“What do you mean?” My voice has lost all joviality Arzen barks out a laugh at the look on my face, the condescending smile that I’ve come to associate with him flickering over his lips, golden eyes crinkled. “At ease, my dear. I only meant that the Empress has asked me to escort you to the Royal
“Thank you. When— “In exchange of your joining me for dinner, of course.” Arzen says with a sly smile No. No. It’s not worth it if I throttle him. “That invitation is for me and my soulmate both, I hope?” I ask with a stiff smile “Zepherin is rather busy these days, resolving matters of His Hous
“Don’t be so stunned.” The Empress waves a hand “All the High Houses are, more or less, related. Either by ties of blood, or by choice.” “I see,” I say, wiping all my thoughts from my face “I’m glad to hear that. As long as the High houses remain united, we could get to the bottom of this curse and
“A banquet at this time?” Ever since the expedition, there hasn’t been much to do than to wait for either the contents of the note book Dinah found to be revealed, or for a new case to come up so the body can be collected. My plans for today had been to do nothing, but right after breakfast, a mes
I leave them to do their thing, and walk over to the wall displaying rows and rows of weapons. I’ll admit that I didn’t expect to see high grade weapons in the royal stronghold, of all places, where the instinct strength of the bloodline is given more importance than battle skills. “Oy, Sigmond,” D
“Are you immortal?” Arryn asks seriously and bluntly I’m just very hard to kill, “No, I’m not.” “This doesn’t make any sense,” Gabriel mumbles to himself, then louder “You’re Zepherin Sigmond! You’ve fought off a whole 100 witch apprentices by yourself and still lived!” I stare at the three of th
“Keeping staring for a bit longer and you’ll transform into a poet.” I don’t bother looking at the person whose footfall my ears had caught ever since he entered the hallway. “I might. I can say nothing in the matter of the results.” I say evenly Lukas steps in my felid of vision, blocking the vi
From what I could tell, the Emperor would’ve wanted for his daughter to take the throne after him. Personally, I think the Empress Regent has the makings of a general, rather than a king. “Can’t the Regent Empress put in a good word for you to the Emperor?” “Rosalina might be the Emperor’s favorit
I barely manage to find a waste bucket before everything I had for breakfast retches out. My throat burns. My vision is blurry. I dry heave every single thing in my stomach, warmth seeps out of the corners of my eyes. I can’t breathe. The smell of blood is everywhere. I sit there, holding the edges
The smell of rotting flesh is disgusting. Its muscle memory to pull the gloves over my hands, pick a scalpel off the medical tray. The body on the metal table in front of me has no head. ‘You have to take a sample of flesh, a sample of blood and take a look at the internal organs.’ Aunt Cynthia’s
How adorable. Apparently, I’m the only one who thinks so, since when I turn back around, everyone from the fourth prince and the first order to passing strangers and our coachman is looking on in disbelief. Is it so difficult to imagine Zen would get along with children? “Don’t leave your mouth ha
“My Lady, am I mistaken or is the fourth prince avoiding me?” I look up from knotting the satchel to my belt to face Zen. There’s a slight furrow in his brows, and he looks at Lukas, standing far, far from us and talking with the first order soldiers. The fourth prince has indeed, been avoiding Ze
I need to move. But even as I think that, I cant bring myself to move. He’s holding me too firmly, I think, entirely reasonable. I won’t be able to slip away like this. Even the most critical part of me can’t find that to be entirely an excuse. After last night, I doubt there’s anyone who would lik
I wake up to the sound of a door knock. My sleep hazed brain registers the sound, recognizes it, and promptly ignores it in favor of cuddling into the warmth of my bed once more. I don’t want to wake up just yet, since last night I fell asleep so late— Last night? My eyes open, blurry with sleep,
But he’s looking at me now, as if the answer might crush him, as if he’s bracing himself for it. I reach out to drape my arms over his shoulders gently, they hang down in front of his chest lightly. “Why? Because you did your job?” I ask quietly, hold his gaze “Or because you didn’t hesitate to do
“Lift your arm, please.” I say, and my voice comes out soft If we weren’t sitting so close to each other, I would’ve missed it. His shoulders tense up, the even breathing stilled into nothing. “You don’t have to do that, Dinah.” Zen finally says My brows furrow. Zen might be a warrior among warri
On the second floor hallway of the hotel, my eyes drift to the room where Zen is supposed to be. My room is just at its side. I wonder if I knock on his door right now, would he be annoyed? He did ask not to be disturbed. The image of his bloodied arm flashes in my mind. Just a moment. I just want