Page 4 of Kiss of Ice

“Marriages of convenience are not uncommon,” said Shade slowly. “But I highly recommend love, my friend. When you find the right person, everything changes.”

Kam’s jaw tightened.I did find the right person. But she decided I wasn’t right for her.

“Tell that to my advisors. They keep throwing lists of women at me. All high-born jinn with good doweries and impeccable breeding.”

Shade’s eyebrows shot up.

“Your advisors want you to marry? But you have barely been coronated! Why the rush?”

“They want heirs,” Kam said drily. “I think they want to avoid a repeat of what just happened.”

“Is that why you are busy romancing every female that comes your way?”

“Nope. That’s just my coping mechanism. There’s nothing like a pair of silky thighs to make you forget the past.” He slapped Shade on the shoulder. “If you hadn’t lost your heart you’d still be loving the ladies too.”

“The rate at which you are seducing and discarding them, I am not sure there would be any left over,” Shade said mildly. “Do you evenwantto get married?”

“As I’m fast learning, it’s nothing to do with whatIwant. As Emperor, my job is to do what’s best for Nush’aldaam.”

“You would marry for duty?”

“Of course. If I had to.”

He surveyed his realm, the morning sun reflecting in his hazel eyes. He didn’t tell Shade the truth. That a marriage of convenience made no difference to him. He’d already lost his chance for love.

Two

Ren watched the new Emperor walking among the crowds. Though he was surrounded by his royal guard, they pressed eagerly towards him, enthusiastic in their affection.

Ren gritted her teeth. She had to admit he was handsome. His olive skin gleamed and his expensive clothes were cut to flatter his sculpted torso. But his dark hair was unkempt and there was stubble on his chin. As if he could scarcely make an effort for his own people.

A shirker and a coward, her father had called him. Gone for fifty years, doing who knew what. People had initially thought he’d been killed in a hunting accident in the Forbidden Zone. But then one day out of the blue he’d come waltzing back with no explanation.

It was rumoured he’d faked his own death to escape the burden of being heir to the throne, and had only returned out of guilt when it seemed as if Nush’aldaam would be split by conflict. Too little too late, in her opinion.

She watched people straining to touch the hem of his cloak and curled her lip. Didn’t they care? Shouldn’t they be angry? But it seemed his charm and magnetism had blinded them to his faults. He’d abandoned them, yet like mindless puppies they were happy he was back.

At least he’d be a useful distraction. Ren glanced towards the door of the new healing centre. The staff were waiting to greet the Emperor, their expressions rapt. There were so many people around, they wouldn’t notice her.

She pulled her dark robe more tightly around her, making sure the hood hid her face. The heavy woollen material also obscured her body, which in her book was a good thing. She disliked drawing attention to herself at the best of times. And her size was one thing that made her stand out.

Her height she could do nothing about. She tended to hunch her shoulders so she didn’t loom over people. Her curves were a bit more problematic. She spent a good deal of her life trying to disguise them or whittle them down.

She flipped an envious glance at a petite woman standing on tiptoe trying to catch a glimpse of the Emperor. What she wouldn’t give for a figure like that.

The royal entourage entered the brand new centre and the crowd followed. Ren slipped in with them, glancing round at Arjhan’s latest facility. It was white and gleaming, its staff dressed in pristine uniforms.

Up ahead she saw Arjhan’s Chief Healer being presented to the Emperor and her lip curled. What a joke. Chief Money-maker more like. She wished fervently that she could speak her mind, tell the Emperor what a sham this place was.

He wouldn’t give a shit. Focus on your task.

Making sure no-one was looking her way, she headed for the apothecary. It was a room towards the back of the centre, identified by the universal symbol on the door of a serpent coiled round a staff. Silently, she let herself in.

It was a treatment treasure trove. The shelves were packed with potions, salves and pills. Remedies for common complaints jostled for space next to rarer medicines. Ren spotted balms to cure hydra bites and elixirs to reverse basilisk paralysis.

Healers generally used magic to mend minds and bodies, it was true. But they weren’t available around the clock and when magic wasn’t an option, these were the medicines that kept people alive and pain-free.

If you could afford them.

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