Page 54 of The Umbra King

But then it happened. Aurora was walking toward the palace with one of her friends, and when she saw Caius and Nina approaching, she stopped talking and stared. Her eyes bounced between Caius, Nina, and their linked arms, and her eyes tightened.

Caius let his smugness show, and when he smiled at her, she turned away, grabbed the other woman’s arm, and practically dragged her away. His smile was stretched from ear to ear.

She was jealous.

“Are you listening?” Nina asked impatiently.

He cleared his throat. “Yes, of course.”

Nina glanced over her shoulder at Aurora, and when she turned back around, her eyes were cold. Her face transformed into a bright smile, and he knew she was putting on a show. She was jealous of Aurora, and with good reason.

Nina was nothing to him, but Aurora was something, he just didn’t know what.

“Come, Your Grace. Let’s eat, and then maybe you cancomelater, too.” Her other hand caressed the top of his forearm, and he itched to yank it back.

“After we eat, I must retire,” he replied. “What was that dish you were raving about?”

Rory threw openthe door to her room as rage consumed her. Today had been fun with Bellina and Asher, but all she could think about was Nina’s wretched claws hanging on to Caius.

How could he return to Nina after their night in the garden? It hadn’t been intimate, purely sexual, but she thought it was the start of their little game.

Nina would ruin everything, just as she ruined everything else in Rory’s life.

Rory stomped to her bed and grabbed a pillow to hurl across the room, but as she reached across her bed, something caught her eye that made her freeze.

Sitting on her bed was a pizza box dented on the sides. Her hands shook as she opened it and found a thick crust cheese pizza. Picking up the box, she sat on the bed in a daze with the pizza on her lap.

It was never Bellina leaving her food—it was Caius.

Setting the pizza down, she stalked to the hallway toward the king’s office. She climbed the bane of her existence, and when she reached the top, she turned around and gave the stairs the finger.

The throne room was another ten-minute walk across the massive palace, and when she finally arrived, she had to stop and take a breath. She practically ran, despite her legs yelling at her not to.

The good thing was the stairs were getting easier, and eventually they wouldn’t bother her.She hoped.

Crossing the room, she climbed quietly up the dais and slipped through the door behind the throne. She assumed he was still strolling through town on his date with Nina. Her plan was to scribble a thank you note and leave it on his desk, but when she stood in front of the door, another idea struck her.

It was the perfect time to search for Cora’s soul.If he was truly her killer,her soul whispered. The more she thought back to the day of her sister’s murder, the more she noticed subtle differences between Caius and Bane. Their faces were the same, but their walk was different. Bane didn’t wear rings, and his suit was light, not black. Then there was the problem of her seeing Caius in color, but not Bane.

She didn’t know if she was fishing for differences because she wanted the king, or if it was because theyweredifferent.

She tried the knob, but it was locked, and she reached into the back pocket of her jeans. After discovering the sky room, she started carrying a few pins with her for spontaneous situations like this.

Working the lock until she heard a click, she silently slipped into the dimly lit room and looked around to ensure it was empty. She took a second to admire the room, and as she closed in on his reading nook, his smell filled the air.

Every person has their own smell, but they can’t smell it themselves. Rory always wondered if hers stank or something. No one would tell her if it did, but no one ever told her she smelled good unless she was wearing perfume.

His was a comforting smell, but she couldn’t link it to any certain thing. Her hand reached to touch the chair, but she pulled it back and shook her head. “Get it together,” she scolded herself.

She made quick work of looking for any sign of jars or hiding places. When she got to his desk, she opened various drawers and found nothing but office supplies. It was disappointingly boring.

The long drawer across the middle was locked, and her brows rose. Why would he lock this drawer but not the others? She felt along the underside of the desk for a key, and when she found none, she looked through the drawers again, coming up empty. He must keep it on him.

Grabbing the pins from her back pocket, she unlocked the drawer and slid it open. Rory’s blood ran cold. A folder with her sister’s name on it stared at her, and with shaky hands, she pulled it out and dumped the contents onto his desk.

Inside was the emergency report from Cora’s murder and pictures of her dead body. A sob ripped from Rory’s throat as she stumbled back and covered her mouth. A flood of tears streamed down her face, and she squeezed her eyes shut to banish the pictures from her mind.

How foolish she’d been to think he was innocent. How disgusting that she’d let her hormones take over. He killed his own sister, for aether’s sake. Quickly, she shoved the papers and picturesback into the file and slammed the drawer shut before locking it back.

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