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I’m not sure that’s the truth.

One of his King’s Guard moves in to speak in his ear, distracting him. I take the opportunity to greet Queen Lorith.

“My Queen.” I take her fingers in mine and drop to one knee before her.

I place a kiss to the back of her hand, lingering perhaps a moment too long. I keep my gaze lifted, fixed on hers, in a way that I know is disrespectful.

It’s not toward her, however—this is all about sayingfuck youto my father.

I don’t want to use my charm magic on her. That would spoil the fun. I want her to want me over my father not because I’ve woven my spell around her, but because I’m a better man than he is.

“So, you’re my stepson,” she says.

I lower my voice and throw her a wicked smile. “Yes, though I’d prefer to be your husband.”

She yanks her hand away.

I hold her eye. I want to read any hint of understanding or recognition in her gaze, but there is nothing.

As each moment passes, I’m becoming more convinced that the whole thing was just a dream. Disappointment settles within me. It had seemed so real. I’d convinced myself that Lorith was destined to be mine, but it seems I was mistaken.

The queen’s line of sight drifts over my shoulder, to someone behind me.

“I don’t believe you’ve met my daughter, Taelyn,” she says.

I rise to my feet, but I’m already feigning interest. Who brings a child to a ball? What if I’m now considered on the same level as some random Fae girl, and I’m expected to entertain her and sit at the children’s table?

Forcing myself to be polite—something that hurts right down to the roots of my teeth—I turn to greet the girl.

I jerk back in shock. This is no child, or at least she’s verging on the dawn of becoming a woman. I guess she’s at least a hundred and seventy years old. She’s almost identical to her mother, though clearly a hundred years younger.

“Prince Ruarok,” the girl says, extending her hand to me in much the same way her mother has just done. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

Still in shock, I take her hand. Her fingers are long and slender, just like the ones that had wound around my cock and squeezed so hard it hurt. I kiss the back of her hand, the skin smooth and soft, and try to hide my reaction.

“Princess Taelyn. I’m afraid no one has told me much about you at all.”

So, this is the person who will oust me from my throne?

I’d believed I’d been dreaming about the queen, but what if…?

No, that’s impossible. I couldn’t have been dreaming about the princess. I didn’t even know she looked like…this…until a few moments ago. It must have been the queen my imagination conjured. But I remember how I never actually got to see her face.

Could she have used some kind of magic on me?

Had she come into my room and taken me while I’d been sleeping?

Is she the one I’m destined to be with?

My cock jumps in my pants at the thought.

No, I can’t allow myself to think like that. If her magic is stronger than mine, she may well use it to rid herself of me. Is she thinking the same way I am—that I’m the one standing in the way of inheriting the throne? If her homeland has been destroyed by the rot, then she has nowhere else to go. Does she understand that if I inherit the kingdom, I’ll have no use for her?

Princess Taelyn might be stunningly beautiful, and my stepsister, but she’s also my enemy.

She looks to her mother. “I was just searching for someone to dance with. This music is so beautiful.”

The queen gives me a tight smile. “I’m sure Prince Ruarok will oblige. He is now your brother, after all.”