Obsidian's Reign ¹

∷ Chapter 26 ∷

THE ATMOSPHERE IN the office quickly grew tense as the lookalikes stared at each other—one with amusement dancing in his eyes, while the other held nothing but contempt in his regard.

"Well . . . This is an interesting development, wouldn't you say?" the Jae seated by the desk asked.

No response was garnered by the other as he stood with his gaze affixed on his doppelganger. His silence was filled with far more detestation than anything he was likely to say.

Clara observed the two as the silence stretched on between them. Though she was confused about the sudden turn of events, there was a comforting aura about the second Jae that seemed to confirm her earlier speculations—the Jae she had initially met was not the real one. She was certain of it.

She stared at him as he languidly surveyed the others. When their eyes met, he smiled, lips quirking in a knowing smirk.

"Oh, what's this? Have I already been found out?" he asked with a playful tone.

He leaned forward, the smile wiped clean from his face as a dark cloud shrouded his features.

"Do you know who I am?"

Clara stared at him, pointedly aware of how similar he looked to the Jae who had appeared mere minutes ago, yet there was an odd sheen to his eyes that told her otherwise.

"You're not the real Jae," she said with quiet certainty.

"Very good," he said, standing and mockingly clapping his hands. "I should have expected at least that much from the fiancée of the great leader of the Elite. It would be a shame if you couldn't tell your real lover apart from the fake one."

His words came as a shock to her and she turned to face the real Jae.

"Fiancée?" she repeated as though seeking some form of explanation.

From behind her, she heard the imposter laughing.

"You didn't tell her," he observed with amusement.

His voice sounded like a distant echo causing Clara to turn just in time to catch wisps of smoke emerging from the ground as it surrounded him in thick folds. They swirled from his feet to his head and when they finally disintegrated into the air, there stood Prince Adric, a cheeky grin on his face as he winked at her.

"I feel much better being myself," he said nonchalantly as he moved to stretch.

"Prince Adric?" Clara sighed, sounding the name as though she wasn't at all surprised the farce was one of his many tricks.

He shrugged, sending her a repulsively sympathetic smile.

"You have no idea how fun it is to tease you."

"And?" Jae spat. "What are you doing in my office?"

"I was bored so I came here to mess with your documents. You could hardly blame me when the princess and her dog were waiting in the office when I arrived, could you? It seemed a good opportunity to have some fun."

Jae's gaze flitted to the scattered papers on his desk and he scowled, the act of which caused the prince's grin to widened.

He leaned forward—careful to keep a good distance between them still—before saying, "So much anger, Lord Jae. You should work on controlling your emotions better."

He straightened, glancing at Clara and tilting an imaginary hat in her direction.

"I'll see you later, princess," he said just before disappearing amidst the clouds of darkened smoke he had conjured.