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“I would really enjoy a little break from pretending to hate each other.” He smiled at me when I scoffed.

“I’m not pretending anything. You are my enemy.”

He moved closer to me, not the least bit affected by my threat to stab him if he got close enough. His hand grabbed my dagger and pushed it away from him with little effort.

“Are you sure about that, little viper?”

“Someone will see us.” Was the only retort that fell from my lips.

“No, they won’t,” he reassured me as he pried the dagger from my hand and set it on the shore. “We have both been working hard, so let’s take the night off from this war garbage and relax in a hot spring that we both stumbled upon by accident.”

I kept my eyes on him as he sat next to me and closed his eyes. I could stab him now while his guard was down, but I didn’t reach for my dagger. I just stared at the handsome face of the man I was born to hate but, for some reason, didn’t.

“I can practically hear you trying to talk yourself into stabbing me, Thea.” He opened one of his eyes to look at me.

“What are you doing?” I questioned. “You think because you have a handsome face that I will be fooled?”

He opened his eyes and turned to face me.

“So, you do think I’m handsome?” His smile was a perfect masterpiece for making women swoon at his feet.

“Not really,” I lied. His deep laugh reverberated around the silent forest.

“You are even more interesting than I thought.” He smirked as he moved toward me. “You’re also a very bad liar.”

“Are you flirting with me?” I asked, unsure whether to put steel or interest in my voice.

“If I was?” His eyes swirled with blackness. I was treading a very dangerous line. My back hit the edge of the spring as Imoved away from him. He had followed in tandem, but then he stopped a foot in front of me. Lines were beginning to blur as he moved closer to me. Inch by inch, he crept forward. I knew I should stop him. I knew I should leave. I just couldn't, though. He stopped when his lips whispered against mine.

I stared at him as I leaned forward and closed the space between our mouths. It was all the encouragement he needed to pull me closer to him. His hands wrapped around my waist and pulled me over his lap as he sat back. My naked skin skimmed over his, and it instantly sent a wave of anticipation through me. His stubble scratched and tickled as he kissed down my neck, and a soft moan escaped me. His hands gripped me tighter.

“I like those little noises you make,” he growled. “I want to hear more of that, Thea.”

?????

The next day, I awoke with the determination to do my best without my magic. I was intelligent and trained as the captain of my guard; nothing could stop me. I knew that before I could do anything effective, I had to get information, so I decided to steal it.

Breaking into the king’s office was too easy. No guards protected it unless he was in there, and he was currently in the city doing something today with his family. Fine with me. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, but I knew there had to be something in here that I could use. My eyes glanced over the map he still had spread out.

When I walked up to it, I looked at all the land of Elloryon. My eyes took in Crimson before sweeping across the map. The Forbidden Wood was easy to spot. I traced my finger over the creek that I knew flowed through Exile and breathed heavily when I didn’t see it marked on the map.

I sighed in frustration. I didn’t know what the hell I was looking for. A sudden flash of blue let me know that Wisp was back. She had been lingering near me all night but was gone when I awoke.

“I’m assuming you were with Cassius.”

She ignored me and twirled around my father’s desk. I moved to it, yanking open the drawers. Mostly it had ledgers and contracts.

“I don’t see anything useful.”

She practically slammed into the top left drawer, causing the desk to rattle. I narrowed my eyes on her.

“Easy,” I whispered. “We can’t make a mess.”

I ripped the drawer open, and at first, it seemed normal, but then I realized it was too organized compared to the rest of the desk. I pulled everything out, but it was just blank paper. Well, that was odd. Suspicious, I pressed my hand against the bottom of the drawer, and it shifted up, revealing a secret compartment. I pulled out dozens of letters.

Some of them were a faded yellow from being here so long. I opened the first, and my heart raced.

King Luren,