Page 56 of Ruled By Magic

We headed outside. The others had a fire going, and something bubbled over a large gas stove. The scent hit me, and my mouth flooded with saliva. Had I eaten today? I cast my mind back. No.

I glanced at the tent where Damien deposited Leo. Could I get away with checking on him? I had to. “Back in a sec, Peter,” I whispered, and slipped inside.

It wasn’t as lavish as Peter’s, but it held a thin mattress, two pillows, and some bedding. A torch hung from a hook, and I turned it on to see Leo. His face remained pale, his breathing shallow and quick. Damien had dumped him in the middle of the mattress, so I shifted things around to make him comfortable, propped his head on a pillow, and covered him with the blankets. I took off his shoes.

The memory of last night resurfaced. I’d knelt naked at his feet. He’d wielded such power over me. Now he was helpless, his life in my hands. I bent and kissed his forehead before leaving the tent.

Hex waved me over and patted the ground next to her. “What were you doing in there?”

“Checking to see if he showed any signs of waking up.”

Hex nodded and squeezed my knee in sympathy. “I was chatting to Atalie about that. She said when mages burn out, it’s usually a day or two before they wake up, so it should be fine tonight. I’ll talk to Peter again in the morning, we’ll get things shifted around.”

Her care and confidence struck me in the heart. Hex was worried about me. She thought Leo terrified me. That he’d been abusing me for months. It wasn’t fair to keep her in the dark about how things really stood, but we needed to have the conversation in private. I didn’t want to discuss it in front of strangers. Talking about it with her alone would be bad enough.

That was what I told myself, though a huge part of me was terrified to see disgust and disappointment on her face.

Hex smiled and ladled out a bowl of stew. “It tastes like shit, but you get used to it.”

Damien snorted. “As if your efforts are any fucking better.”

Hex threw a bread roll at his head, and he snatched it out of the air with a laugh. “Thanks.”

He smirked at her. She grinned back.

My eyebrows rose. Maybe camping wasn’t all bad for Hex. It seemed she enjoyed the company. Another conversation we could have in private.

“So, Peter said you had something to talk to me about?”

Hex grew serious. “Yes. Did the NPU contact you in the palace?”

The NPU again. They were haunting me. I’d always appreciated what they fought for, but their methods were too extreme for my taste. They walked the line between activism and terrorism.

“They started a riot in my name at the Harvest Parade. Catrina from my Academy was with them.”

Hex nodded. “Well, they want you. Peter has a contact in there, and they offered him cash for a meeting with you once they found out I was with Peter’s crew. It’s why he agreed to smuggle in the link-up.”

I blinked. “But why? What do they want with me?”

“The new Lord Commander’s made a lot of enemies, fast. The priesthood hates him, and there’s people who think what he’s done to you is disgusting. They’re calling the Assembly weak for allowing it. You’re the ultimate example of how mages abuse their power. If you came on board with the NPU and denounced him, told your side of the story, it could be enough to spark genuine change. The Assembly’s never been under this much pressure.”

Hex’s eyes lit with excitement. She leaned toward me. “It’s what we’ve always wanted. We’ll make your release a condition of helping the Lord Commander. It’s like you said—he can’t refuse. He’s out here in the middle of nowhere with no magic. He’ll have to agree. We can make him do whatever we want.”

Freedom and a purpose. I could regain my autonomy and reputation. Work for something I believed in. If I proved myself, I could have influence, make a difference. Walk around the city with my head held high.

All I needed to do was say the word. I made myself catalog the ways Leo had mistreated me. To face it. The constant humiliation, forcing me to expose my body. The way he’d turned on me the previous night, lashed out in cruelty. There was darkness in him. It frightened me as much as it drew me in, even now.

But could I betray him? Speak against him in public, play the victim the NPU would want to portray me as? Pretend I hadn’t slept curled up in his arms, hadn’t enjoyed our shared pleasure and the desires he’d awakened in me? It would be a lie. A lie designed to ruin someone I cared about, despite everything he’d done.

I placed my hand over the necklace he’d given me, just able to feel the shape of it through Hex’s thick coat. He did care for me, didn’t he? We’d experienced so much. And he’d almost killed himself to save the lives of the palace staff.

He was better than they thought.

Hex’s smile faltered. I was taking too long. I ought to speak. But no words would come. Nausea rolled over me. The last two days had been one long nightmare, and I was done.

Hex frowned, took my hand. “Liv? Are you okay?”

“I need to sleep.” A weak excuse, but my head was spinning and I couldn’t find anything better. “I didn’t sleep last night.”

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