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.Maybe I should have waited.”I’m a fraud.But what could he do? Tell her the truth? Send her back to Cenaria and her infatuation for some petty princeling she didn’t even know? Together they were changing a kingdom, bringing light to a dark land.What could Logan give her compared to that? Why should Logan’s love be more deserving than his?Jenine’s love was growing.Dorian knew it.It would grow more still when she realized she was pregnant with their child, he knew it.He’d seen that in his moments of madness on the battlefield, and hadn’t trusted it or anything else he’d seen there, but in the days since then, he’d looked at her again, and he was sure it was true.Not twins, as he’d first foreseen, but a child, a son.Maybe the twins were to be their next children.He’d been waiting for the right time to tell her the news, but no time had seemed right.He still spent as much of his days with her as he could.Their lovemaking was less frequent now that he was using his harem, but whatever jealousy she might feel seemed outweighed by the sudden reversal of the concubines’ feeling toward her.Dorian had given her the credit for preserving their lives.That generosity cracked their envy and hatred.Instead of defeated rivals, Jenine suddenly had sisters, and her isolation melted with the spring snow.This was real.It wasn’t perfect, but it was the best they could do.This was what it was to be Godking.Besides, if he and Jenine simply ran away, one of †€[1]…the Vürdmeisters would rule with even more brutality than Dorian’s father had.Every relationship, every marriage, had its little lies.He was king.A king made choices for other people based on information they didn’t have.That was the burden of rule.Dorian had weighed Jenine’s choices, and he’d chosen.“I’m sorry for laying this at your feet when you’ve got so many other concerns, but I promised myself when we married that I’d never lie to you, and silence was starting to feel like a lie.I’m sorry.I made my decision.I did marry you.I do love you.I just—it’s just hard to be an adult all the time.You’ve trusted me to be your queen, and I still keep acting like a little girl.I’m sorry for being such a disappointment.”“A disappointment?” Dorian asked.“You’ve done better than I could have imagined.I didn’t even begin acting like an adult until I was much older than you are.I’m so proud of you, Jenine.I love you more than anything.I understand you’re confused.This is a confusing place.I understand you have doubts.We’ve been married for two months, and you’ve realized that you’re committed to something for the rest of your life, and that’s scary.Yes, it hurts me a little, but our love is big enough to take a few scratches.Thanks for telling me the truth.Come here.” They hugged, and he felt her unreserved relief.He wished she would feel his hesitation, wished she would ask him what was wrong.If she asked, he would tell her about Logan.He would tell her everything.After a few more seconds, she released him.He let her go, and the moment passed.“I love you, Dorian,” she said, looking him in the eye and not seeing him.“I love you too, Jenine.” I still don’t call her Jeni.Why is that?Kylar opened his eyes slowly.His mouth felt like it was stuffed full of cotton.His whole body was a chorus of complaints from sleeping propped against a tree.Working his jaw to clear the cotton feeling, he sat up.He touched his cheek where Durzo had smeared the poison.The new skin was tender, but there would be no scarring: Durzo was right.The bastard was always right.It was dawn in the woods.Kylar was about to curse aloud when he became aware of a presence in the wood.He filled his lungs with a deep, slow breath, willing his senses to come alive.There were no animals in the forest this morning, but whether all the birds had migrated and the squirrels were hibernating or if the reason was more sinister, Kylar didn’t know.He slowly flexed the muscles in his legs and back, judging whether they would cramp if he tried sudden movement.He scanned the forest, turning his head slowly.The sound of his fresh beard grinding against the collar of his tunic was the barest whisper.The length of his beard confirmed that he’d only been unconscious overnight.There was nothing in the forest.No sounds out of place.He thought he could trust his body to respond.Wind sighed through the big oaks, the few remaining leaves whispering secrets against him.But something had woken him.Kylar was sure of it.Instinctively, he reached for the ka’kari to cloak himself in invisibility, but the ka’kari was gone.Kylar reached instead into his sleeves, loosening the daggers there.He scanned the trees.A puff of air hit the top of his head.Kylar threw himself to the side as he buried a knife in the tree above his head.He rolled once, threw himself to his feet and jumped backward a good ten paces, daggers in his hands.Durzo laughed softly.“I always did like watching you jump.” He was clinging like a spider to the tree Kylar had slept against.“You bastard, where’s the ka’kari? What have you done?”Durzo kept laughing.“Give me the ka’kari,” Kylar said.“All in good time.”“Wait, why am I asking? I can—” Kylar extended his hand to call the ka’kari to him.“Don’t!” Durzo barked.Kylar stopped.“The Hunter’s nocturnal,” Durzo said.“Its sense of smell is better than any tracking dog, its hearing is acute, and its vision rivals an eagle’s, even when it’s running full speed.If I timed things right, you’ll have until dark before it starts hunting you.”“What—”Releasing one hand from where it gripped the oak, Durzo unlimbered a black sword from his back.He tossed it to Kylar.“Whatever you do, don’t take the ka’kari off Curoch
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