Page 54 of Joined By Magic

He pulled away and sighed, letting his hand linger in my hair. “I wish we could stay here all night, but we mustn’t be late for dinner. I can’t wait to introduce you as my future wife.”

Wife!

The word felt wrong, a pair of shoes that would need a lot of wearing in before they fit. How would the king react to the news? Not well. My joy dimmed at the prospect. “The king will be furious.”

A shadow passed over Leo’s face. “Leave him to me. Don’t you worry about it.” He released my hair and stroked his fingers through it, smoothing out the tangles. “Ready?”

I nodded. The rooftop faded to black, replaced with a small, intimate dining room I didn’t recognize. Not the king’s audience chamber. As I got my bearings, cheers erupted. I jumped and took in all my friends, seated at a round dining table covered with food. Leo looked pleased with himself.

“You organized this? What about dinner with the king?”

He shrugged. “I told him I had something more important to attend tonight.”

Warmth spread through me once again. Everyone descended, doling out hugs and back pats. Hex embraced me, then pulled away, examining my face. “So you said yes, then.”

“Of course. Were you hoping otherwise?”

Hex paused for longer than I expected. “Actually, no. Not really.” She glanced over at Leo, who chatted with Andrew, both men beaming. “I want you to be happy. And he does do that for you, doesn’t he? Even if it’s in kind of a fucked-up way.”

I squeezed her arm. “He really does.”

Hex nodded, then broke away and filled up a glass with sparkling wine. “Okay, then. In that case, let’s celebrate!”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Talia

“Talia.”Theprince’svoiceechoed through the house. I jerked upright in the seat I’d been lounging in, half-asleep. I’d furnished the house for comfort and style, with soft chairs in bold, colorful fabrics. Lately, I’d been adding little touches. Pictures on the walls, cheerful rugs. The prince looked at them in puzzlement but never bothered to comment. It’s not like money was tight.

I knew it was stupid. One way or another, we’d be leaving this place soon. But I couldn’t seem to stop myself when something caught my eye. I’d never had the opportunity to decorate before. Our house in the slums was a dump, and I’d had no money to fix it. And my palace apartment came to me already decked out in elegant perfection. I hadn’t imagined I’d enjoy it as much as I did—making a home, even if it was a temporary one.

I shoved my feet into furry slippers, wrapped a blanket around my shoulders, and went to find him. He stood by the front door, clutching a sheaf of paper newsbooks. We had them delivered every day, and the prince scoured them for any news of Atar. He brandished two of them at me.

The picture froze me in my tracks, and the headline sent a bolt of shock straight to my stomach.

Rogue Prince Makes His Own Rules

Atar’s daring new crown prince shocked the territory once again by announcing his engagement to Livet Spencer, his former prisoner and a non-mage. Sources close to King Varras report the unexpected announcement has caused a rift between the recently reunited royals. Prince Leopold appears unconcerned by his father’s displeasure and has announced a wedding date in six weeks’ time, for a ceremony to be held at the summer palace.

Ataran nobles are in uproar, with one high-placed courtier telling this publication, “It’s disgusting that a foreigner walks in, disregards our laws, and spits on decades of tradition. Prince Adante ought to be the future king.”

The picture showed thehappy couple—I heard the bitterness in my own thoughts, and it repulsed me—standing together at some event. The image had been captured in a candid moment, not posed, and the prince’s brother had his hand on Livet’s cheek, brushing away a stray lock of hair. They were looking at each other as though nothing else in the world mattered.

I tried but failed to fight down a poisonous rush of jealousy. It wasn’t fair. I took the paper, pretended to read, and let myself bathe in the toxic emotion for a minute. What the fuck did that mousey little girl have, to make Prince Leopold treat her with such respect? To make him defy the king, the nobles, and all the traditions of the territory he’d fought to rule? What the fuck did she have that I didn’t?

Absolutely nothing. The difference wasn’t in the girl, it was in the prince. He’d put his girl first, because he loved her enough to risk everything to make their relationship legitimate. He cared about her that much.

I met the prince’s eyes. Shock still clouded his face, and his lips curled into a nasty smile. “Can you believe it? Even if I fail, my father’s royal line dies with my brother. Any children will be useless half-breeds, ineligible to rule. He pinned all his hopes on my brother, and the selfish fool chose his whore over his royal duty.”

The prince’s words landed like bullets in my chest. His whore. That’s all he could see when he looked at the couple on the front of the newsbook. Not the love that shone from the page. Not the courage it must have taken to defy everyone’s expectations. Just a man, driven by his cock into making a foolish choice worthy of ridicule.

Non-mage women were whores. That was it. Something to stick your dick into behind closed doors, where no one could see. Whatever other qualities we might have, that one fact obliterated all else. We were non-mage sluts, worth nothing.

Thick, churning sickness struck me in the belly, and I forced a weak smile to my lips. “The king’ll be pissed off.”

The prince brayed a laugh. “You have no idea.”

For a moment, I considered arguing, trying to make him see the strength that lay behind the decision, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. What was the fucking point? The prince’s mind was so set in his way of thinking, he’d never be able to understand. He pushed the limits of magical technology to the brink of impossibility, yet he mocked the Alarians for their solutions to mixed relationships and was incapable of seeing how deeply trapped in stupid traditions he was.

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