Page 129 of The Prince's Mage

She wasn’t sure which one of them it was specifically that had his hands curling back into fists or if it was both of them. Nikias’ lip curled up into a sneer when he locked eyes with Marcella, and she was willing to bet she was slightly higher in his disgust at the moment. A feat, considering who she was standing beside.

Hypatia shifted up in her seat a little and spoke in the Inimicus tongue with a heavy accent, “Welcome,PrincepsNikias. It’s been too long.”

Nikias twitched and stepped forward, letting whoever was behind him step inside, the rest of his entourage, his display of authority and power as he acted as king. He ignored it all and looked back to Gavril and asked in his tongue, “Are you well?”

“I will be when there is peace,” Gavril replied in theirs as well.

For some reason that only made Hypatia smile wider and Marcella wanted to throw up. She was up to something. She had an idea, or she’d seen something. But Marcella had no idea what. Or how to stop it.

“Relax,Princeps,” Hypatia said, waving her hand as she sat back in her seat. “Sit. Let’s talk.”

Nikias glared at her. “Demon.”

Hypatia laughed. Konstantin leaned over and hissed something in her ear. Marcella couldn’t quite catch it, but it had sounded something like, ‘stop antagonizing him.’ Which Marcella quite agreed with.

But Nikias turned to the commanders he’d brought with him and nodded at them to take seats at the table. Two Inimicus carried in a familiar trunk. The one that had always carried the Heart of Asentai. As the rest of the commanders filed in, Marcella recognized a few of the faces she’d seen in the palace but it wasn’t until the last member of Nikias’ entourage stepped into the tent that Marcella truly recognized someone.

And the second she was inside the tent, her eyes landed on Gavril and she started toward him, saying, “Gavril!”

Aimilia.

Right. She was a commander, even if she was suspended from her duties. Why had Nikias brought her?

“Aimilia, I’m fine—” Gavril started but was quickly cut off by one of his guards jostling him.

Before Aimilia could take more than a step toward him, Nikias had turned around and grabbed her by her arm and hissed, “Take your seat, Commander.”

Hypatia leaned her chin into her palm, propped up on the arm of her chair. Her grin grew wider.

Aimilia didn’t move immediately, just looked between Gavril and Marcella for a moment, questions and panic spilling out of her eyes.

Wait… if Aimilia was here… who was dosing the king to keep him incapacitated?

Nikias huffed and marched her over to one of the remaining chairs, practically shoving her into it as he took his seat next to her at the foot of the table all the way across from Hypatia. Aimilia stayed in her seat but sent another look at Marcella, who just looked over at Gavril who, based on how much paler he’d turned, realized what the problem was.

If Aimilia had been chosen as part of Nikias’ entourage, she hadn’t dosed the king in days. He was likely already awake and riding toward them to stop this. They needed a deal and they needed it today.

They could not afford a single delay.

Hypatia leaned over to Marcella and murmured in their tongue, “She’s pretty for an Inimicus. Who is she?”

Oh no. Hypatia taking notice of Aimilia could not end well.

But Marcella had no choice but to answer or risk unbalancing Hypatia. So far Hypatia seemed to be as restrained as she was capable of.

“Commander Aimilia. She was in Gavril’s class at theiracademie.”

“She seems to be particularly concerned about your promised’s well-being as well as being the youngest commander he brought with him.” Hypatia tapped a finger against her cheek, her dangerous grin spreading into her voice. “I imagine that’s the reason she’s here.”

That was true. That was the only reason she could imagine Nikias would think to bring her, and she probably hadn’t had a good excuse prepared that wouldn’t reveal she needed to be in the capital to keep the king down. Marcella murmured, “She and Gavril have been good friends for a long time. She is also skilled and powerful. I know firsthand. She is also my friend. She helped Gavril get me off the table.”

Marcella hoped that would be enough for Hypatia to leave her out of whatever was going on in her mind.

“Interesting,” Hypatia murmured before turning back to Nikias, who was glaring at them.

High Priest Panagiotis took his seat to Hypatia’s left and said, “Remember, my lady, Asentai’s values.”

“Of course,” Hypatia murmured before switching back to the Inimicus tongue and saying, “As you know, we have your brother but are prepared to return him in exchange for the relic as long as we can come to equitable terms of peace. Especially as it seems most of our fighting has been for nothing as your brother and my soldier demonstrated our magic really isn’t different at all. I trust you are willing to be reasonable?”

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