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Underas red asthe Maiden or sheltered does not equal stupidity,” I snapped, aware of the hush that had settled over the table and the entire banquet hall—a room currently full of Descenters and Atlantians All ould kill and die for the lared at

“No” Casteel’s gaze flickered over me as he took a sip “It does not”

“But I a sharp With a quick glance down, I sahat I had been too shocked and disturbed to notice earlier A knife One with a wooden handle and a thick, serrated blade, designed to cut through er I hadn’t seen that since the stables, and it cut er was ifted it to me on my sixteenth birthday, and it was uard He had assumed the role er was one

Killed by those who supported Casteel

And based on the fact that I’d shoved the last dagger I’d gotten my hands on deep into Casteel’s heart, I doubted the wolven-bone blade would be returned anytih It would have to do

“What is there to be confused about?” He placed the chalice down, and I thought his eyes war a certain way I refused to acknowledge

My gift swelled againstI use it to sense his eed to shut off my abilities before they formed a connection to him I didn’t want to know if he was amused or…or whatever at the

“As I said,” the Prince continued, dragging one long finger over the rie can only occur between two Atlantians if both halves are standing on the soil of their home, Princess”

Princess

That annoying and yet so pet na One that begged the question: How nizing who I was the night at the Red Pearl, but he claimed he didn’t know that I was part Atlantian until he bit led, and I resisted the urge to touch it

How much of that nickname was a coincidence? I wasn’t sure why, but if that was yet another lie, it mattered

“Which part confuses you?” he asked, a

“It’s the part where you think I would actually marry you”

Across fro to conceal laughter I flicked a look at the handsome face of a tawny-brown-skinned, pale-blue-eyed wolven—a creature able to take the form of a wolf as easily as they could assuo, I’d believed that the wolven were extinct, killed off during the War of Two Kings soo But that was yet another lie Kieran was just one of many, very alive wolven—several of which sat at this table

“I don’t think that you will,” Casteel replied, thick lashes lowering halfway “I know”

Disbelief thundered through me “Maybe I wasn’t clear, so I will try to be more explicit now I don’t knohy you’d think, in a million years, that I’d h?”

“Crystal,” he responded, eyes heating to a warer in his stare or tone There was so else entirely A look that h, callused palhs, grazing much more intimate places The dimple in his cheek deepened “But we shall see, won’t we?”

A hot, prickly feeling spread over ”

“I can be very convincing”

“Not that convincing,” I retorted, and he gave a noncoh me “Have you lost your mind?”

A deep belly laugh came from farther down the table I kneasn’t the fair-haired Delano That wolven appeared as if he’d just witnessed a massacre, and his neck was next on the line Maybe I should be afraid, because wolven weren’t easily scared, especially not Delano He’d defended h he and the Atlantian, Naill—who currently sat on one side of him—had been sorely outnumbered

The Dark One wasn’t soer He was an Atlantian, deadly, fast, and i Hard to wound, let alone kill And as I learned just recently, capable of using compulsion to enforce his will upon others He’d killed one of thethe very cane Teerh the Ascended’s heart

But I felt no fear

I was too furious to be scared

Sitting on Delano’s left was the source of the laugh I’d just heard It had come from the mountain of a man, the one called Elijah I didn’t think he was a wolven It was the eyes All the wolven had the saold than brown I wasn’t the only one staring at hiazes had landed on him I took the opportunity to slide theit under the slit in my tunic