Page 93 of The Prince's Mage

But then hands were on him, larger than Aimilia’s who had already been touching him. He was being hauled up to his feet and he briefly registered Nikias’ voice. “—out of here. Out of sight is out of mind for our parents. They’ll be too focused on the army to do any damage to him.”

Honestly, Gavril didn’t care anymore. What was the point of trying to avoid every black eye or split lip when they were going to be swimming in blood soon enough? When Marcella’s was going to be the first spilled?

Gavril stumbled to his feet, leaning against Aimilia and Nikias as they ushered him to a side door, weaving through the crowd of commanders. Aimilia hissed under her breath, “So focused on an army we wouldn’t need if you hadn’t ruined everything!”

Nikias glared at her, abandoning Gavril’s left side to open the door so Aimilia could usher him through it. “I did nothing but expose the truth. If you want to blame anyone, blame the Sordes girl and the demon she resembles for doing this to Gavril and all of us.”

“You ruined our one chance to prove Gavril’s theory, all for the sake of your own pride. You have condemned thousands of our people to die in this pointless battle. I hope it’s worth it,” Aimilia spat as they made it out into the hallway. “I hope you can sleep at night with all this blood on your hands.”

“You think that girl—who has been using and lying to Gavril for months—had any intentions of peace? At least of our peace? You saw her in there. She did not deny it. Shecan’t.You saw those messages on those ravens yourself. That girl used Gavril so she could kidnap me and subject me to the demon whokilledFaustina andlaughed. That demon is not capable of peace. It was always a foolish hope. I’m just grateful I was able to catch her and expose her before she could damage Gavril further.”

Gavril opened his mouth but nothing came out other than a short, rasping noise. Nikias lifted his hands, and his fingers flew, banishing the hidden runes on his neck.

“What is Father going to do now that there is no promise binding him?” Gavril couldn’t help himself.

He still loved her. As furious as he was, as much as it hurt, knowing she’d been lying about it all, he loved her. He couldn’t let them hurt her. He couldn’t let them kill her.

Nikias let out a long sigh and pinched his brow. “Gavril, she is a traitor. While he hasn’t said it explicitly, there isn’t really much else to do with them.”

Aimilia let go of Gavril, and then he blinked as she shoved Nikias back. “You wretched, miserable man! You’d have us all as lonely and devastated as you. You’d rather we all choke on blood and bury our loves than even entertain the idea of peace.”

Nikias narrowed his eyes and caught Aimilia’s wrist as she moved to shove him again. “Everything I have done as of late has been to protect Gavril from the agony I’ve known.”

“The agony of losing the wife you loved. From where I’m standing, all you’ve done is condemn him to it. But now I wonder…” Aimilia ripped her wrist out of his grip. “If this is what you’ve always been, I wonder how you ever managed to love Faustina at all. Or how she ever loved you in return.”

Nikias’ eyes darkened as he stepped closer to Aimilia, towering over her, but all she did was tilt her head up, refusing to back down. His eyes traveled across her face, and he opened his mouth, but before he could speak, the door behind them was opening and a commander was saying, “Prince Nikias, your father needs you to discuss the assignments.”

Nikias’ jaw clenched as he stepped back and moved around Aimilia without a word.

The door shut, and Aimilia crossed her arms, glaring at it.

Gavril swallowed. Even though he now had his voice back, he didn’t know what to do with it.

“Thatman—” Aimilia shook her head and turned away from the door. She took a deep breath and looked at Gavril. “Alright. What’s the plan?”

Gavril sputtered, “What? What plan?”

“To save Marcella and fix this.” Aimilia raised an eyebrow and her voice hardened. “Tell me you have a plan.”

When his only response was to stare back at her silence, she went perfectly still.

“Don’t tell me Nikias has gotten in your head.” She said it like a threat. “Even if you believe there is no possible explanation—an explanation she desperately wants to give you—you know you will not be able to live with yourself if she’s harmed.”

Gavril knew that. Of course he wasn’t going to let anything happen to her, but…

“How? Aimilia, this war is reaching a scale we have never seen before. The army marches in less than a week. What can I do? Just run off with her like I tried to before?” He couldn’t help his breathy scoff. “It should have been obvious. She didn’t tell me to stay because she cared about me. She told me to stay because she needed access to Nikias. Because she would rather stay at risk of the table or death to fulfill those orders from Hypatia than run away and have a life with me. How much clearer of a sign that she doesn’t love me can that be? That even if I managed to run off with her, she still doesn’t want me.”

Aimilia threw her hands up. “You idiot! That girl loves you. Anyone with eyes could see it if they were paying attention in there—you weren’t though. You areso—She said to you to have faith in her. Go and get that explanation—not to mention she’s right, you owe her one for the fact that she only just now found out she’s been married for the better part of a year. Maybe once you have it, you’ll see she will be happy to run away with you and let the rest of us slaughter each other.”

Gavril couldn’t let himself believe Aimilia. He couldn’t get his hopes up again. For so long he had longed for, hoped for, been praying to a goddess he’d never prayed to before her, that she might love him. And he’d thought he had it.

This was worse than when she’d hated him. Because now he had the memories of the time when she pretended to love him back. The memory of her kissing him the night before the banquet, whispering words he feared he would never hear. It was going to follow him the rest of his life. He’d had everything he’d wanted but it had all been an illusion.

“That’s—Even if you were right, and you’re not, I can’t leave you and our people or hers to slaughter each other. I can’t just run away anymore. Besides, they’re not going to let me anywhere near her. And the second I try, Nikias—”

Aimilia shook her head. “I will distract Nikias. You’re the best illusionist this land has seen. You can get past a few guards to see your wife.”

Have faith.

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