TWO
Sadie marveled at Jalen’s inner strength. He had to be exhausted, and yet he stood in the center of the room, directing men as if nothing was wrong. His calm, authoritative tone gave confidence to those in the room, and this showed in their expressions, and their willingness to obey him. These soldiers would die for him were he to order it. Jalen was truly a leader of men; the heir of Zammar. Sadie felt pride and relief well inside her. He truly was back.
“Sadie?” Jalen beckoned her closer. “Stay at my left at all times.”
She nodded and went to stand next to him.
“Let us be off,” he commanded and strode toward the hidden passage.
“Your highness?” Abbas called out quietly, stopping him from leaving the room.
“Yes?”
“Your mask?”
Jalen declined it with a swipe of his hand. “Leave it. I want all to see how I am cured. I will not hide behind a mask any longer.”
Turning back to the secret corridor, Jalen led the way inside.
They walked the halls back to the kitchen. There, Jalen paused and reached for her. Sadie stepped closer, and he again wrapped an arm around her waist, leaning against her. Pressed against him, Sadie could feel the slight shaking of his muscle and see the sweat that had started to bead his skin. It made her fear that he might collapse.
She didn’t feel that much stronger, but she gathered what little power she had left and sent a weak pulse toward him. Jalen shook his head. “Save your strength, little firebrand. I am well enough.”
Jalen leaned down to press a gentle kiss to her lips, before moving away from her. Sadie understood that he needed to stand on his own, but she wished she could help him. Taking the lead once more, he picked his way past the preparation tables and released a latch on a different wall. Another door swung open.
The hidden passageway held so many twists, turns, and junctions that Sadie soon lost track. She simply hoped Jalen knew where he was going. As he didn’t hesitate at any of the crossways, she supposed he must have learned his way around at some point. Maybe as a child playing in the all but forgotten corridors.
Finally, Jalen released a latch and stepped into yet another hallway, this time in the public part of the palace. Two guards, standing on either side of an ornately decorated door, twitched in surprise.
“Your highness?” one man asked, his mouth open in shock. “We were told you were dead.”
“A rumor. As you can see, Prasad, I am very much alive,” Jalen answered. “Is his majesty holding court at this moment?”
Prasad, opened, then closed his mouth with a snap. “He is, your highness,” he finally said.
“Please announce my presence. And remember, I have no rank here.”
Prasad saluted in spite of Jalen’s reminder, and hurried down the hall.
Sadie followed him with her eyes until he turned the corner, then her gaze drifted back to Jalen. When he caught her eyes on him, he smiled back at her and beckoned her closer. She stepped into his embrace, and he enclosed her in his arms. His mouth immediately captured hers, and she melted against him. The slight tremors racking Jalen’s body worried her. He appeared to be close to collapse. This time, in spite of his earlier refusal, she reached inside herself and let him have the last of her power.
He groaned and held her closer. The fact he didn’t push her away told her all she needed to know. In any other circumstances, he would have declined and asked that she save her energy. He truly was exhausted.
As they kissed, she let her magic flow through him. When they separated, she felt completely drained, and it was her turn to to sway on her feet.
“Sadie?” Jalen inquired, sounding worried.
She smiled at him. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
He hesitated for a moment, but finally let go of her and brushed the wrinkles from his clothes, assuming a regal mien. She watched with rapt attention as his gaze grew shuttered—hiding away all of his emotions. Here was the prince she had met at the square: aloof, authoritative, betraying nothing.
Sadie repressed a shudder and wrapped her arms around herself.
The sound of footsteps approaching drew her attention back down the hall. Within moments, the man sent on Jalen’s errand came around the corner, and resumed his post at the door.
Jalen pulled him aside and spoke quietly, too quietly for Sadie to hear. He then handed him the sealed document she’d seen him make before rejoining their party at the door.
Sadie heard a muffled voice behind the door seconds before the two guards opened it for them. “Your majesty, Jalen ‘Anaq Al-Jameyri to present a grievance for your verdict,” the man whose voice she’d heard behind the door announced. Even before the man stopped talking, Jalen stepped through with Sadie at his side.
She’d never been in the throne room before. Its opulence eclipsed everything else she’d seen inside the palace. At the head of the room, a raised dais sheltered two gilded thrones. One of the chairs stood empty, awaiting the queen’s presence. On the other side, an extremely obese man, garbed in elaborately embroidered dark blue linen, stood. Shock was clear on his face, and his hands trembled visibly.
Yusuf and Na’im stood at attention beside the dais, and they nodded toward Jalen as they entered the throne room.
Sadie, Jalen, and their party advanced toward the dais. When Jalen halted, Sadie did the same, remembering to stay on his left just as he had instructed. The guards fanned into a half circle behind them, standing at attention.
“Your majesty,” Jalen greeted the king—his father—with a short bow.
When the guards saluted, Sadie dropped into an awkward curtsey. She didn’t know the protocol, but thought that following the guards’ lead was her best course of action.
The king struggled to regain his composure as he sat back on his throne.
“We were told you have a grievance to present before us. State your case,” he commanded Jalen with a voice that still shook.
“Attempted assassination.”
The king opened and closed his mouth twice before finding his voice. “Against whom and by whom?”
“Queen Devi Al-Jameyri and Marek Al-Patil against Prince Jalen ‘Anaq Al-Jameyri.”
“Son, what are you trying to accomplish?” the king exclaimed, seeming to forget his regal tone. He sounded shocked and angry.
“The curse was intentionally set so that my half-brother would inherit the throne in my place. Her highness was unwilling to accept fate, and hired a healer to perform the curse that was supposed to kill me. Her brother, Marek, sought him out, and when the deed was done, personally killed him.”
“Jalen, you are talking of treason on the part of my wife,” the king replied, appalled. “I cannot believe she would do such a thing. Do you have proof of this?”
“My captain is securing my proof as we speak and will come here directly. In the meantime, fetch her highness. We shall ask her what her hand is in this matter.”
“Son, is this the curse speaking?”
“No, your majesty, it is not. Look at me; the proof is written on my skin. Although I am not cured, I have been given a reprieve from the madness. Summon the queen. Let us get to the bottom of this.”
Sadie thought the king would refuse, but after watching Jalen for a long moment, he bid one of his attendants to fetch Queen Devi. No sooner had the servant left, than Kadar entered the throne room, pushing a reluctant Marek in front of him. Upon reaching the rest of Jalen’s party, Kadar forced him to kneel before the king. Marek ignored their monarch and instead stared up at Jalen. Sadie felt sick seeing him again, but she forced herself not to look away, despite the shudder that traveled down her spine.
“Marek Al’Patil—” the king started.
“I thought you were dead,” Marek exclaimed while staring at Jalen.
Sadie winced. Even she knew not to talk over their sovereign.
“A convenient rumor only,” Jalen replied coldly. “Your majesty, please inform him of my grievance against him.”
“Marek Al’Patil, you have been brought here to answer to accusations of attempted murder against my heir,” King Jameyri announced, commanding the attention of the room back to him.
“I would do no such thing, your majesty. It’s a lie,” Marek vehemently protested, and struggled to his feet.
At a wave of the king’s hand, Kadar let go of Marek and stepped back, placing himself between Jalen and Marek. His intense focus never deviated from Marek.
Jalen looked to the king, and Sadie swore they came to an agreement without a word being spoken.
“Captain, stand aside,” Jalen ordered.
In a move Sadie recognized for its unsettling nature, Jalen began to circle around Marek.
“A lie, you say?” Jalen said, breaking the highly charged silence. “Then please explain to us why you slipped an unauthorized healer inside a highly-guarded military camp.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Then let me explain,” Jalen answered, smirking.
Sadie shivered. His smile looked almost sinister.
“You leave my campaign in the middle of a skirmish without permission, and when I am injured, you miraculously return with a healer on hand. A man not detailed—or approved—by the royal house, who is quick to heal and quicker to curse.” Jalen paused his slow circuit around Marek to speak close to his ear. “And then once his job is finished, your sword is the one to dispatch the threat, before anyone else even has time to react. You ignored all protocol and meted out death without trial, thus preventing me from learning the truth.”
He straightened and resumed his prowling.
“This can only mean you were afraid that, were he to be interrogated, he might reveal information you wanted to keep hidden.” Jalen stopped and faced Marek. “Presumably, the fact you’d hired him?”
Sadie saw the beads of sweat sliding down the side of Marek’s face.
“Do you know what the punishment is for treason?” Jalen didn’t wait for Marek to respond. “Most heinous crimes are punished by beheading. It is quick and—relatively speaking—tidy.” Jalen started circling Marek again, but this time he went the other direction, stalking softly, like a predator on the prowl. “Treason, however, is a messy crime, and messy crimes require messier punishments. As a traitor, you will be staked out in the desert sun. It will take no more than a day before dehydration makes you hallucinate. Your skin will blister and peel long before your death; the scavengers will come nibble at your flesh. I am told they prefer to go for the eyes first.”
Marek’s mouth opened and closed several times before he found his voice. “You have no proof about any of this. You cannot convict me on conjectures alone.”
Jalen turned his gaze to Kadar. “Captain?”
“Yes, your highness?”
“Did you find any evidence?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have it with you?”
“I do, your highness,” Kadar responded. He walked over and handed Jalen a folded piece of parchment. The same piece of parchment Sadie had seen Jalen leave with the guard at the entrance earlier.
Jalen broke the seal and looked down at the document, seeming to read the letter’s contents.
Marek paled, looking more concerned with each passing second. “Impossible! What is that? Where did you get it? Nothing was to be written down.”
“Was there something you wanted to say, Marek?” Jalen asked curiously.
He swallowed hard a few times, and shook his head.
Jalen looked down at the document in his hand once more. “The note is coded, but clearly orders that all healers—even the herbalists—be removed from the kingdom to ensure that none can heal me.” He gave Marek a withering glare. “You see, it is all over now. Your plan failed.”
“Foolish woman. And after everything we worked toward.” Shock held Marek’s eyes wide open. He didn’t seem to realize he’d spoken out loud.
“It is alright to confess. All his majesty needs is your verbal confirmation, and all guilty parties will be held accountable.”
Marek’s face lost what little color it still had, and he staggered. Sadie could tell the moment he came to a decision.
“I won’t take the blame for this alone,” he spat. “I was only following Devi’s orders.”
Jalen put on a show of quirking an eyebrow. “Devi? As in, her highness, Queen Devi? Your esteemed sister?”
“Yes, curse you,” he growled at Jalen, and Sadie thought he might lunge at him. But in the end, Marek looked down and gritted his teeth, fear overruling his anger.
“And what were her orders?” Jalen questioned, his voice managing to be both calm and authoritative at the same time. His tone brooked no disagreement. Under his stare, Marek squirmed, and then wilted like a flower left too long without water.
“Your majesty,” Marek pleaded, turning his eyes on the king on his throne. King Jameyri gave him a glare which was the mirror of his son’s. Marek cringed.
“Answer his question and perhaps it will be remembered when comes the time for your sentencing,” the king ordered.
“She told me to slip the healer into camp and to get rid of him once he was done. I—” He gulped. “I swear I didn’t know what she planned.”
Kadar sneered. “What exactly did you think a strange healer smuggled into the camp in secret would do to his highness?”
Marek cast his eyes around the room, as if in search of an ally. He stammered, “I... I didn’t... didn’t think.”
“Obviously not.” Kadar’s voice held such scorn Sadie winced. She wouldn’t want such a tone used while addressing her.
“But I tried to stop him when I realized what he was doing.”
“Ah, yes. Tried to stop him by slitting his throat before he could be interrogated,” Jalen interjected. “Very convenient, don’t you think?”
Marek’s eyes darted right and left, as if looking for help, but no one in the throne room would come to his aid now. Sadie could see shock, disgust, and anger reflected in the expressions of all those looking on the scene. The guards looked ready to jump into action if need be.
But Marek didn’t make any threatening moves. Instead, he deflated further when Jalen snapped, “It was premeditated.”
“She ordered it,” he mumbled. “She planned everything from the start. I only followed her directions.”
“What about the kingdom’s healers, Marek? We know the order came from the palace,” Jalen pushed.
Maybe realizing he’d already said too much, Marek snapped his jaw shut and looked away.
When Marek didn’t answer, Kadar spoke again, his voice even colder, if that was possible. “Either you tell us now or you do so after spending a few hours in the care of his majesty’s head inquisitor. I, for one, wouldn’t mind observing as he breaks each one of your fingers in turn. And I’ll ask him to geld you while he’s at it.”
Kadar exchanged a look with Jalen, then glanced at Sadie before he added, “I think I might wield the knife myself.”
Marek started trembling. Sadie knew Kadar did not threaten in vain. Marek had to realize the same thing.
“What will it be?” Jalen asked, still calm, still strong.
Sadie glanced at him from the corner of her eye. He had spread his legs a little, as if bracing himself to keep upright, and the sweat beading his temples told her he was straining. Surreptitiously, she moved closer, but he gave her one look and shook his head. She stopped, knowing he wouldn’t accept her help even if she insisted. He wouldn’t show weakness while they were in public.
“It was her plan again,” Marek said after what seemed like forever. “A healer couldn’t be allowed to... to cure the prince in time.”
A look at the dais showed King Jameyri red with rage. Due to his age and girth, Sadie worried he might cause himself harm, and she would be powerless to help him in her exhausted state. Fortunately, he seemed to pull himself together after a long moment. His voice was a low rumble when he asked his closest guard, “Where is Devi?
Jalen cocked his head to the side for a moment. “No need to send for her again, Father. She is almost here.”
An instant later, Sadie heard female voices coming from the corridor outside the throne room. She turned her head toward the doors just in time to see Queen Devi enter, surrounded by several guards and trailed by her handmaidens. She wore an elaborate gown of muted blue, and a veil that covered her hair and forehead, decorated with the Zammar sun embroidered around the edges.
“Your majesty,” she acknowledged the king with a curtsey before taking in the room. Her eyes found Marek, who stood with his head bowed beside Kadar, and her eyes widened in surprise to see Jalen standing next to him. Recovering her composure, she nodded to Jalen. “It is good to see you well. My guard informed me of your passing. I am pleased to learn that he was wrong,” she told him.
Ratan must have delivered his news before the king requested her presence. It was the only explanation Sadie could come up with to justify the queen’s belief that he was dead. Queen Devi must have believed the summons to the throne room was to hear formally of Jalen’s demise.
“No need for the mourning attire just yet, your highness. I am quite hale,” Jalen replied, coolly.
She ignored Jalen’s statement and turned to the king. With a smile, she asked, “Why is my brother before you in such a manner?”
“He is accusing you of trying to assassinate me, your highness,” Jalen replied.
“What?” the queen exclaimed. She paled and she turned to stare at Jalen.
“The game is over, Devi. Your brother has admitted everything already,” Jalen continued.
Queen Devi flicked her gaze toward Marek, before turning back to the king. She tsked. “You stand before his majesty, all appearances of health, but truly the curse has scrambled your mind.” She approached the throne, hands raised in a gesture that managed to be both pleading and enticing at the same time. “Your Majesty—Jameyri—I am afraid your son has gone insane and cannot be trusted in his judgment. He is under the influence of that witch. It’s the only explanation for an accusation such as this, for I would do no such thing.” Her eyes swiveled in Sadie’s direction. “You have to imprison—”
“Devi,” King Jameyri said, sounding pained, hesitant. “I wish I could believe your words, but your brother has confessed to his and your involvement already.”
Devi’s eyes darted to Marek and her lips thinned, but she gave him no more attention. “Then he was lying.”
“Lying?” Marek scowled at his sister. “I’ll not take the blame for this alone, sister.”
“Yes, lying,” Devi replied calmly, before she turned the full force of her seductive smile on her husband. “I would never do such a thing, Jameyri. My idiot brother knows not what he is talking about.”
“Devi Al’Patil,” the king repeated, sounding more commanding this time. Sadie noticed that he hadn’t used the queen’s married name or her title. The queen also noticed, as her lips thinned in repressed anger—unless it was from uneasiness. “You are facing formal charges. Your status as queen is the only thing saving you right now. Now, speak. Why did you curse my son?”
“I told you, I would never do something so vile,” Devi denied.
Jalen interrupted. “We found a letter, written in Marek’s hand and addressed to you, requesting guidance on his next steps.”
Marek sputtered a denial as she rounded on her brother. “You fool! Nothing was to be documented.” Queen Devi shook, whether in fear or fury, Sadie did not know.
Sadie chanced a peek at the king. If she hadn’t been watching, she would have missed the moment of confusion in his expression.
“So there is some truth to this?” King Jameyri asked.
Devi glanced his way but kept her mouth tightly shut, refusing to answer. Jalen answered in her stead. “Yes.”
“Why would she do this?” He sounded more than unhappy. He sounded like a man betrayed.
“The usual. Greed. The desire for more power.” Jalen shrugged.
King Jameyri frowned at Jalen. “Explain yourself, son.”
“I am the not the only male descendant of this dynasty anymore. Devi bore you a son three seasons ago. But she realized that the babe wouldn’t gain power as long as I lived, and it seemed like our enemies wouldn’t be so kind as to kill me for her. The war was almost over and I still lived, ready to return to the capital as a hero.”
Sadie glanced at Jalen, then at the queen. The woman was shaking hard enough that the golden bangles at the wrists were chiming. The look she leveled at Jalen held enough loathing to strike fear in an army.
Jalen’s expression never changed as he continued, “And so, she had to find another way to get rid of the man that stood between her and her son inheriting the throne of Zammar. She almost succeeded too. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t quite manage to get rid of all the healers.”
He beckoned Sadie closer, and she gladly came to stand close to him. He threaded his fingers with hers, and she squeezed his hand silently. In that moment, he appeared to take comfort in her proximity, just as she did in his.
“It will be years before Patil is fit to rule, Devi; he is but a babe and might not even survive infancy.” King Jameyri stared at his wife.
“With me out of the way, Father, if you were to die an untimely death, Devi would become regent,” Jalen pointed out coldly.
King Jameyri’s expression turned shocked. “Is that true, Devi? Was that your plan all along? First murder my heir, then myself so you may reign as regent?”
“No, that’s false,” the queen insisted.
“We already have Marek’s confession. There is nowhere left to run, Devi. None of your charms will work on the inquisitor,” Jalen pointed out, sounding bored. Yet, from his hand in hers, Sadie could feel him all but radiate with tension.
She rubbed her thumb across the back of his hand and replayed the conversation in her head, and she frowned. Something still wasn’t clear to her. “Wait,” she said, and immediately realized she’d spoken out loud when everyone’s eyes trained on her. She felt blood rush to her cheeks and wished she’d stayed quiet.
“What is it, little firebrand? Is there anything you want to add?” Jalen asked gently. He wrapped an arm around her waist. She realized he must be closer than ever to complete exhaustion. She snuggled closer, allowing him to use her support.
She spoke softly to Jalen. “It’s about the curse. Trying to kill someone for political reasons is one thing, but cursing someone like you were… that’s personal hatred. The man my mother cured when I was a child was cursed by his wife after he left her for another woman. She wanted him to suffer as much as she had when he abandoned her.”
“Sadie’s right,” Kadar added thoughtfully. “The queen went to great lengths to have his highness suffer before his death. That’s going to a lot of trouble for a simple political assassination. A dagger between the ribs would have been faster, cleaner, and more effective.”
“I told her the same thing,” Marek muttered, loud enough that all could hear him. “She would not listen to me.”
“Be quiet,” Devi hissed back.
“No, I won’t! It’s all your fault, Devi. If you’d just let me hire that assassin instead, Jalen would be dead now and your brat would be the new heir! But you had to have your revenge first, didn’t you? You wanted to see him suffer. You were stupid. A petty, stupid woman.”
Sadie could almost hear the moment when the last of the queen’s control snapped. The atmosphere in the throne room grew thick with malice, and she shivered in spite of herself.
The queen’s mask finally dropped as she stood in the middle of the room, alone with her guilt. Her eyes shone with hatred when she first looked at her brother, then Jalen and the king.
“Curse you. Curse you all!” she spat. “Patil should be Zammar’s next king! My son deserve the throne, not this… this warthog!”
Did the queen just call Jalen a warthog?
“I should have married Prince Jalen as I was promised,” Queen Devi cried, and waved her hand in the kings direction. “Not his fat, rutting buffoon of a father.”
If the king was taken aback at being called an obese clown, he did not show it. “You were made a queen. I gave you all you could ever want,” he said, not quite hiding the grief in his voice.
“For a limited time only,” she said. “Once he takes the throne I will become obsolete, thrown away like a torn kamiz. I deserve better.” She stomped her slippered foot on the floor in impotent anger.
“Is that why you tried to make your way into my bed, even after marrying my father?” Jalen asked, a scowl on his face.
“You bed any woman that will spread her legs for you,” she sneered, gesturing to Sadie. “I would have been so much better for you than that trollop.”
Sadie tensed at the insult. But Jalen didn’t give her time to reply.
“That is a bold claim from a woman who tried to seduce me. And failed. I wouldn’t take you to my bed if you were the last woman in this palace, Devi.” Jalen snarled. “A dry hell, you’re my father’s wife!”
It was Devi’s turn to blanch under the insult.
“My son, Devi?” the king asked. “And how many more men? I tried to ignore the palace gossip. But now… Is Patil even mine?” The poor man sounded more weary than angry, Sadie thought. Learning his wife had tried to kill his oldest son after cuckolding him must have been quite a blow for the old man.
King Jameyri ran a hand over his eyes and, as if in an attempt to school his features. When he next looked at the people gathered in the throne room, his gaze was hard, unforgiving. “No matter. The babe’s future can be decided later.” He turned to the guard who looked in charge. “Take those two traitors away. I do not want them in my sight again. The inquisitor can get the rest of the details from them.”
The man saluted and gestured his men to grab the queen and her brother.
“But your majesty—” Marek protested.
The king glared. “Treason is punishable by death in Zammar. I never said you would be exonerated.”
Marek’s eyes bulged, and he opened and closed his mouth without a sound. Sadie tensed. Her instincts screamed a warning to her a second before he moved. Marek lunged and crashed into Kadar, making him lose his balance. Before anyone could stop him, he retreated, holding Kadar’s scimitar in his hands. His maddened gaze trained on Sadie.
“It’s all your fault. He should have died!” he screamed and charged straight at her, sword ready to kill.
She froze, her heart skipping a beat. Paralyzed by fear, she couldn’t move. She could only watch Marek getting closer, as if time had slowed. Even the screams and curses of the guards only reached her ears as distant echoes. And then, Jalen was suddenly in front of her, drawing out his own scimitar and a wicked looking dagger. A second later, metal clashed against metal as Jalen met Marek’s mad dash. Marek gasped and red appeared on his shirt, expanding ever outward. Without another sound, he crumpled to the floor.
Jalen stepped back, and Sadie saw the blood dripping from his scimitar blade. She shuddered, unable to stop staring at Marek’s unmoving body. Somewhere in the room, Devi was screaming, but no one paid her any heed. Jalen turned to the king.
“Forgive me, Father, for the spilling of blood in the throne room,” Jalen said. He actually sounded contrite.
King Jameyri waved his hand vaguely. “Apology accepted.” He glanced around the room, his gaze lingering on the queen’s retinue. When he spoke, his voice was cool and showed no hint of any emotion. “This hearing is over. You are all dismissed.”
“Father, I would request a little more of your time,” Jalen said politely.
“Granted,” King Jameyri replied.
The queen’s wailing subsided as she was led away, followed by the gaggle of fearful handmaidens and her visibly shocked personal guards. Jalen’s guards, however, stayed with their prince, and so did Sadie when she realized Jalen wasn’t letting go of her hand. Once calm had returned to the throne room, the king seemed to relax. He turned his attention back to Jalen, his expression one of relief and paternal pride.
“I was told you were on the brink of death. I was assured there was no hope. How is it that you survived, son? What happened to the curse?”
Jalen reached for Sadie’s hand, and she laced her fingers with his. He pulled her forward to stand to his left. “This is Sadie, Father, the strongest healer I have ever met. She has managed to still the curse’s advance and returned my sanity.”
Sadie swallowed hard as the king looked at her, the intensity of his scrutiny making her want to hide behind Jalen’s back. Never in her life had she thought she would meet the monarch, and she felt uncomfortable under the circumstances.
“So this is your mistress? The witch.”
“I’m not a witch,” she said under her breath, afraid to speak out any louder, and embarrassed about her role in Jalen’s life. Jalen let go of her hand to put an arm around her shoulder in comfort.
“Not a witch,” he confirmed. “She has been my constant companion these last few months. I owe her my life. She is the woman I love.”
She stared up at him, her mouth hanging open in shock. Love?! Did he just declare love for her in front of the king? He hadn’t even done that in private yet.
“The woman you love?” the king repeated, clearly taken by surprise by the declaration.
“I request she have a permanent home within the palace, at my side.” Jalen smiled, slow and lazy, ignoring the king’s shock.
“On retainer as your personal healer?” The king seemed to think about it seriously before he spoke again. “Acceptable. As long as she continues to monitor your recovery and aids in additional healing as necessary, I don’t care what you do with her in bed.”
“You misunderstand me, Father. I want her at my side as my betrothed. I will have no other.”
Sadie sucked in a breath. Her eyes darted from Jalen to the king. “Have you gone mad?” she hissed at him. He only smiled back, his eyes twinkling with humor.
The king sputtered in disbelief, before sitting straighter and glaring at his son. “She is common-born and an unfit match for a prince. You know that.”
“Then raise her status to princess. You are king; you have that power.”
“Unacceptable,” King Jameyri ground out.
“If you prefer, I could lower my status,” Jalen asked innocently, adding almost as an afterthought, “Ah, but, Father, do you not remember? You have already done that. I am not your heir anymore, and I can choose outside my station should I desire it. And I do desire it.”
“Jalen, what are you doing?” Sadie whispered, aghast. She couldn’t believe he would be so high-handed as to go ahead with one of his foolish plans without consulting her—again. “How can you be certain I even want to stay with you?”
He grinned. When he didn’t answer her, she growled, “You promised to consult me about matters that affect my life. Have you forgotten this already?”
“That was about protecting you. This is different.”
“How is it different? You are deciding my life for me again.” Sadie was angry and confused. What was he thinking?
“You said you loved me. Is that not the truth?”
She felt herself flushing. She wanted to look away, but Jalen cupped her chin with his fingers and forced her to keep her eyes on him. “Do you love me, little firebrand?”
She finally sighed. “I do love you.”
“If I return the sentiment, why should we continue to hide and deny our feelings?”
Sadie opened and closed her mouth, unable to come up with a retort.
A great guffaw from King Jameyri made them both turn to look at him. “I can see why you are drawn to her. Her temper matches her hair. All fire!”
“And her passion. I do so enjoy her throaty m—” Jalen responded.
“Jalen!” Sadie squeaked, cheeks flaming. She couldn't believe he would say that in front of his father. And in the throne room, no less! She peeked at the king from under her lashes. His expression reflected some amusement, and she blushed an even deeper red.
“Father,” Jalen called, redirecting the king’s attention back to him. “Putting aside love and succession, I still need her by my side. I am mostly back to myself, but I can still feel the curse in my mind. I am not yet cured.”
“We shall see. Come forward, healer,” King Jameyri ordered.
Cheeks still flushed from Jalen’s teasing, Sadie bobbed another curtsey and stepped forward. She kept her eyes firmly fixed on the floor in front of her.
“Tell me, child, what did you do to heal my son?”
Sadie licked her dry lips, trying to clear her mind. She hid her hands behind her back before the king saw they were shaking. As silence stretched, Jalen settled behind her. He took her hands in his and wrapped her in his embrace. He whispered in her ear, “Remember, he is only a man and puts his finery on just like everyone else. One leg at a time.” His chuckle stirred the hair at her temple.
Sadie nodded. She trusted Jalen when it came to dealing with his father.
“I corralled it and put a magical wall around the curse’s origination point,” she tried to explain, although she felt words weren’t sufficient to explain her struggle. “It’s not a perfect solution, but it will allow Jalen to stay sane while a lasting cure is found.”
The king asked, “Will there be more rage episodes?”
Sadie looked to Jalen but his expression gave nothing away.
“I can’t be certain, your majesty, but it’s possible.” She sighed. She wished she could have done more, but it had been the best she could come up with without her mother’s books.
“And this is all your doing?” King Jameyri asked, sounding dubious.
She shook her head. “I couldn’t have done it without Jal—his highness. It was his willpower and, ultimately, his own magic that allowed me to save him.”
The king’s scrutiny was unsettling, and Sadie’s palms started sweating. Finally, King Jameyri turned his attention back to his son, effectively dismissing her presence.
“Send your people away. We still have much to discuss.”
She gave Jalen an uncertain look, and he smiled back at her. “Go. I will see you again after I am done here.”
“Will you be alright?”
She would have much prefered him to get the rest his body needed. He and his father could catch up later. Jalen took her hand and brought it to his mouth, laying a light kiss on her fingers. “Go, little firebrand. Your concern touches me, but I will be fine.”
She sighed. “Alright, but do sit down before you collapse, will you?” Her statement earned her another booming laugh from the king.
Jalen kissed the top of her head and gently pushed her toward Kadar. “Yes, little firebrand. Now, go. I will see you later.”
With one last look at him, she finally turned and joined Kadar as all of Jalen’s guards filed out of the throne room.
As she was about to exit, she heard the king ask Jalen, “That letter. I would like to see it.”
“There is no letter, Father. It was blank.”
She imagined Jalen shrugging.
“Blank?”
“It was a trap. I had a hunch…” The rest of his sentence was drowned out as the heavy throne room door closed behind them.
Kadar touched Sadie’s shoulder. “Come. I’ll walk you back.”
***
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