The boy continued croaking, while slowly standing up.Zomzom cocked his head to one side, vividly remembering what it meant not to be able to say anything. Now he was staring from side to side, watching his master do magic. He liked watching the twilight magic begin to move like a living being, obeying every wish of its creator.Now, this ‘living being’ kept getting scarier. Zomzom couldn’t remember its name, seeing vague images from the past and trying to remember something very important that would explain what was happening around him.Suddenly, in a flash of enlightenment, a picture began emerging before his eyes like an old puzzle.Jake Eridanus Castro-Firel. The King of Aldenor. He ascended the throne thirty-five years before Reive. The crown went to him, though not by inheritance. The Eridanus genus was a side branch in the royal genealogy tree. However, Jake was lucky. His second cousin died without any children or direct heirs.

We did indeed run away. At some point, Reive did an about-face, pretending to have a splitting headache after doing magic, and carried me away.The thing was, none of the guests dared to say a word. On the contrary, They told us both to rest and get outdoors as much as possible. Therefore, Reive promised to do that right away.As we left the castle, the sun was already beginning to set, but the necromancer looked happy. As if a picnic at night was exactly what he wanted. He had a suede backpack with two bottles of wine and fruit over his shoulder. Just like a few days ago, when we arrived at Firel. This time, Reive promised we wouldn’t ride horses.We set out of the castle on foot, enjoying the evening sun and the soft breeze caressing our skin. I so much wanted to find out what curse had been put on me and what was happening to Duchess Rendan. And how Reive was helping her and where this black magic could have come from. But I just watched the necromancer

Reive opened his eyes long before dawn. He was laying and looking into the deep vault of the cave, shifting his gaze from one crystal spike to another. The mellow light of the magic lanterns calmed him, tuning his mood.The necromancer turned his head, his glance sliding over the unclothed girl. He wasn’t afraid she would be cold. It was warm here, and it would have been hard to freeze in his arms. He felt unusually fine this night but morning was coming, and soon, he would have to get dressed, get up and say something.Reive didn’t want to. He didn’t want to at all.He might have felt guilty but he didn’t. He might have felt like the scum of the earth because he had used the girl to a certain extent. However, he wasn’t going to be tormented by pangs of conscience. When it came to it, they both wanted it.Faint echoes of guilt deep down in the necromancer’s loins tortured him. He himself didn’t understand why it w

“But she’s still alive. And maybe she’ll recover. No one knows. Reive, please, tell me... Will you be able to heal her?”The girl suddenly stopped and cast such a bright and pure look at him that, at first the necromancer didn’t know how to answer. Should he tell her the truth that he had no plans to cure her? Or to lie?It seemed that Gerhard Ayris was already making plans as if Livia wouldn’t recover. It was quite clear he didn’t care about his fiancée. Earlier when she’d been extremely attractive he’d liked her as a woman. Now, it was much simpler to find another likeable candidate for the throne. Reive wondered if Duchess Billefort was well-born enough. Something told the necromancer she was.“I’ll try, Angel,” Reive answered evasively. “But Livia’s very unlikely to fully recover. The curse she’s been so unlucky to get affects the bones and blood, and causes irre

As usual, Reive alone was calm, like a cat that had flicked meat from the table and gobbled it down while nobody was watching.“I would like to know myself, Your Majesty!” the necromancer spread his arms wide in a gesture of bewilderment. “Did you see it? A huge beast rose to the surface, and was about to drown Angelina and me! I only managed to curl us up together to keep us afloat!”Gerhard raised his brows and frowned. The expression on his face was rather comical. If it hadn’t been for the surrounding tension, I might even have laughed.“Are you saying you have nothing to do with the appearance of this beast?” His Majesty asked incredulously.“Of course, I don’t! How could I?” Reive put his hand to his breast and pretended to stare wide-eyed, squeezing my hand.An insistent burst of laughter was slowly working its way through my throat.“We saw a strong magic aura around L