Page 43 of Hidden Kingdoms

“But, my Lord, please,” he whimpered, face draining of colour as he pleaded. I could find no sympathy for him, no matter how scared he was of thisCommander.He rushed backwards, almost tripping over his feet in a bid to get away. I glanced at Kaius, as his devastating features which had been drawn with aner, schooled back into their usual stunning form.

Reluctantly, I pulled my hand from his as he led me down the corridor, trying to piece together everything that had just happened. The rush of magik making me lightheaded as I put one foot in front of the other.

What would have happened if Kaius hadn’t stopped my magik from overwhelming me? Stopped me from making what I knew would have been a big mistake?

“Thank you.”

“For what?” He glanced down at me, but I didn’t meet his eyes, instead taking in the paintings that hung on the walls.

“Stopping me.”

“Can’t have you destroying the Crown Prince, now can we? Bastian doesn’t usually piss people off that much, I’m quite impressed to be honest.”

“I find that hard to believe.” His answering laugh took some of the tension from my shoulders.

As we walked, I noticed that the same face was showing up in multiple portraits along the corridor. A young girl, maybe around ten or eleven, beautiful blonde curls framing her soft face as smiling brown eyes gazed out of the portraits. There was a familiarity in her I couldn’t place but soon enough the frames changed, her golden curls lost within the other portraits, and my mind went to the two new faces I had met today.

“Who was that woman?”

“Woman?” He frowned.

“Mm. Big tits and weird coloured eyes. Likes to hiss.”

“Lyssa was there? Then I take it Amos was there, too. Podgy older man, black hair?”

When I nodded in confirmation, he continued. “They’re advisers. They left before I got there I assume?”

“Yep. He kicked them out after I called him an idiot.”

I smiled at the floor as his laugh bounced off the walls. “Oh, Elodie, I think you’re about to make things fun around here.”

“Where are we going?” I asked quietly.

He looked down at me and my heart skipped as our eyes locked.

“It’s time you saw more of the palace, don’t you think?

19

CHAPTER NINETEEN

ELODIE

The surroundings grew progressively lavish the further we walked, until I had no doubt I was far from my little room. Every graze of Kaius’ hand brushing against mine sent a thrill through me.

Frame upon frame of gilded paintings lined the walls between elaborate golden sconces that held smokeless flames. Ones I was damn suredidn’trun off electricity.

We only passed a few people which was surprising giving the size of the place. The men nodded their heads towards Kaius, eyes down with greetings of ‘my Lord’ passing their lips, while women cast him shy looks from under their lashes which changed to confusion when they noticed me. He ignored them all, frame still rigid with tension.

The further we made it from the room I had lost control in, the calmer I felt. I was still pissed I had been left with more questions than answers, but I knew talking with Kaius gave me a better chance of getting them.

I tried to categorize what I was most desperate to know, hoping he was in a sharing mood. The hall widened to an archway, and passing through we entered onto a large mezzanine level that stretched out to both sides of the arch.Light flooded the space through the multi-storey, floor-to-ceiling stained glass windows that filled the entire wall opposite. Glass cut into tiny shape that depicted flames and women and all things fire. The sunlight that filtered through cast everything in an orange glow. As we walked, the colours danced over our skin as though we were walking through flames.

They shimmered across Kaius’ his face. The soft light reflected in his eyes until they glittered like polished silver. The image of an angel. His lip quirked as he caught me staring, motioning me to the stairs ahead.

The shining banister was solid gold, the metal alive under my fingers as we descended. Crossing the open hall, Kaius led us out of the huge glass doors and onto a wide stone platform open to the elements where cool air soothed my overheated skin.

The steps led down to a patch of the same shimmering black pebbles that I had walked on up to the castle, before they gave way to a carpet of green clover dotted with tiny white daisies whose petals were open to welcome a sun that barely warmed the earth.

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