Page 80 of Unbetrothed

Lux’s lips curled into a smug grin. “I would have said anything to get you out of that room. Your mother was my first choice, but she hid a very powerful gift. To think, we thought she could only heal a scab.”

I spat at Lux’s face. One droplet dribbled down his cheek. He wiped it, flashing narrowed eyes at me. I clenched my jaw.

Sets of footsteps stomped toward us from inside the room. When I looked over my shoulder, my heart stopped.

Zichri, Milo, Gonzalo, Blas, and Jaime swaggered toward us in a V formation, like ducks sweeping in from the north. With their attention fixed on Lux, I willed Zichri to look at me. The suspense squeezed my heart. Will he ally with Lux or save me like he said he would? Zichri threw out an arm in front of Lux, and Lux held fast to Zichri’s forearm in a gesture of comradery.

CHAPTER 41

LUX’S BACK FACED ME. He stood like a pompous peacock behind Papá’s lectern on the balcony that overlooked Giddel. A red-haired man in uniform amplified Lux’s voice by placing his hand, palm up, in front of Lux’s chest.

“Good soldiers of Pedroz and Himzo, I declare our victory over Giddel.”

Cheers erupted from the crowd below. I shuddered. Though I couldn’t see who gathered because of how far back I stood, I heard the echo of gruff voices—a multitude of soldiers.

Lux pointed out to sea. Ships floated to the port, flying the green and blue flag of Giddel. “When King Ezer of Giddel arrives, he will bow to my will because he cannot touch me. He will not force his will on me like he does everyone else.”

He spoke only of Papá like Cosme didn’t exist. A bolt of dread struck my heart, realizing that Cosme and the Dotados could be dead. But Cosme had disappeared on secret expeditions many times before.I hope he makes it back soon. His power could send a spear straight through Lux’s haughty heart.

Lux glanced over his shoulder and tilted his cocky chin high. He extended a hand out to the crowd below. “People of Giddel, remain under my rule, and you will see just how much this region will bloom, aligning ourselves with Himzo. Aldrin takes our side. Akkub takes our side. Uzen takes our side. All others will join us in their own time.”

The ropes chafed my ankles and wrists. When did all these kingdoms meet to betray us? Had we been so blind? Cosme and Lucas must have had a clue with all the wards disappearing.

Lux looked over his shoulder with a contemptuous smile. “Your father has arrived.”

I lifted to the balls of my feet, trying to see the shoreline. It didn’t help.What will Lux do next?

“Prince Lux of Pedroz, I know you are up there.” Papá’s voice thundered through the air—someone amplified his words with their gift. “You will regret breaking our alliance. Leave now, and you may live—unlike your father, theformerKing of Pedroz.”

Lux yanked the cord around my wrists. I started to fall, but he caught me. “Release her feet,” he snapped at a soldier.

As the soldier sliced the bindings around my legs, I felt Lux’s pain seep into my senses through our skin contact and grip my heart. With so many violent emotions sloshing through him, he had to have understood Papá’s meaning all too well.

He set me upright, and our faces were only a breath away from each other. He still had those turquoise eyes, but they had grown dull and worn. His thin lips, which I had dreamed of kissing, now pinched with disdain. His glare swept over me as though I were a cockroach.

I should practice my gift on him and try to flick his pain into an agony.Could I physically harm him with my gift like I had the soldier? How had I done that?

Lux twisted me around before I could do anything. His roughness made it hard to concentrate. He pressed a dagger to my neck. “What say you to losing your daughter?” He spoke to the crowd as much as to Papá. “As I recall, you haven’t had a chance to see her since her trip with the Himzos.”

The words shrouded over me like the trees had in the Chupalma Forest.

“Good people of Giddel, she betrays you more than I.” Lux flourished toward Zichri. “Did she not spend her time away with you, a prince of Himzo?”

I fixed my gaze on Zichri in disbelief thathe would betray me less than a day after professing his love. His placid brown eyes examined my face before turning to the people below with a hardened set to his jaw. Zichri said, “Yes.”

This dug at my heart just as much as Lux’s betrayal. Why should Zichri lie about us being together this week? He told the truth. We hadn’t known each other long. His main allegiance was to Himzo, not to me. Dreaded tears burned as I held them back. I couldn’t let anyone see how his complicity hurt me.

“Face me like a king,” Papá demanded.

Lux widened his malevolent grin, satisfied with himself. “You may enter. If you use your gift on even a servant, I will push your daughter off this ledge, and then I will do the same to the queen.”

A deep-seated fury burned in my stomach. How could I have considered him a friend? His presence repulsed me. We waited in silence, a salty breeze whipping stray hair into my eyes.

I tried to concentrate like I had before, envisioning the sea, tentacles, anything, but everything distracted me. Voices in the crowd heckled Papá. Gonzalo cleared his throat, and Lux blinked more than usual. Blas tapped his boot and hummed a song we had sung many times on our trip together. The cords rubbed the skin on my wrists all wrong. How was Mamá holding up?

Boots scuffed within the room, followed by a soldier shouting, “The Lord of the Gifts!”

“All-powerful of Giddel, where is your sting?” Lux dragged me by the arm and entered the room to meet with Papá.

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