Page 126 of Heirs of the Cursed

“Fawke,” Killian called out to him with a hand on his shoulder.

Soldier Biceus leapt forward, gasping for air. He coughed with his face red from exertion and struggled against thecommander’s hands before the nightmares vanished before his eyes. When he recognized Killian, he lowered his hands.

“Commander,” he gasped.

“Welcome back.”

“I . . . She . . .” Fawke scanned the tent, breathing raggedly. “I can feel her.”

“Her power still lingers in your soul,” Osmond warned him.

His eyes darkened even more and descended to his chest, as if he could see that seed of magic in his soul. “The damned whore isn’t who she says she is,” he blurted out.

“I know.”

Killian had wanted to be wrong. But after the holly of death disappeared from the stone when Naithea had touched it, he knew the truth for what it was. She was a powerful and incredibly dangerous daimon.

“What?” Fawke raised his gaze. “How?”

“I’m the Commander of Death for a reason, am I not? And you just became our greatest asset.” Killian stated with a firm voice. “Tell me how it works.”

“It’s like being in a maze of darkness and demons. I could see everything, hear myself providing her with the answers she wanted with no control over my body.”

“She asked you questions?”

Fawke nodded. “She’s too interested in our mission. What I saw there . . . In her mind . . .”

“What did you see?” he insisted.

“Her past, her heritage. That bitch doesn’t belong to our kingdom. For all we know, she could have been using you to draw attention away from herself because if we’d probed further, we would have found out who she was.”

“Say it.”

The commander longed to know who she was, to know which princess had played with him all those months, because, once hedid, he’d hunt her down himself . . . Even if it was the last thing he ever did.

He had fallen in love with his greatest enemy, and he’d make sure to finish her off once and for all.

“She is Amira Boreaalinen.”

Killian held his breath, feeling the hatred he’d been holding back forcefully rise to the surface, along with an unbearable pain. She’d deceived him. She’d manipulated him and used him like a toy. And that wasn’t going to go unpunished.

He had believed her.

He had protected her.

He had loved her . . .

And all she’d done wasbetrayhim.

With that final confirmation, Killian Allencort left the tent and called a meeting in the training area, where his soldiers awaited him expectantly.

“One of the princesses is in the city,” he began, pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back. The soldiers looked at him in complete silence. “The reason the compass hasn’t worked effectively as we thought is because a powerful, archaic magic protects her. As it must protect her sister in Dawnfall, if she isn’t already here.”

“Who is it, sir?” Vylan Edgerton asked.

“Some of you have made use of her services. And all of you have seen her here, in the camp. Naithea Utari is one of Ro’i Rajya’s heirs and, therefore, an enemy of the kingdom. You have an hour to get ready before we reduce Bellmare to its foundations,” he finished.

“Commander.” Eames stepped forward, bad news flashing in his brown eyes. “The Fiend’s men arrived in the city early this morning.”

---