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I had two immediate reactions to this One was that Dorian could wait around forever; he had no right to dee that he could co into my home when I was banned from his Admittedly, that was my own fault I hadn’t put down any hospitality rules to keep him out As such, he’d be welcomed like any other non-enemy monarch - particularly byVolusian to revoke hospitality but then tossed that idea aside I’d take care of this ateway bya ticket and then crossed over to the anchor inside h the halls, oblivious to servants’ startled stares I knehere Dorian would be My people would have received hi h Dorian sat inside the parlor, lounging in a central chair with Shaya, Rurik, and others sitting around hi court in his own castle My anger doubled Everyone except hi hasty bows

"Out," I snapped "All of you And shut the door"

My words left no question about who exactly I wanted out Dorian didn’t move, but the rest scurried to obey e looks with each other, no doubt worried as going to happen with the two monarchs they loved

Once ere alone, I turned on Dorian "What the hell are you doing here?"

He regarded ht There’s nothing that says I can’t Unless you’re revokingforith fists clenched "I should have uards throw you out on your ass"

He snorted and absent hair "Good luck with that They’d throw you out first, if I gave the order"

"So that’s why you’re here? To start a rebellion in dom?"

"No I’dootten"

"Really?" I crossedsootten what I’ve done forcrown so that we could finally have peace"

"If memory serves, you caused that disaster when you created an inhospitable desert" His voice was still daood"

"Didn’t you hear ’s stopped"

"The fighting’s te you, and you’re letting her She’s dragging her feet, using this negotiation delay to figure out a way out of this If you really want to end the war once and for all, you need to get involved and let her know you’re serious Wave the crown around Dare her to call your bluff Show her you’re in control and stop all of this for real"

I gave a harsh laugh "That’s so typical of you Attes, as usual You don’t even have the crown, but you’re telling me what to do with it"

Dorian shot up fro into annoyance "I a away and letting others deal with things that see an eye on the distance between us "Getting the croas easy Which is why, of course, you were right out there with me"

He narrowed his eyes "You knoould have if I could So I did the only thing I could: I got you out there after it"

"By lying!" I exclaier be the only e an elaborate set-up with Masthera in the hope I’d seizethat was?"

"Was it?" His volu to match my own I’d so rarely seen emotion seize him, and it was both terrible and beautiful "Do you think our people think it’s wrong? The ones whose hoer? The ones who are alive because of this? The crown bought that, and you’re going to ruin it all if you don’t force her into talks! Not only that, by not acting, you’re letting what Leith did to you go unpunished"

"Oh, he got punished," I said

"Yes," agreed Dorian coldly "By otten, now that you’ve jumped back into bed with that animal"

"Kiyo isn’t part of this And what you did isn’t enough to obligate me to stay in a relationship with someone who constantly deceiveshis back to lares in the world "I can only assu the truth is deceitful The greatest sin in the world But infidelity is moral and just"

"It’s not! And I wasn’t - I didn’t cheat on you As far as I was concerned, ere through I was free to do whatever I wanted"

"Obviously"

I didn’t want to show any weakness in front of hi sex with Kiyo back in the forest had been right or not I’d even felt conflicted at the tiic to satisfy both e

"Look," I said, trying to cals - "

He spun around so sharply that my words dropped I didn’t fear Dorian, not within his eyes enie," he said fors’ Replacing you in h an opinion of yourself in that regard"

Those words slapped me in the face, despite all the reasonable parts ofat me that it didn’t matter I had no reason to care what he did No reason to care about hi his tone "Ysabel has a place to sell her skills again"

"Very good ones," he agreed "The question now is if you’re going to use yours Put Katrice in her place Get her to negotiate so that we can get the concessions we deserve Stop acting like a hu that"

He studiedme the opportunity to do the same to him You don’t care, you don’t care, I told eous face