Page 84 of Arcane Entanglement

“Everyone out,” he growled, his voice quaking with barely suppressed power.

The attendants hesitated, looking to the Queen.

Magic surged through Evander. “Now!”

The room temperature plummeted. The attendants fled, the doors slamming shut behind them.

“How dare you—” Victoria began.

Evander cut her off.

“No, how dareyou!” he roared. “You sit here in your gilded cage, passing judgment on a world you barely understand. Do you have any idea what’s really happening out there? The suffering? The inequality? The injustice that festers in the very heart of your precious Empire?!”

Victoria’s face flushed with anger. “Mind your tone, young man. I am still your Queen.”

“And I am still a Prince of this realm,” Evander shot back. “Royal blood runs through my veins! Or have you forgotten that inconvenient truth?” He fisted his hands. “The secret you’re so desperate to keep hidden?!”

Chapter35

Victoria almost vibratedwith fury as she glared at him.

“I haven’t forgotten anything,” the Queen hissed. “I remember all too well the day your father came to me, begging me to overlook the fact that his son, the forgotten Prince, was a magical prodigy, the youngest Archmage this Empire had ever seen. Convincing me you would never become a hazard to the throne despite your powers.” Victoria took a shuddering breath. “The threat you pose to the stability of the royal succession if your true nature and identity came to be known is something that has often preoccupied my thoughts since that day, child.”

Evander’s chest tightened even as he laughed bitterly.

“Stability? Is that what you call this farce of a society we’ve built? Where men and women are treated as less than human simply because they lack magic? Where corruption runs rampant and the powerful prey on the weak?!”

“You go too far, Evander,” Victoria warned.

Evander was beyond caring at this point.

“I don’t think I go far enough,” he said icily. “You want me to quit the Met? To turn my back on the only real good I’ve ever done? To ignore the rot that’s eating away at the foundations of this Empire?” He jutted his chin. “I won’t do it. Icannotdo it.”

“It is not your place to question the natural order of things!” Victoria shouted, rising to her feet. “You have a duty to your bloodline, to your title?—”

“My duty is to justice!” Evander bellowed. “To the people of this country, magical and non-magical alike. And if you can’t see that, then perhaps it is time for a new perspective on the throne!”

The words hung in the air between them, sharp and dangerous.

Victoria’s face went white, then red with wrath.

“You would threaten me? Your own flesh and blood?!”

“It’s not a threat,” Evander said, suddenly weary. His voice grew more composed. “It’s the truth. The world is changing, Victoria. The old ways, the old prejudices. They can’t last. And if the Crown doesn’t change with them, it will be left behind.”

Silence reigned for a long moment.

Evander could hear his own heart pounding in his ears, could feel the magic churning beneath his skin, eager for release. He took a deep breath, forcing it back down.

When Victoria spoke again, her voice was calm.

“You truly believe in this cause of yours, don’t you?”

Evander nodded. “With every fibre of my being.”

Victoria sank back into her chair, looking every one of her years.

“You remind me so much of your father sometimes,” she murmured. “He had the same fire in his eyes when he believed in something.”