Page 161 of A Kingdom This Cursed and Empty

“I don’t want to use the people around me,” I whispered. “Tibris is my brother.” I refused to ever be Conreth.Mybrother was more than a tool I could use when the time came.

The corner of Lorian’s mouth turned up. Maybe he’d followed my thoughts.

“Your brotherwantsto be useful. All of them do. They deserve to fight for your people as well, Prisca.”

He was right. I knew he was right. But if something happened to Tibris…

I squashed that thought. “I know. It’s why I’m going to send him, alone, into rebel territory.”

He crossed the room and pulled me into his arms. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For all of it. For the choices you have to make. For the weight on your shoulders. If I’d found a way to kill Regner before this, you might have had that quiet life you dreamed of.” His eyes blazed at the thought, but I knew him well enough to know he’d give me that quiet life if he could.

I no longer wanted it.

The thought of him having killed Regner before I was discovered… It was horrifying.

Because it would mean I never would have met him.

My gut twisted. So many people had died. My brother had been in a cage for two years. And the thought of it not happening, of never knowing… “Lorian…”

“What is it, Prisca?” His voice was gentle. As if he knew.

“I never would have met you,” I got out. “If you’d killed Regner.”

“Oh, wildcat. Don’t you know by now? I would have found you. No matter what happens, I willalwaysfind you.”

My heart skipped a beat and then raced. He smiled at me, and my knees turned weak. The certainty in his voice…

I believed him. He would have found me. Somehow.

“Enjoy your time with your fae prince. But know this—you cannot keep him.”

Lorian’s mouth found mine, and I let him push Ysara’s voice from my mind, basking in the feel of him. His scent. His lips, skilled and firm against my own. He slid his hand to my back and pulled me close, and I thrilled at the feel of him hard and ready.

I managed to pull myself out of his arms. His eyes were so dark, the green had almost completely disappeared.

“I need to find Tibris. And then…” I glanced down at myself. “A bath.”

He gave me a wicked smile. “It just so happens I also need to bathe.”

Lorian’s hawk flew in the open window. I ducked as it swooped overhead, but it went to Lorian’s shoulder, and he read the message. His mouth twitched, and he looked up at me.

“It’s an update from Hevdrin. About the fae and the hybrids.”

“No change?”

He shook his head.

Chewing on my lower lip, I crossed to the window. “Do you think it was a mistake?”

“No, but I think they need a common enemy.”

“Theyhavea common enemy.”

“Yes, but right now, Regner is a theoretical kind of enemy.”

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