Page 37 of The Stygian Crown

“Oh trust me, you are.”

“You didn't bring Bart along, did you?”

Logan shook his head. “Bart asked for a vacation before we left for Travincal. Blackhearth will be rubble by the time we return if he and Aethyta decide to make-up for the twentieth time.”

Wereturn. Hope swelled in Kara’s chest, but she clenched it off, stuffing it down. Hope was disappointment in the making.

“Do you need stitches?”

“It's a scratch. I'll be fine.”

Logan looked at her arm doubtfully.

The extent of the wound was obscured by her sleeve, but a trail of blood had streaked down to the cuff, staining it red. It was far deeper than a scratch, but Kara wasn’t interested in his help or the shame of admitting she needed it. Maybe she could heal it herself with a rune from the grimoire.

“What's going on? Are you sick? Your reactions were so slow out there.”

“I'mplaying a role.”

Logan’s frown turned severe. “I don't for a second believe you'd willingly let the princess draw blood, role or no role. You're not that good an actor.”

He wasn’t wrong. It rankled her that Ariana had gotten the better of her. “Perhaps your estimation of my skills is flawed.”

Logan scoffed. "Please, before we left Raven’s Rest you could hold your own with me."

A quiet pleasure curled through her at his compliment.

Viscount Kendrick appeared behind Logan, her unlikely hero. Kara smiled brightly at him. “Aidan. I'll have to stick to sparring with you in the future.”

“I've no idea why she was using a real sword—that was uncalled for.”

He looked between her and Logan, and recognition dawned in his eyes. “Is this man bothering you?”

“No,” Logan said at the same time Kara said, “Yes.”

“His conversation is dreadful. I think I need to go have a rest.”

“Would you like an escort to the healer?”

“I’ll take her,” Logan said. He turned his back to Kara and stepped forward, blocking her almost entirely from Aidan’s view.

“She asked you to leave, Vakarian.”

“Enough! I shall attend to myself.”

Kara returned to her rooms,utterly spent despite it not yet being midday. A jeweled tray holding a thick invitation card awaited her on the vanity. Kara flipped it open.

Meetme in the library today.

-C

Kara groaned.She had little to tell Calim of besides how she’d misplaced her blood and enabled a spell that nearly got her killed by her own shadow. It’d been close to a month since she arrived. How long until he took her off the contract entirely? Would he demand she repay her wages? Kara hadn’t spent them yet, but they were her only contingency plan if she didn’t rejoin the Brotherhood, which seemed more and more likely lately.

Kara dressed her arm with a strip of silk torn from one of her slips and changed into a fresh shirt, then headed for the library.

Voices carried from within when she arrived. She paused outside the doors.

“If you want his ships and soldiers so badly, you marry him. I refuse to be the crown’s broodmare. Look where that got grandmama.”

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