Page 82 of Omega Sanctuary

"Of course he does," Aalina waved her hand. "He wouldn't be the King of Ember Island if he didn't expect something for borrowing the Crown Prince for a while."

Nikolaidis glanced at her. "A while?"

"Think of it as a holiday." Aalina was grinning.

I looked between them. "If your father thinks the Sanctuary is trustworthy, you could leave the void with Priestess Aalina?"

I didn't want him to leave, but at the same time I wanted to push him into mud for being such a jerk.

Nikolaidis smirked. "Trying to get rid of me?"

"Yes?" I said it like it was obvious. "You clearly have better things to do, Nikki."

"Better things than sitting around watching you stumble through Magic 101? Yeah," he said. "But you're stuck with me."

My libido gave a little cheer. The rest of me, not so much. "If your father doesn't trust the Sanctuary to watch your family heirloom, that's not my fault."

He stood up and closed the distance between us. "What do you think the void is, exactly?"

I looked at the anastatis box. "Ancient tec?"

His energy pushed against mine with palpable force, like he was pressing against my body. I shifted my shoulders, not sure if I was trying to give myself more space or less.

He smirked, and I saw a piece of the beautiful boy hiding under the sneer. "No, Princess. It's just me."

I frowned. "You?"

"Yes." He moved closer, until he was almost close enough to touch. Heat pressed in my core, tingling radiating up into my belly. I sucked in a breath again.

I wanted him to close the distance between us, press up against me, maybe press his erection against me, proof I wasn't the only one drowning in lust.

"I'm the void." It had to be my imagination, but it sounded like his voice was huskier than before.

"A person?"

He stepped back, the mask falling back into place. He turned away from me, pausing at Aalina. "I'm not staying at the Sanctuary."

"Certainly not. We have accommodations in town."

He gave a short nod and left.

I caught myself against the bench as all the pain came flooding back. Tears bit my eyes.

Aalina patted my shoulder. "You'll get used to it, and in time, control your magic enough that it won't hurt."

I let out something caught between a laugh and a sob. "I don't understand any of this."

"I thought you knew, I apologize. A void is sometimes a magical object, but you already showed me objects aren't as efficient."

I wanted to curl into a ball again and already planned a trip to the steam baths.

"In Prince Nikolaidis's case, he was born with antimagical abilities."

"I didn't know that was even possible."

"It's quiet rare, quite a hard talent to master. He will create a radius around you. No matter how much magic you put out, the void will swallow it."

"Oh." It made sense now, even if it seemed like legend.

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