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“You alright?” Martine whispered, reaching underneath Dagmara’s arm to help her to her feet.

“Fine,” Dagmara responded, pulling away to stand on her own. As soon as she was upright, she met Claude’s gaze.

He slammed his sword into its sheath before starting toward her. “What the hell were you thinking?”

Dagmara tried to step away, tripping over a dead hound. She had to think fast.

“I wanted to know why this town was evacuated,” Dagmara admitted, hoping the truth would help her. She couldn’t let him know that she had seen this town circled on Sabien’s paper. Part of the truth was the best type of lie.

Claude’s jaw ticked. “You didn’t think to ask me?”

Dagmara’s mouth parted but she quickly shut it. No, that had never crossed her mind. “Would you have told me the truth?”

“When have I lied to you thus far?” Claude countered.

“I…” Dagmara’s throat tightened, her heart beating furiously inside her chest. Before she had a chance to respond, the king shifted his attention to her guard.

“And you accompanied her?” his voice roared.

Martine dipped her head, not meeting his gaze. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”

“When a town is evacuated it means no one is allowed there,” Claude stated. “I should have you removed.”

“This isn’t her fault,” Dagmara insisted. “You could have told her why her family was evacuated.”

Claude jerked his chin back as if the statement offended him.

“She’s the one who warned me,” Pierre blurted out from across the tunnel. “If it wasn’t for Martine we wouldn’t have made it here in time.”

Dagmara’s jaw dropped. She thought she could trust Martine to keep this a secret, but she instead chose to tell Claude’s guard?

“Right?” Pierre asked in Ilusaurian, looking to the large guard for support.

The burly man was busy wiping off blood from his longsword. He shrugged, not even glancing up.

“I’ll decide whether Martine keeps her position,” Claude stated, switching the conversation back to Azuremi. “You two are lucky we were seconds behind you. The hounds seek out anyone who possesses magic. They wake up when they smell magic.”

“They target…guardians?” Martine asked.

Dagmara felt her blood turn to ice. The hound didn’t wake when Dagmara went near it, and she knew Martine had already made that connection.

Claude’s eyes darkened. “They wake when they sense magic nearby.”

He was under the assumption that Dagmara woke the hounds, and he arrived in time. The king had no idea that it was in fact him who had woken the hounds.

“You are not to leave the castle without permission.” Claude pointed a finger at Dagmara. “You are not in Azurem, Princess. Ilusauri isn’t safe to go anywhere you please. I didn’t clear this town for my own enjoyment.”

Then Dagmara noticed Claude’s forearm. His brace was ripped off, revealing his flesh which was raked with a large scratch from the hound’s talons. Claude noticed Dagmara’s gaze, instantly seeing the wound for himself.

Claude cleared his throat and in front of Dagmara’s eyes, the wound vanished.

Dagmara gasped, seeing his forearm perfectly smooth and free from injury. “You can heal yourself?”

“I’m not a Life Guardian,” Claude snapped. “I’ll take care of it later.”

So he hadn’t healed it like Dagmara had watched Aleksy heal his wounds. Claude was only masking the wound—showing Dagmara what he wanted her to see. Claude could hide anything he wanted from her, and she wouldn’t be the wiser.

“Enough of this!” Claude bellowed. “Everyone back to the castle before more of them find us.”