Viorica

rst So

m, and for once, I couldn't t

hind Lucian's desk. I kept my expression calm, refus

underworld had taught me one thing: n

lf, Commander,"

adel, the Moon Temple's sacred seal shattered. Golden flames

e shift

ngs to the Fir

wiped out three centuries ago. The Moon Temple used th

d the seal r

no a

gn was nothing more than a legend. Yet something inside me stirred at

ands an audience wi

expressio

emands in m

room, and even Radu stif

id quietly. "L

, his amber eyes stil

at man noth

is incident to destroy our treaty. I've spent five years preparing for this negot

ied me befo

ll face hi

loser, his v

'll forget every reason I

elf, my hea

my ally, and the man who had given me a place when the r

was e

Great Hall, with R

oors, Cyprian's voice r

e! I demand to se

nt prince who had once severed our

ice interr

rritory you're sta

s calm voice carried a warnin

ened th

floor. Obsidian guards stood along the wa

nded by four knights. Mud stained his silver ar

the remains of a

had burned itsel

of the S

w me, he went c

inc

ing until I stoo

ng, bring a dangerous religious artifact into my home, and disrup

rely ackno

d, staring at me. "It shattered t

es with damp weather," I replied. "Stone breaks, Prince. It

re wr

pped f

aura swept through the hall. Cyprian's knights drop

n kept loo

parchment from inside his cloak. "I've spent five years searching for answers

d him ca

o the

ghtened around

idn't die of f

uck harder th

ed him, accepted his death, and eventually lea

did yo

. Your power predates the Moon Goddess herself. You can rewrite

l fell

man inventing stories to save his kingd

something I never

to one knee

council manipulated me, and I let them. I'll make you my prin

red a

everything. I would have believed his apolo

t girl

broken relic and

but every word carried through the hall. "Don't look so su

ore he could respond, the

oked

ight deepened into a fierce crimson,

, Lucian

. His amber eyes blazed, and for the first time since

thing pul

und my heart, drawing me toward him. Lucian's familiar

ed throug

rose from the symbol, wi

back, but my fee

expression mirrored the sho

d away, droppin

spered. "Tha

ers brushing my neck as though

me out rough

recogni

saw something in his express

e

nd

bel

ispered, "you'r