*THIS NOVEL IS A SEQUEL TO WILD CARD & CANNOT BE READ AS A STANDALONE*
There is a legend that one in four royal advisor-mages will betray their monarch, overthrow them for power.
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Gwenore, the new Queen of Acewood, is on a throne most would kill...
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Disappointment and rage rushed through me at the sight.
Teodric, my sweet, delicious, gorgeous Teodric, the man who occupied all my wet dreams and loving fantasies—
Wasin bed with Ysac.
Should I have expected it after everything that happened in the past few days? Probably. But that hadn't stopped my poor heart from hoping. Dreaming. Yearning.
This was Ysac's room. I should have braced for the notion of finding Teodric in here with him, but I still couldn't fathom it. Nor did I comprehend why the foreign prince would choose Ysac over me.
That kiss they'd exchanged a few days ago...it appeared authentic, at the time. We'd all gotten chills from watching it—though mine were more from revulsion and jealousy—and yet...
I'd seen fake kisses before. I'd seen sultry situations turn out to be just that; nothing more than physical passion with a hefty dose of lust.
Hell, I'd experienced that myself with many partners.
But Teodric, oh, Teodric!
How I longed to experience him.
"Gentlemen," I said, perking up as best as I could considering the circumstances.
Finding them alone in here, most definitely naked under those sheets; it infuriated me. More so as I noticed they were positively glowing, and not only because of the light filtering in. No, they were both ecstatic, clearly happy to be next to one another in bed. Beaming at one another like soulmates.
I was supposed to be Teodric's soulmate.
And here I'd been hoping it was all a fluke. That they'd sleep together and Teodric would realize he only wanted me, the red-headed delight he'd met in Diamond Castle. That Ysac would realize he'd rather be chaste forever, or pursue some young, busty thing he found in the castle kitchens.
He was always stealing my prospects. Always going after the same men that I yearned for. And now he'd gone the ultimate mile to snag this exquisite foreigner I'd made it clear I was interested in.
Damn Ysac. Damn him and his perfect pectoral muscles gleaming in the sunlight. That luscious hair, like precious gold. Those hypnotic eyes that somehow made everyone take their clothes off for him.
Including me. Naturally, I'd had my fun with Ysac in the past. To see him here in all his glory should have roused some former feelings between us; but I was too peeved to let my lust get the best of me.
Ysac was pretty, but Teodric was perfection.
And that delicious monster, Ysac, got to indulge in him before me. He got to showcase his prowess, the skill he'd developed in his few years of training. For someone in his early twenties, he had quite the list of conquests.
