Page 122 of The Prince's Mage

As soon as she was out of the tent, she couldn’t hear anything happening inside. She imagined one of them likely had put up a silencing rune. She eyed the guards for a moment, unsure if she’d been dismissed fully or just dismissed for the fight.

She did want to find out what Konstantin had said to Gavril after she’d left, so Marcella stood off to the side and waited, staring at the tent.

Her account to Hypatia had taken up most of the morning and the sun was steadily approaching its height at noon. Once it had slowly drifted past the apex and started to make its slow descent down, Konstantin emerged from the tent, his face twisted into a scowl, dark curls slightly ruffled from his fingers running through it, and his other hand clenching and unclenching.

Marcella kept her mouth shut, unsure if he would even see her, but his eyes did land on her and he immediately changed directions to her. He took her by the arm, firmly but not roughly, and started walking her away from the command tent. He said, “That woman—”

His voice then devolved into an incomprehensible noise.

“What happened?” Marcella asked.

Konstantin shook his head. “She is being the way she always is.”

Marcella knewthat.

“I will not let her do this,” Marcella said, looking up at him. “I will not let her take me away from my husband. Why? Why would she care? Why is she trying to keep me after she sent me to die?”

Konstantin looked back at the tent and lowered his voice as he pulled her into an emptier section of the camp. “Because she has this sick sense of always needing to be in control. Hypatia… I did not understand her at first. I still don’t understand, but I do know this. When our soldiers captured the Inimicus soldier and she got him to talk… when she heard you were alive she has been almost singularly focused on getting you back. Before the summit, all she did was try to use her Sight to find out what was happening to you in their capital, but she saw nothing. When she heard of the Inimicus prince taking advantage of you, she wanted him to suffer. That’s why she told you to take the prince hostage.”

“But why? I’d served my purpose. She’s always been fascinated with the fact that I look like her, but what more use could she have for me?”

“Hypatia… she is not like the rest of us. And she knows it. For all the ways that makes her worse, I think… my theory is that it has also made her incredibly lonely.” Konstantin’s voice was barely above a breath. “I think she’s always suffered for not having an equal.”

She couldn’t help her scoff. “I am the farthest from her equal in every manner and she has never let me forget it.”

“I don’t think anyone can be her equal, but I think she craves it, and you looking so much like her makes you the closest in her mind, especially given the fact that you survived in Areator. That has only raised her respect for you, no matter how little she might show it. It was a shock to me and the High Priest when she told us if you succeeded, she would have him name the two of you sisters to elevate your status.”

Fascinating as Hypatia’s character was, understanding it wasn’t helping her.

“If she had any respect for me, she would let me make my own decisions. She wouldn’t treat me like some doll.”

Konstantin sighed. “You have my full agreement. But unfortunately we are stuck with Hypatia, so we have to work with or around her. I have liked less and less of what I have seen as all of this has progressed.”

Marcella had seen what that meant from him over the last few days, and she couldn’t help her slightly mocking laugh. “Then my fate is sealed.”

Konstantin shook his head. He then paused, eyeing her jaw. Marcella immediately reached up, before she remembered there was no way he could see the scars there.

His voice was low, softer as he asked, “Are they bad? The scars?”

He knew?

“What?”

Konstantin’s voice lowered. “They’re hidden, under an illusion like the one that was over your wrist, right?”

“Please, don’t tell Hypatia, if she—”

“I won’t. It was the smart thing to do to lie. Gavril told me what happened, and if Hypatia knew it had failed and you’d been on their heretics’ tables, I shudder to imagine what she would do, given her possessiveness over you. Do you need the Inimicus to redo them soon? How bad are they?”

Marcella shook her head. “I have a few days left before they’ll start to fade. They’re… long, but thin. I could hide them beneath my sleeves and a high neckline if I needed to.”

“If they start to fade, do that until I can sneak you in to see the Inimicus again. You have to keep them hidden from her until the treaty is negotiated and signed.”

Talking about her scars shredded her already fraying patience further.

She crossed her arms. “It will do me little good if she includes in the treaty total separation from the man I love regardless.”

“I understand.” Konstantin narrowed his eyes. “What you don’t understand is the mess of politics I am currently in. This coalition did not come easily. The conditions of my marriage to Hypatia are certainly not ideal. Believe me when I say I want to help you, and I want peace with the Inimicus. We have two days until Prince Nikias arrives.”

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