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“...but I will send a shipment of medicine to your mother in Azurem this afternoon, and I will start writing up the documents to reopen the trade routes.”

One month until she gained access to his private quarters. She could stay alive for one month. She simply had to watch what she said around him and not give him too much information about Azurem or the assassination.

“Done,” Dagmara concluded before he had a chance to add on any addendums. “I hope you’re a man of your word.”

With a curt nod, she whirled on her heel, prepared to head back into the castle. She had to clear her head and plan what she would say at lunch.

The world froze.

A man was walking to meet them on the lawn. He was tall and broad, with tan skin and dark hair down to the bottom of his ears.

It couldn’t be.

“Ah, just in time,” Claude said, passing Dagmara’s frozen stature to introduce the new guest. “My close friend and captain returned this morning. Princess, I’d like you to meet Sabien Renaud.”

She locked eyes with him. He was supposed to be dead. She remembered driving a knife through his stomach and sending him over the bridge into the rocky waters. This wasn’t possible.

“Sabien,” Claude continued, “meet Princess Magdalena Krol.”

Sabien Renaud.

Captain of the Ilusaurian guard.

Sabien’s chocolate eyes twinkled with curiosity. He towered over her as he proceeded to reach her side. He took her hand and kissed the back of her gloved palm, his lips lingering. It took everything inside her not to pull away. She tried desperately to hold her composure.

“Princess,” Sabien said, his sonorous voice rumbling deep in his throat. The side of his mouth raised into a smirk. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

CHAPTER 23

Magdalena

Once again, Magda found herself submerged in blackness. The desolate space was void of all noise, as if she had been sealed in a coffin. Not a single wisp of air rushed past Magda’s ears. It was the same space she had found herself in only days ago in a similar dream.

The booming voice filled the void again. “Still running, are we?”

“Tell me who you are,” Magda said, although she didn’t believe for one second that this phantom of her imagination was actually a real person.

“Me? I’m surprised you don’t know. You don’t recognize my voice?”

Magda only grew more surprised. She didn’t know the first thing about being a guardian, for her brother and father had passed away before they had the chance to tell her anything about the responsibilities of being a royal. Did Aleksy also have strange dreams?

“I’m not asking again. Tell me who you are,” she demanded.

Then the voice said, “I was taken too soon from this world, without the ability to pass on my knowledge to you. You possess a rare spark of magic, one that transcends the ordinary—a rare piece of salt, raw and unrefined.”

The metaphor akin to Azurem’s culture was not lost on her. This time, Magda grew curious. Was that the voice of her father or brother, reaching out to her from the great beyond? Maybe they wanted to tell her what they couldn’t before they died.

“Is that you, Aleksy?” Magda called out. “Dad?”

When the blackness didn’t respond, Magda had her answer. She snapped back with a bitter tone. “Whoever you are, get out of my head.”

A snarl went up around the room, as if the comment wasn’t appreciated. “Come back when you want answers, Dear Princess.”

Magda lurched upright, rubbing her back. Her entire body was sore from sleeping on Ravi’s hard, wooden floor. The realness of the dream was still ingrained in her memory. For some reason, every breath she had taken in the void had felt real—like it was sucking the life out of her. She took a few deep breaths to steady her beating heart.

Next to her, Odie scrambled to his paws before proceeding into a big stretch.

Looking to Ravi’s bed, Magda noted that he had already left. The space that once held the violin case was empty.