..........Evaki .........."Yes," I reply, getting to my feet, and he steps back. "If you could come with me, please," the man adds, gesturing down the passage, and I open my mouth to respond, but Paris’s voice cuts me off, and I turn my head to see him taking long strides toward me."She’s not going anywhere with you," he says, his expression grave, and I tell him it’s okay, but he cuts me off again, saying it’s not."What makes you think you can question my wife?" he asks, and the guy bows, stammering, and says it’s King Dimitris’s orders, but Paris tells him to leave. He scurries off while Paris pulls me into a hug. "I’m sorry," he says in the hug, and I pull back and tell him it’s okay. What happened here tonight is bad, and I know King Dimitris is just trying to get to the bottom of what happened to his daughter. She just lost his granddaughter, and it could have gone even worse. She could have lost her life, too. They deserve to know the answers. It’s not like they think I di

.............Charon ............."Hey! What is going on?" I ask one of the guards, seeing them running down the corridor, just as I take my phone out so I can find out if Maia was found. He says something is happening down by the Rose Walk. The Rose Walk is the passage leading to the palace’s secret entrance. I run after the guards, heading down to the dimly lit corridor, and I can hear the growls as I turn the corner, but my eyes widen at the scene in front of me. I see Dyson fall on his knees absent his head, and I take a pistol from one of the guards and fire three shots at the man who just decapitated him, sending him tumbling to his back. "Seize him!" I roar, horrified, looking at the blood splatters and my mem lying dead on the floor, some missing their heads like Dyson, some their hearts. But my heart stops when I look at the person lying just a little further from them."Oh, no," I scream a the guards, who are crawling on the floor, still alive. How the hell do they just l

...........Kyros...........I get to my feet before the king, my eyes fixed on the ornate tapestry that adorns the wall. I can feel the weight of his gaze upon me as he awaits my answer, and I don’t know what to say. I can’t be his son’s guard. I have no desire to be anyone’s personal guard. I’m a wizard, not a babysitter, and I have my own mission I came here for. But I know better than to voice my concerns. The king is not a man to be argued with, and refusing such a request from any king would jeopardize my life. I will have to speak to Driviar and confess what I’ve done, and he will have to find a way to get me out of here. He seems to have some understanding of the king. So, I open my mouth to tell him I will do it, but he speaks first, causing me to close my mouth again."I know you are Driviar’s trainee, and you don’t have to worry about that. I will speak to Driviar, and you can continue with your training. I will arrange all that," he says, shocking me. How can he know that

..............Stefania.............."What do you mean, lift the spell? Won’t that get Evaki pregnant?" I ask, something rising in my chest at his words. What’s the point if we both fall pregnant? Driviar explains why he can’t steal the egg without lifting the spell, and Father asks him how long it would need to be lifted for. He says that until we are sure the egg has worked on me, and I tell him that can’t happen. Who knows when Paris will have sex with me? Having sex with him was hard enough the first time, with him feeling guilty like he was cheating on his precious human. He says Evaki will experience some discomfort after he removes the egg and won’t have sex with Paris, and I ask him how long the discomfort will last. He says it won’t last long, but it will give me enough time to get to Paris and have sex with him, and I scream at him the moment he says that. Has he not been listening to me? I just told him that Paris won’t have sex with me right now. Father asks him if the

................................Two months Later ...............................................Stefania ..............."I’m doing everything I can, Father. What more can I do if Paris doesn’t want to sleep with me?" I ask my father, frustrated by his tone. For the past two months, I have been trying to get Paris to sleep with me, but he’s never in the mood. It’s like that thing with Evaki traumatized him for good. I even spoke to Eva last week and point blank asked her if she and Paris were fucking, even though I would have smelled it on him, but I was going out of my mind, and she said no. She’s also going through the same thing I’m going through. The only thing he did was ask me to see a fertility doctor to get checked, and I refused because, even though I knew there was no way to be certain medically what gender I was going to conceive, I got spooked that he might want to go to a seer next, and it would be funny if I consented to go to a doctor, but not the seer. I thought