Page 86 of The Oracle of Dusk

“Have someone look into what Flora was doing while Epicasta’s husbands lost their will to fight.”

The servant’s eyes widened as she piled up his dishes on her platter.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

He needed to know how Flora or her daughter had subdued the princess’ late husbands into total submission. After all, it would’ve had to have been lasting in effect for Epicasta to thoroughly bankrupt them all before they’d faced execution. He’d always assumed it had been accomplished through fear alone. But if the princess hadn’t been lying to force his hand, then he would have one more weapon in his arsenal for dealing with Flora. If he could uncover it.

“And have you been able to find my lit—Aurora?”

“I believe she is on the grounds somewhere at present, as all her usual hiding places within the building proper were searched today.”

That didn’t account for unusual places she might know of that no one else did though. How was he supposed to regain her aid if he couldn’t find the slippery woman? Theron sighed. At least he had her satchel. She would never leave without it. He reached down to grab it as the servant left.

His gut sank to his knees.

The satchel was gone.

Theron scanned the surrounding garden but there was no one in sight save for the retreating servant. The little minx must have used her magic to grab it before he could blink, the same as she had the first day he’d met her. That meant her escape was imminent. He launched into action, racing towards her little hole in the wall. Theron sent his magic out in a wave before him. If there were a living body anywhere in the thick foliage, he would find it.

Luckily, he didn’t have to go far.

When his magic found her scampering through the greenery in almost total silence, she gasped. No doubt she could feel it coursing through her. If he allowed it to reassure him that she was in good health, he would never breathe a word of it.

Stealth forgotten, Aurora picked up her pace.

His blood sang in his veins as he raced towards her. When he caught sight of her blonde head, his smile was irrepressible. Fast as she might be, he had the longer legs. Within a few strides, he was in front of her. Aurora skidded to a halt, winded, her cheeks flushed and her hair in disarray. And she was wearing the clothes that fit her like a second skin. It felt indecent, staring at her and feeling the strangest urge to devour her. To take her to the ground and press his teeth into her neck and make her submit. He swallowed.

Why were those trousers of hers the most erotic thing he’d ever seen a woman wear?

Her green gaze was uncertain, as if she expected him to lash out. Unease crept up his throat. An unpleasant thing, to know he’d caused that in her.

No, he wasn’t supposed to think this way. He was acting like a fool. Aurora was a means to an end, one he was certain would be well worth the effort. Physical attraction was one thing, but this weakness in his heart needed to be scoured out of him. Only by ridding himself of it would be able to maintain control of her. Of himself.

“Hello, my little fairy,” he purred. “I’ve missed you.”

When her cheeks heated with more than just her exertions, he knew he’d chosen the right tactic. She was weak to him, whether she liked it or not. And a weakness like that was begging to be exploited.

She’d been so close.

But Theron had realised her theft almost the moment her magic had failed her. She shouldn’t have stopped to put on her trousers and top, but she didn’t want to risk losing them again. That she’d been able to use her magic at all had been a minor miracle. One she credited to the artefact that had called to her from inside her satchel. It had been calling to her for days now. She’d tried to convince herself to leave without it, to hide out in town, to find another artefact from the veritable hoard inside the temple of Knowledge.

But she couldn’t.

The artefact was her only link to her own time. It was also the only thing that had managed to draw out her magic. Magic she was going to need to stop Drakon in this ancient era. Aurora had prayed Theron would leave it in his room unattended, but the clever bastard had taken to carrying it with him at all times—even to the baths.

But as he stood before her, the scent of his perfume lingering in the air between them, his seducer’s grin lighting up his eyes, her heart clenched in her chest. Wariness was mixed with something more she didn’t care to name. All she knew was that she’d not managed to extricate him from her thoughts in the few days she’d managed to stay away. Nor was she able to forget that while she had been maimed, he’d been busy flirting with another woman. He’d said dreadful things to her, and she in turn to him. In her fragile state, she’d trusted him without even meaning to. It was no wonder that she’d suffered the consequences for such foolishness shortly thereafter.

It was a foolishness that needed to end now before it became something…complicated.

“Please move aside,” she said.

“And if I do? What then?”

“I’m leaving, Your Majesty. If I’m to survive long enough to do what I came here to do, it’s clear I must be somewhere the high priestess is not.”

“You think you can hide from her?”

No, not really. Not for long. The Temple of Knowledge boasted a wide network of informants, even in the ancient past. But long enough to find the avatar? She had to hope it could be possible.

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