

“—and I will happily die with my blade in my hand, whether it is tomorrow or years from now. I have no interest in the life she wants. Now that the blood curse is over, she does not need me. And that is all I will say on the matter, Romeria.”

I raise my hands in surrender. Dropping my name is as good as telling me to fuck off.

Zander spares a curious glance at my seething legionary. “Let us be done with Ulysede quickly.”

I beckon my affinities and feel them twining together like a nest of snakes.

“Your Highness!” A metal fist bangs noisily on the outside of the vault door. “Are you still there?”

That’s Yardley’s voice. “Yes. Why?”

“The dragons! There are three of them outside now.”

“But I just sent Caindra to meet us in Ulysede.” I watched her fly away.

“She is back and with more. They seem agitated, Your Highness.”

We all share a look.

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