He lightly brushes the back of his hand down my arm. “You have made me the happiest man today, Illyria.”
“And I’m the luckiest woman in the world to have been chosen to be at your side, my king.”
I’m gonna throw up!
He leans back and appraises me again. I smile nervously. “Are you sure everything is okay?”
“I…” I look down, my cheeks flooded with heat of embarrassment. “I’m afraid I won’t please you.”
Really? How lame! Kick him in the groin!
“How could you not?” He sounds surprised. His hands grip my arms as he lightly pushes me down onto the bed. I sink onto the edge of the soft mattress. “You have nothing to worry about, darling. I will guide you.”
I raise a hand and gently run the sheer white curtains that drape over the bed through my fingers. They drift lightly in the breeze, pulling away from my grasp. I turn to look at the window, frowning. “Did you open—”
A terrible crash sends me shooting to my feet. Aloysius pushes me back behind him, facing off with the man who now crouches in a sea of glass. Fear strikes me as I grip my husband’s arm.
My vision.
A strange sensation rolls over me as the man looks up. His gaze sweeps past Aloysius and fixates on me. There is a tugging in my stomach, as if I need to be standing at his side instead of my husband’s. His face is grim, but his gaze is gentle, almost loving.
I feel a sharp stab in my mind and I blink, dazed. I try to clear the haze from my mind as the man rises slowly, rolling his shoulders back. Shards of glass rain down from his spiked black hair.
“You?” Aloysius growls. “I should’ve killed you when I had the chance.”
I turn and stare at the man, confused. “Do we know him?”
Sapphire eyes stare back, and I can see something flicker in his gaze… pain. “She doesn’t know you,” Aloysius gloats, placing himself firmly between us. “Though, it would appear that somehow you two managed to screw with my mind control. I had my suspicions when I saw you take down Drakon in the hall, but I knew the moment I saw the pain on her face when she saw you standing next to me at the wedding.”
Cruel bastard.
Aloysius laughs, openly gloating. “It was one of my better ideas. I could feel your anguish behind me. It made our first kiss as husband and wife that much sweeter, and I have you to thank for that.”
The young man’s back teeth grind. He doesn’t look at me again, and I’m glad. The darkness sweeping over his face makes the hairs on the back of my neck rise. “Who is he, my king?”
“A prisoner who needs to learn his place.”
“Illyria…” I feel an odd stirring in the air just before the man’s face wipes clean of emotion. He stands upright woodenly, as if he were a puppet being controlled by a master.
“What have you done to him?” I ask, stepping back from my husband. This feels wrong.
Aloysius walks toward the man and pokes him in the chest. No reaction. A malicious smile crosses his lips as my husband turns back toward me. “He is no longer a threat to you, my dear. I’ll have him removed.”
He starts to walk away but stops and turns back. “On second thought, perhaps it would be better to just remove him altogether.”
No! Wake up! Please, wake up!
My hands tremble at my sides as I watch my husband march across the room. He presses a panel on the wall and a door slides back to reveal a secret stash of weapons. I spy daggers, spear-tipped lances that expand out, a circular blade with a metal bar running through the center, and a laser pistol.
Aloysius’s hand hovers over the weapons, skimming back and forth. “My king?”
He glances back over his shoulder at me. “Yes?”
“You won’t hurt him, will you?” I cast a worried look at the man. It bothers me that he is so lifeless. I can barely see him blink.
My husband selects a serrated dagger and closes the door behind him. A trickle of unease flows over me.
You’ve seen this. Wake up! He’s going to kill Bastien.
I blink rapidly, confused.
“It will all be over soon.” My husband’s voice is low and dangerous as he stalks forward. I feel paralyzed as Aloysius lowers his dagger, poised to strike.
“No!” I thrust out my hands. An invisible energy surges from them, knocking Aloysius off his feet. He cries out as his shoulder slams into a bedpost and he crumples to the floor.
My chest rises and falls as I suck in huge breaths, shocked at what I’ve just done. Aloysius is shaking as he rises, his skin blotched with red. I can feel him searching my mind, his touch no longer soft but stabbing. His eyes narrow as he jabs again.