That she loved him.

Could it be that there was still hope that she hadn’t abandoned him to this fate? That she had forgiven him his many mistakes?

The guards unshackled Magnus and the king and began pulling them from the dungeon and into the light. They entered a building, then moved down an echoing corridor with a open ceiling.

A pretty girl with short, dark hair and a shapely body leaned against the wall up ahead.

“Greetings,” she said to the guards. “I see that you have the prisoners firmly in hand. Well done.”

“Indeed, Nerissa. You look lovely today.”

“You think so?” She smiled seductively, and the guards smiled back at her.

“Fitting in well here, I see,” Magnus said to her coldly.

“Very well, thank you.” Nerissa began walking next to them, and she slid her hand down the sleeve of the guard’s uniform. “I need to ask you for a favor, my sweet.”

Magnus’s guard slowed down, while his father’s guards continued down the hall.

The guard looked at her hungrily. “Oh?”

She whispered something in his ear that actually made him giggle.

“That is a favor I’m most happy to oblige, my lovely. Tell me when and where.”

The king and his guards disappeared around the corner up ahead.

“Soon. Perhaps just a kiss for now to make you remember me.”

“As if I could forget.”

Nerissa pulled the guard in and brushed her lips against his. Magnus saw her reach for something in the folds of her dress. She met Magnus’s eyes just as she thrust her dagger into the guard’s gut. The guard immediately let go of Magnus, clutching his stomach.

“What are you—?” he gasped.

She jabbed him, quick and deep, several more times before he fell to the floor in a bloody, twitching heap.

Magnus stared at the girl in utter shock at what he’d witnessed.

Nerissa gestured to someone behind Magnus. “Quickly. Cut the prince’s bindings.”

That someone sliced through the ropes that tied his wrists, and Magnus turned. A familiar, angry face topped with a shock of red hair stared back at him.

“Nic,” he managed.

Nic shook his head. “It goes against my very nature to save your arse, but here we are.”

Magnus couldn’t believe his eyes. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

“And I would be if it weren’t for your sister’s magic. Here I was prepared to despise the both of you for the rest of my life. You, I’m still undecided about. Her . . . I now owe my life.” He looked at Nerissa. “What do we do with the guard?”

“This way.” She grabbed the sleeve of the dead guard’s uniform, and she and Nic pulled him out of the main corridor and into a shadowed alcove. “This will have to do. We need to move quickly.”

Magnus, still stunned, grappled to regain his composure. “Where are we going?”

“We’re going to Amara’s chambers to retrieve the water Kindred,” Nerissa whispered. “She knows how to perform the ritual to release its magic. I don’t know how she learned it, but she’s confident that it’ll work. The prisoners will be used for their blood, to strengthen the magic. I want to do what I can to help them, but right now we need that Kindred in our hands, not hers.”

Magnus nodded. “Then let’s stop talking and start moving.”

Nerissa hurried down the hallway, and Nic and Magnus followed closely behind. Finally they came to a doorway. Nerissa looked both ways before unlocking the door. They entered a lavish bedroom with several adjoining rooms full of windows that looked out at the small walled city.

Nerissa went immediately to the wardrobe, checking the pockets of a long line of gowns and cloaks. “Check everywhere else, just in case she moved it.”

Magnus and Nic did as she said, checking shelves, cabinets, and under the cushions of chairs.

“Are you sure it’s here?” Magnus asked.

“All I know for sure is that she didn’t have it with her earlier.”

“How do you know?”

“I helped her dress, and it was definitely not in any of her pockets. Check the other room.”

Magnus wasn’t sure how he felt about being ordered around by a servant, but he continued to do as she instructed. This girl had far more talents than simply being a personal attendant.

But, of course, he now realized that Nerissa Florens wasn’t just any attendant. She was a rebel.

His search left him empty-handed, and he returned to the bedroom, but Nic and Nerissa were nowhere to be seen. “Where did you go? Nic? Nerissa?”

He scanned the large room until his gaze fell on two bodies lying on the floor.

Nic’s eyes were shut, an angry red mark on his temple. A few paces away, Nerissa groaned with pain.

Her eyes met Magnus’s and immediately widened with fear.

Magnus felt a sharp pain on the back of his head, and then the world went dark.

CHAPTER 30

AMARA

PAELSIA

“Little empress.”

The sound of Kyan’s voice surprised her, but Amara was relieved to hear it. She’d been certain he’d left her after their disagreement yesterday.

“You’re still here,” she whispered. She sat in the small room adjacent to her bedchambers that she’d turned into a meditation room, one empty of everything except the mat she sat upon.

“The storm is nearly upon us. It is time for me to regain my power and for you to reap every reward you so greatly deserve.”