Page 103 of Kingmakers, Year Four

What my mother means is, if Marko Moroz puts a bullet in my father’s head, she’ll do the same to his daughter.

I returnto the Octagon Tower, the full weight of reality crashing down on my shoulders.

We got what we wanted: we finally found the map.

But that seems so unreal that I can’t really enjoy it.

The thing that seems intensely clear and present is the fact that Nix is about to find out that I lied to her—when I rip her out of her bed and fucking kidnap her.

It may be a week or it may be a month until it happens, but she’s going to know that I’ve been manipulating her. That everything I did was for the purpose of destroying the one person she loves.

My chest is so tight that I can hardly draw a breath.

I almost run into Hedeon in the common room on the fourth floor.

“Hey,” he grunts, his face unshaven and his stubble dark against his skin. “Did you make muffins for me?”

“I didn’t make them,” I say. “But I dropped them off. Felt bad about dragging you into that thing with Estas last night.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Hedeon shrugs.

I notice that he’s still wearing his rumpled dress shirt and trousers, like he hasn’t gone to bed yet.

“Did you sleep in here?” I say, nodding toward the battered sofa.

“Didn’t sleep at all.”

The dark shadows under his eyes confirm it.

“What’s wrong? Didn’t get enough dances with Cara?”

“Cara is perfection,” Hedeon says quietly. “Way too fucking good for me.”

He doesn’t say it like he’s trying to be convinced otherwise—he’s just stating a simple truth.

“I think she likes you,” I tell him.

Hedeon ignores this. “Did you see Sabrina Gallo dancing with Ilsa Markov?”

“Yeah.” My cock stirs at the memory of Nix sandwiched between the two girls, Ilsa Markov cupping her breasts from behind while she took Sabrina’s face in her hands and kissed her . . . “Pretty hard to miss it.”

Hedeon nods. “Everyone was watching. Including the Chancellor.”

My stomach does a long, slow flip.

“Well,” I say, with a fake chuckle. “He’s only human.”

“He was talking to Sabrina after theQuartum Bellum,” Hedeon says. “And he let her off easy the first day of school, after she clocked Estas.”

“He didn’t punish Nix, either,” I say, trying to hide my pounding pulse.

“I think he’s got a thing for her,” Hedeon insists.

I take three slow breaths, my brain racing behind my dull expression.

“So what if he does?”

“I think he has a type,” Hedeon says. “He likes them young. Dark-haired. And wild. Just like my mother.”

---