Page 75 of Joined By Magic

I recounted Mum’s story. He listened in silence, then sighed as I finished. “Sounds like my father.” He focused on Mum with renewed interest. “So you’ve been acquainted with my brother for years?”

“Yes, Your Highness.” She glanced between me and the prince, as if finding it difficult to believe we were all here together. “Do you know about your father’s plan? The Lord Commander, I mean prince . . .” She floundered.

The prince gave an irritated huff. “He holds no title now. Call him Leopold. And no, I don’t.”

“Leopold discovered your father was planning something monstrous. He was going to expose him at the wedding reception.”

An icy trickle of dread crawled up my back. Monstrous, by the king’s standard, had to be bad. “What is it?”

She took a deep breath and explained a plan so disgusting I could hardly believe it was true. I met the prince’s gaze and saw similar disgust on his face. His worst nightmare brought to life. His father, living forever.

When Mum finished speaking, silence fell. The prince stared at the wall, lost in thought. “And my brother intended to stop this, but his plan failed when the king teleported?”

“Correct, Your Highness.”

His fist slammed down on the table. “Damn the fucking timing. I dissolved all barriers to teleportation when we entered.”

Mum flinched, lips parted in alarm. Terrified of the prince. Her reaction made me realize how far I’d come. He still frightened me, but not in that way. I didn’t fear he’d hurt me.

“Now he’s back in the main palace, and he’ll have the army around him. He won’t wait. He’ll attack Dexia right away.” The prince’s face was tight, his gaze fixed on the polished wood of the table. “That bastard doesn’t deserve to live forever.”

Mum met my eyes with shock painted across her features, as though she’d expected the prince to be an emotionless, soulless automaton.

“There’s more, Your Highness.” Her voice was nervous. Uncertain.

“Of course there is. Go on.”

Mum glanced at me and swallowed before beginning. “You’ve been operating under some misapprehensions. Leopold never wanted the throne of Atar. Everything he tried to tell you was true.”

Plain words, but I struggled to process them. The world as I knew it tilted, sliding and shifting like the pieces of a puzzle box clicking into place.

The prince’s reaction was immediate. “No. It can’t be. He had the ambition to seize control of his little backwater. He’d never turn down ruling a territory such as Atar.”

“I was his personal secretary, and later, his friend. It’s true. He loves Dexia and wanted to bring it forward as a nation. He had hundreds of plans. I’m sorry.”

The prince considered the window for a long moment. Late afternoon sunlight streamed in and played over his features, painting his pale skin with a soft warmth. Could Mum’s words really be true?

With a decisive turn, the prince strode toward the door and motioned for us to follow. “Hestia, the servants will arrange a room for you. Talia, come with me while I speak to the Dexians.”

I followed close on his heels and spoke as we walked. “Talk to your brother’s wife first. She’s a terrible actress, and I’m sure just as bad of a liar. If she’s lying, I’ll be able to tell.” I grabbed the prince’s arm and pulled him to a stop. Behind us, my mum gasped. “And you have to change. You need to look like a king.”

Chapter Thirty-Six

Liv

Mydresscutintomy skin. The tightly laced bodice restricted my breathing as I sat in a huddle, knees tucked to my chest in the corner of the bare room. My cell was bland and featureless—a dimly lit, windowless horror. A brief discussion amongst nervous palace guards had yielded a plastic bottle of water and a bathroom break. Now I had nothing to do but sit and worry.

Was Leo dead? Was Adante torturing him right now? Though I racked my brain as hard as I could, I couldn’t find a reason Adante would have kept Leo, his rival and enemy, alive. Tears tracked down my cheeks.

Would Adante hurt my friends? Hex, Peter’s crew, Andrew. Were they sitting in cells, same as me, or had he deemed them worthless and killed them already? My hands shook and my breath came faster at the thought.

The silence was absolute. Probably shielded. No chatter from the guards or stomping footsteps echoed. How long would they leave me here? My chest constricted, and I tasted bile in the back of my throat at the thought of confinement stretching into days, or weeks. Years. I fought to keep my panic at a manageable level, but it crept up anyway. Leo. My friends. Their faces tumbled through my mind in a loop.

Over and over, I replayed the happy reunion between Adante’s woman and Helen. That bitch. That fucking traitorous bitch. From my first terrified minutes in the Dexian palace, Helen had been there for me. Offered the hand of friendship and kindness. Made me feel valuable when everyone saw me as less than dirt. And every single word I’d ever said to her, every tearful confession, must have gone straight back to Atar. It hurt more than I would have thought possible—a knife wound to the gut.

A click resonated through the room, the door opened, and Adante strolled in, followed by his woman. Talia. They’d found new clothing somewhere. Adante wore full royal regalia—trousers and tunic in a deep verdant green covered with twisting golden vines and a matching cloak. Talia wore a long purple evening dress which clung to her impressive figure like a second skin. I scrambled to my feet and glared at the pair of them. “Where’s Leo?”

“Not dead yet.” Adante stepped toward me. He stared into my eyes, and I forced myself to meet them. His usual mocking tone was absent. “Tell me the absolute truth. What was my brother seeking when he came to Atar the first time? What prompted the visit?”

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