Page 6 of Blood and Fate

“Who is he?” Kais’ eyes on her held no emotion. It was simply a matter-of-fact inquiry, as though he was asking if she liked dogs.

“Who?” she asked, though she knew who he meant.

He inclined his head back toward the hall where the music seeped outside. “The one who tried to cut in. Who is he?”

“Lord Henrik, my father’s advisor.”

Even speaking his name left a bad taste in her mouth.

Kais’ brow rose. “Advisor?” His eyes moved to the side, considering, and then back to her. “Why are you afraid of him?”

How he could know of her fear was more unnerving than the question. She squared her shoulders. Why wouldn’t he just leave her alone?

“I am not afraid of him.”

After another moment of scrutinizing her, during which she tried not to flinch, he spoke again, “Of course. My mistake.”

Why was he following her? She just needed space, room to relax for a moment, and she couldn’t do that with him there. Something about his presence caused her body to react in ways she couldn’t control. She nearly rolled her eyes at herself. Of course, it wasn’t him. How could he possibly have any impact at all on her physically?

Was she afraid of Kais? She would be a fool not to be. Evandor’s reputation as a country was severe. Not to mention Kais himself was much bigger than she was; she would be at his mercy should he decide to act unseemly. It wasn’t as though the Princess was taught how to defend herself. She had guards for that.

She swiveled her head around. Guards. There were no guards with her. No one was around.

She felt his gaze still on her. She glanced at him and found him scrutinizing her, head tilted to the side, eyes narrowed.

“Now you’re afraid of me,” he pointed out as though analyzing her.

Lucky guess. Again, why wouldn’t she be?

She swallowed and hoped it wasn’t visible. “Excuse me, please.”

She moved around him and back toward the Hall.

CHAPTER TWO

KAIS

Kais watched the Princess leave. Flee was a more accurate description. When he was alone, he finally released a breath and the tension he’d been holding in his shoulders. What in Helias was that? He knew beyond a doubt that she was afraid. But of course, she would be frightened of him—he was the enemy. No doubt stories had been told about them, true or not. But he knew she was afraid of that advisor, too, though it was a different feeling than when she was around Kais.

Which was worse, fear of the unknown or fear of the known? For her, it had been fear of the known.

He let out a frustrated sound, feeling like he could punch the wall. A good question was: why did he care? A better question was: how did he know? How did he know she was afraid? What made this girl special? A thought poked at the back of his mind, a story from his youth. He pushed it away, burying it. He would have to be mad to entertain that possibility.

“Sir?”

He’d heard Teague approach, though he didn’t look at the other man, only turned his head slightly in his direction.

“We weren’t sure where you’d gone, Sir. It’s nearly time for the meal.”

He was expected to go back in there and eat with those people. Not for the first time, he wished he had declined the invitation. Holiday or not, they were a questionable crowd to be associated with. Some of his men had told him as much, pressing to know why he had come.

Why had he come? Curiosity. He wanted to see for himself. To see these people who were taxing the land to the brink of collapse and hoarding provisions until their people starved. People who sat in their comfortable castle and threw parties while other people died. He wondered if that precious, frightened Princess knew what her father was really like. The King put on quite an act of cluelessness. But Kais and his people knew better. They had ridden through the land and had seen the people starving and barely surviving. Outside of Covington, the quality of life rapidly diminished the farther from the castle one rode.

When the time came, Kais would have no problem working to overthrow the land. It would benefit the people greatly, whether they understood that or not.

He turned his head fully to Teague. “What do you think of all this?”

Teague’s chin lowered slightly, and though his expression didn’t change, Kais knew him well enough to see the shadow there.

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