Page 59 of Captive of the Stolen Empire

“You left the door open,” I explained. “I assumed you wanted company.”

“I do.” His back straightened, transforming him from a defeated man to the conqueror I’d become familiar with. “Though I honestly didn’t expect you to come, after the other night.”

Several responses rose to the tip of my tongue before I swallowed each down in turn.I didn’t expect to come either. You still disgust me. Things cannot be the same as they were.

None of that would help me.

“What do you want?” I asked.

His brows rose with his body as he left the seat and stalked in my direction. “Tell me about the boy.”

“This again?” I shook my head and turned toward the stairwell.

“Please.” The plea pierced my side. Somehow that word had a magic of its own that no object of protection could shield me from. “You know who he was and why Gabriel saw that vision.”

“I thought you created the illusions?” I forced myself to look up into his eyes as he neared. The room grew warm with his closeness, or at least I did.

“It’s much easier if I do, but that one was designed to seek out his fears and project them. It—” He cut himself off briefly before continuing. Lucien edged toward the stairs, blocking any hope of retreat. “Please tell me what you know about the boy.”

“You’d trust my words? You didn’t before.”

He glanced away. Dark circles under his eyes reflected the weariness in his voice.

“I want to,” he admitted. He reached for me but stopped as I flinched back. “I remember my past. I can’t be related to him as you implied. I can’t.”

My heart cracked at his words, sending a shiver of pain through me. Why would he not let himself consider this possibility?

“The boy was Gabriel’s nephew, as you likely guessed from the illusion. He was Lord Stefan’s only living child. Heir of Trale.” I wandered away from him as I spoke, moving to the desk with the hopes of glimpsing its contents. “He went missing in his youth. Everyone assumed he died. I suppose…” My fingers trailed across an open book.Poison Scarstitled the top of the page. “I know Gabriel believes he must have died, and I suppose his mind created that horrible outcome when they could never find him.”

I leaned over the desk, my brown hair falling over one shoulder to brush the open book. I ignored the man at my back as I scanned the pages, ones detailing the physical scars of plant-based poison, trying to understand what consumed his thoughts.

My back tingled just before Lucien’s hand landed on the desk near mine, splayed across the edge of a book. My breath hitched. He was too close. Far too close.

I hedged toward the chair, but Lucien kicked it away with one leg, sending it clattering and scraping across the stone before he took its place, bracketing me in between his strong form and the desk.

“Not what you expected to see?”

Warm breath tickled my neck. The hard, wooden edge of the desk cut into my hips as I leaned away from him.

“You’re trying to understand the boy’s scar,” I replied, near breathless. “The one like your own.”

He captured a lock of my hair, pulling it toward him where he hovered just behind me. “Did you tell him about that, Ilya? Give him a hint to twist my magic?”

I whirled on him, accidentally knocking my leg into his in the cramped space. I might as well have hit a tree for all that he moved, though the impact raced up my leg and sent another flare of heat pooling in my gut.

“How could I have? I didn’t see him between the festival to honor the Goddess and your little show in the arena.”

He inched closer. I jerked back, knocking into the desk. The wobbly candle tumbled from its stand, splashing wax across the papers and tumbling off into the floor. Lucien grunted and stepped on the still-burning end with a booted foot, snuffing out the last of the flame.

I used the distraction as an opportunity to escape his embrace. My heart pounded in my ears as I forced myself to walk slowly to the balcony, luring him in with crumbs of the information he desired.

Lucien left the mess where it lay and followed me. “You said the mark is a birthmark? That the men in their family all have it?”

“That’s right. At least it’s what Gabriel told me.”

“Then explain to me how I could have the same mark.”

Moonlight touched his clothes, accenting the fine fabric but leaving his face shrouded in darkness. Even so, a hint of light glimmered in his grey eyes, begging for knowledge he refused to believe.

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