“Where are we going again?” Elea asked as she followed behind Kael in the dark corridors of the Nit Decus castle.

“I’ll show you in a minute.”

Kael held a ball of fire aloft before them instead of a candle or torch, and it made Elea nervous. She’d seen him use his magic before, but each time, it unsettled her more and more. The things he’d done. The power he exerted over the castle. The war he’d started.

Her body trembled at the horrors he’d unleashed. The monster he had become. She wished so desperately for the glimpses he spared her of the man he’d been that fateful morning in the gardens. It had been a year since she first saw him. All tall, rugged good looks, dark hair, and those immeasurable blue-gray eyes. She’d been a goner then. Her heart still belonged to him, but her mind…that she could never give over fully.

She worried, anytime she ever let her defenses down, he’d know what she was doing. That she’d been working with Rhea and Fenix. Passing information onto his spies that even Kael wasn’t telling anyone, save her.

She’d been the one to calm him when he discovered Kaliana had left with Alessia. His fury had been a torrent. Burning through half of the king’s quarters before she could stop him. She could still feel the heat. It targeted her nightmares. Maybe that was why his ball of fire scared her so.

Kael pulled open a heavy wooden door before him. “We’re here.”

He threw his ball of fire down the hallway, lighting the torches bracketed on the wall. Elea peeked inside and saw that it ended in an archway with a shimmery, iridescent substance in the center.

“What…what’s that?” she asked, cursing herself for stammering.

“That’s where we’re going.” He pulled out a gold coin from his pocket and tossed it into the air. “Are you ready for your first time portaling?”

“What’s portaling?”

His grin was feral. “Let me show you.”

He took her hand in his and marched them both down the hallway. She didn’t like this one bit. She gritted her teeth together as they approached the archway. It was enormous, large enough to fit a house through. She wanted to drag her feet and tell Kael that she wasn’t going to go. That she couldn’t do this.

But then they were at the archway. It gleamed before them. He put his hand into the substance, and she gasped when his arm disappeared entirely. He laughed at her shock and then continued forward.

Her hand moved through the portal first. She felt a sucking sensation as the rest of her body followed, and then she popped through on the other side.

She nearly choked when she saw that they were in a dark room that she’d never seen before. “Where…where are we?”

“Aurum,” Kael answered, lighting the room.

“We cannot possibly be in Aurum. It takes weeks to travel there.”

“Usually, it does, my Pet. But not by using a portal. We were here in a matter of seconds. Let me show you.”

Elea nodded uncertainly. Magic. She’d walked through magic and somehow been transported to Aurum. She’d never even left the capital city. Now, she was in a different country entirely and had gotten there in seconds.

She followed Kael through a palace she had never seen before. It was made of light-gray stone and twisted in obscure ways. The men and women they passed wore fashions she’d never seen in her life. The women were in tight-laced tops and enormous skirts that went out half a foot on either side of their hips. Hair was piled high on their heads for men and women alike. The corridors weren’t nearly as cool as her home, but spring was beautiful here, as they passed flowering garden after garden.

Then, they entered a chamber she’d recognize anywhere. Even in a different court, the royal throne room was evident.

King Creighton sat atop his enormous throne, laughing jovially with an array of men, while petite young women fawned over him.

“What’s this?” Creighton demanded, seeing Kael and Elea standing in the entranceway. “What is this disturbance? Guards, throw them out.”

Kael held his hand up, and the guards froze like pillars. He stepped forward, darkness trailing him like a cloak. Elea felt like a worm wiggling in his wake, ready to be eaten by the bird.

“I have come to claim the throne of Aurum for Byern,” Kael announced dramatically. “Throw down your arms and surrender, and I will spare your life and the lives of your people.”

Creighton sputtered, “Prince Kael—”

“King,” Kael corrected.

“You have been here, in our palace, due to the hospitality of your sister, but you have no right to a throne here. You will leave at once, or my guards will make you.”

“On the contrary, you will leave here or else I will slaughter each of your subjects before you and force you to watch. I am King Kael Dremylon, and today, after conquering your throne…I become an emperor.”

Creighton laughed, and Elea winced. That was the worst thing he could have done. But, before Creighton could even open his mouth again, Kael threw his hand to the side. Creighton’s neck snapped, turning at an unnatural angle and silencing him forever. His body slumped forward and then fell from the throne.

His court gasped and then went deadly silent.

Kael grinned. “That’s better.”

He stepped forward through the sea of terrified people, kicked Creighton’s body away from the throne, and took a seat. He surveyed the terror in the crowd and said smoothly, “Bow to your emperor.”

The crowd shot frightened looks around at each other, but no one was stupid. They’d seen what he did to Creighton without even touching him. The court dropped into curtsies and bows.

“On your knees,” he growled.

Horrified, Elea watched as they dropped like puppets. Their hands out before them. Only Elea stood in the entire throne room. He smiled at her, indulgent. Then, he beckoned her over. She moved to his side and stood tall, next to the man she both loved and hated. Who she pitied and feared. Who murdered in the name of power. And would stop at nothing to get ahead.

What had she gotten herself into?