Chapter 16

V ala woke in his arms. The Masked Man held her close to his warm body, a blanket wrapping her naked limbs.

"You are perfect." His lips nuzzled her neck, tickling her with the light touch.

She smiled, feeling utterly warm and safe. A feeling she had felt once before in a dream.

"I like it when you're happy."

She gazed at him. His eyes were such a brilliant, soft blue within the confines of the mask. He felt calmer, as if the loneliness radiating from him had dulled. She had to talk to him about her runes, she recalled. She had to…

"The dragon showed me this would happen," she declared, half to herself.

"Hmm?" He kissed the curve of her lower lip.

"When I saw the dragon's eyes…I felt this would happen, only I didn't understand when or where."

He nodded, understanding. "It's a powerful ability, talking to dragons. They're elemental beings. They feel nothing beyond fear and greed. All other emotions are a reflection of your runes…your past and whatever future may unfold."

That terrible pain emitting from the dragon, she remembered. So that had been her agony. Her grief. She felt tears rush to her eyes at the memory.

"Scholars say they breathed fire into the original runes back when the world still simmered in hot gasses and humans had not yet crawled from the Great Divide. Dragons can drive you mad with too much knowledge of your runes. The conscious mind can only hold so much."

His eyes searched her face. "What else did you see?"

She frowned. "I saw my parents, but they're always a part of my nightmares. Then, a mass of golden runes tumbled around me. And I saw us together, like this. And something else."

His body tensed. "Yes?"

She bit her lip, wondering how much she could disclose. Here, in the intimate darkness, Luiximor felt so human and caring. Perhaps he was. "This is going to sound strange. I think I saw my death."

He leaned over her in sudden earnestness. "Go on. Tell me everything."

"Why do I need to repeat what you already know?"

"I need to hear it from your lips."

She frowned. Fine then. "When I met the dragon's eyes, I saw all of the runes surrounding me smash into nothing and then I was surrounded by silver light. I didn't think of it much at the time, but now…I think I know what it means. I'm going to die." There, she said it. Tested the fear that had assailed her earlier. She waited, breathless, for his response.

"Nonsense." His arms clenched hers tighter. "I've seen your runes."

She let out a little, shuddering breath of relief. "Oh, in that trance. What are they like?"

He kissed her neck reflectively. "They were so beautiful that I had to find you, to meet the person to whom they belonged. And when I saw you enter that city bar, I immediately knew."

She gulped hard. No one had ever called her runes beautiful. Perhaps they were. She desperately wished she could see them, knowing she never would. "Know what?"

"How happy your future self will be."

It was now or never , she thought. "If that is true, then I need some help to become happy. My runes…they're pruned and I can't access them, as you know."

He stilled, watching her. "What do you want from me?"

That sounded less promising, but she pressed forward. "I want my runes back. I'll do anything. Just please give me back my future once you're done with it."

"I can't promise that," he said. "I don't know how long I will need your runes. But come, what makes you think I would take lesser care of them? With me, they could not be safer than if the Dark God of the Dynn protected them himself."

He leaned over to kiss her but she turned away.

"You're lying to me. I can feel it." She sat up, clasping the blanket to her breasts. "What did you really see in that trance?"

He sighed and did not reply for a long moment. When he spoke again, his voice was quiet. "I don't know the future. No one does, not even the best rune workers. We can only manipulate the future as best we can."

Like using her runes to save himself from the eclipse. Her future, gone, because he needed her. The warm feeling she had toward him faded. "You talk in circles. I never understand how sincere you are."

He raised his eyes upward as if seeking patience from the gilded rafters. "You've learned so much about the runes and the Dynn from the pages of books. But it's not enough. Unless you've walked that dark world and seen how the runes grow for yourself, you won't understand."

Her eyebrows arched. "Some people call me a rune prodigy."

He rose above her, looming and intense in the bedroom's shadows. "Your arrogance does you few favors. You're excellent with Dynn logic but you have yet to experience its fallacies. How can you ever hope to? Some things are unresolvable paradoxes unless you experience them in person and you can't enter the Dynn."

She angrily glared up at him in reply. How dare he mock her broken mind. "I know how the runes work, Dynn or not. Stop lying."

He took a swift breath, sensing her fury. "I'm not lying to you."

She sprang up from the bed. "How can you say that? Everything you do is a deception. You conceal your identity with a mask, you deceive me with promises, knowing a marriage between us will never happen. Don't look at me like that. I know I'm living on borrowed time." And in borrowed finery, to use Heep's ugly words. "I don't care if you fucked me senseless, Luiximor, nothing can change the fact that I know you're hiding something from me."

" Luiximor …" He repeated the name through clenched teeth. "You are so certain of your senses. To know the truth, you must first stop lying to yourself." He stepped away from her, tall and angry in the flickering gloom. "I should never have come here.."

She glared. "In that we both agree. I wish you'd just go away."

He elegantly bowed and his eyes were cold as ice upon a river. A Dynn opening billowed behind him. He glanced at her, studying the scowl of her eyes and twist of her lips. "Since you find my presence so… hateful …I will not bother you again. Goodbye."

And with that retort, he stepped into the black world. Moments later, the Dynn vanished—the sharp impact slammed a freezing gust into the room, ruffling the curtains and scattering embers.

He could go rot by himself in the Dynn for all she cared.

In the fireplace, the flames had died, quenching the room with shadows. She flung the window closed and threw herself upon the bed, curling into the covers since the room had become cold. She badly wanted to cry but no tears came to give her release. Only her eyes burned hot and swollen as she thumped the covers with her fists.

Damn the Masked Man. Damn Luiximor. And, damn her stupid runes.

Vala woke to the sound of shoes crunching upon the broken glass as the servant poked the fireplace into a roar. Sometime during the night, Greeta must have lit the fire again, given the delicious heat that permeated the air. Outside, snow slathered the panes in powdered silver. The clock on the wall showed midafternoon. She had slept the morning away and much of the afternoon as well.

She stretched and winced at the throb that shot through her skull. She had a blistering hangover. She did not want to imagine how she looked to Greeta. She had wanted to pose as a vigilant citizen captured against her will and ready to flee. But here she was, tousled hair and bleary eyes making her seem like all the other courtiers that morning.

"I really want to leave here. You know I do." She said, throwing away the covers.

The woman gestured to the bathroom where hot water gushed into the tub. "The emperor demands you be dressed and presented to him."

"Does he order everyone about like this?" She lay back on the bed.

"He is the emperor." Greeta stood over her. "Get up and get ready. Save your rebellion for escape, not driving our ruler to needless wrath."

Vala looked at her with surprise. "You will help me, then?"

Greeta shrugged. "The time may come when I can be of service. The question is, what can you do for me?"

Vala knew the act of bartering like she knew the dark side of her soul. "What do you need?"

The woman helped her into the bath. "I wish to have my future runes altered in the Dynn so that I can leave the empire and head overseas to spend my remaining days sitting in the sun. You are a rune trader, are you not?"

Vala dipped her face under the water in an attempt to soothe her pounding temples. When she came up for air, Greeta held out a towel.

"I can design rune trades. Do you know your runes?"

Greeta nodded. "I have them written down. I will give them to you."

Vala wondered at the preparation. "You've been planning this."

The other woman raised her long, delicate hands. "I have seen many rune traders come and go. None of them have ever helped me or cared enough to see my concerns. Will you be the one? That, I do not know. But, I do not have much longer and so, my hope must be tested."

Vala pressed her for more details but Greeta once more fell silent, the consummate servant. Some time later, they stood before the mirror. White silk lace drifted upon Vala's body and billowed in snowy folds around her legs. Pearl strands dripping from her curled hair completed the look. She felt glad for the massive ermine coat that Greeta handed to her.

"You have a talent fore courtly dressing," she said. "Thank you for getting me ready…I feel terrible but, like this, I can face anything, even the sun god himself." Luiximor…who had visited her last night and …she closed her eyes. She really did make terrible decisions when drunk.

"Remember, help me and I can help you." The servant slipped a folded paper into her hands. "Take care of my runes, will you? They're not much but…they're all I have."

She could only nod, amazed at the woman's desire, so like her own, to change her fate and reclaim a future. Perhaps, she was not so cursed after all. Perhaps, there were many more people alive wanting their runes to be altered but lacking the knowledge to do so. The thought filled her with sadness and trepidation as she left the bedchamber in the company of the guards.

They led her up multiple stairs, the heavy velvet carpet masking the rustle of her footsteps. More sentries appeared, stationed amid grand statues, their uniforms twinkling from the chandeliers overhead. A huge, gold door swung open, exposing a dark interior. Cold air rushed out.

She hesitated, glancing at the guards. They beckoned her to continue. She swept inside, entering the darkness, her feet a light staccato upon the shadowed floors. Behind her, the doors clanged shut and all light faded.

Her eyes adjusted to the gloom. Dim shapes could be discerned, chairs and some sort of elegant table. She walked forward, past shadowed mirrors and craning statues, noting the darkness lifted slightly by the windows in the room ahead. Leaving the shadowed foyer, for that must have been the purpose of the small room, she entered an even larger space in which a grand four-poster bed lay wrapped in thick curtains. Grey daylight glanced downward through slits in the fabric, lending a ghostly radiance to the gloom. The room was impossibly grand with elegant adornments of which the combined wealth was greater than most city treasuries. The gold and marble statues, silver-thread furniture, a beautifully woven rug half concealing a marble and gemstone-inlaid floor, and a huge fresco mounting the walls and ceiling showcased pictures of conquest and battle.

"How beautiful you are."

She started in surprise.

The voice, firm and masculine, drifted from the bed. A pale hand parted the curtains and Luiximor rose from the bed. He walked to her with soundless steps. Again, those fingers clasped her jaw, stroking her skin in a soft embrace. "It is good to see you again, Vala."

A velvet dressing gown opened to show a muscled chest over which his silver hair streamed forth, glinting darkly amid the shadows. He was shockingly beautiful and dangerous and she found herself transfixed, like a mouse caught in the hypnotic stare of a serpent. He was always so frightening in his regal garb, she half wanted to ask him to just wear a mask again and relax. Had he called her here to discuss their quarrel last night? She frowned. She did not especially mind if he initiated sex, she had traded herself for far less in the past and would have gone further last night if he had pressed. But he controlled her runes and she wanted them back. If he desired her this much, she needed something in return.

She smiled and curtseyed in the manner of the courtly ladies she had observed. The motion pleased him for he acknowledged with an incline of his head.

"Wine?" His dim form bent over a decanter and she heard the answering splash into a glass.

He placed a full goblet in her hands. She met his eyes, tentatively, and then with stronger attention. Yes, those blue irises shone as true as she remembered from her times with the Masked Man and the anger within her dissipated a little. Perhaps, he was one of those people who sported different moods at various times and forgot prior behaviors when a new mood came upon them. Corina would call him moonstruck but she knew there were scientific reasons for such behavior of the brain. Either way, it could be difficult if not impossible to deal with someone beset by such a malady.

She felt his hand fall upon the small of her back. "Come, let us sit. I want to learn about these confusions that troubled you last night."

She pondered this and decided he must indeed be moonstruck. What confusions? Why was he pretending not to know why she had been furious with him? He led her past the bed to where a chaise lounge nestled deep into velvet curtains which had been opened by a sliver to expose the raging winter storm coating the palace roofs. She glimpsed Ovgarod beyond, concealed under clouds, the silver-sharp tips of skyscrapers breaking through the fog. She turned to the Emperor to find he stared at her, drinking in every aspect of her visage. That noble, strong gaze and elegant mouth. The firm jaw, exactly how she remembered, clenched in observation of her. Your mask for a kiss. She felt her cheeks burn.

The emperor's arms entwined her hips, pulling her down to the couch to sit beside him. "Talk to me."

She wondered how to address her fears without offending him. If he suffered from a mood disorder, he was likely sensitive to people noticing his changes of behavior. "I don't understand…I want to know you…the real you…but I think there are all these layers between us."

"Explain?" His voice was soft.

He was aloof and distant, passionate and caring, angry and then intensely defensive of her. None of his actions made sense but they were all confusing. She chose her words carefully. "It may be since I do not know palace life. But you behave so differently to me as the emperor compared to when you wear your mask."

His face hardened as his arm looped behind her to clasp her shoulders and draw her to him. "You must know the truth. I am overcome with joy to have you as mine. For many centuries, I have searched for you. Somewhere, I knew you existed. And now, as the mercy of the fates would have it, you appear just in time to save my future and the empire we both hold dear."

Well, she didn't love the empire that much but he likely wouldn't care to know that. Besides, he had not answered her question. "Heep said you knew about me for years."

"Heep? Ah. You refer to my advisor, Lord Victor."

So, Heep was a lord. She wondered again just how much Heep had lied to her.

The emperor's lips brushed against her brow, cold and possessing. She preferred the heated embrace of last night but his words distracted her. "There were several leads…people…we followed over the centuries, all of them promising in some way but they fizzled out, their rune plants ultimately too weak and small to carry the weight of my future. Your runes were the only ones that worked and so my advisors planned accordingly. I paid you no further thought for years until…I felt the dragon break from me and stare upon you. Only then did I know you were truly reborn. I always knew someone like you would save my empire but I had no idea it was YOU. You cannot imagine the happiness…and then they attempted to kill you." Sheer fury darkened his voice and he breathed deeply as if to calm himself.

She could not remember when he had placed his hand upon her thigh. Her hands shook and she took a huge gulp of wine. A little more alcohol was needed to steady her nerves. "Reborn? Yes, you said so before. How did that work, exactly?"

His grip upon her leg tightened. "You and I were lovers on this planet a long time ago, but you were executed by a jealous god wanting to break my heart and take this world for his domain. I escaped his monstrous dungeon in the greater depths of space and allowed myself to be reborn on this world into the imperial family. For many years, I have governed the empire and searched for signs of your rebirth, for I knew that your runes were strong enough to sustain a new life. And now that I found you, we are once more reunited." His lips pressed upon her cheek; his voice hot on her skin.

"I'm just a mud slummer from the Lower Levels." She felt less and less certain of reality by the minute. "I know my runes are meant to help you but they're useless. Surely, in the long term, there are better substitutes…I say this out of concern for you," she hastily added, not wanting him to think she favored her runes over his future.

The wine was gone and she desperately wanted more. It made her think better now that they sat alone. She needed her wits to negotiate the freedom of her runes. But the emperor showed no indication of replenishing her goblet or discussing her future.

He straightened and his eyes earnestly met hers in a passion of sky-blue and steel. "I know you more intimately than you know yourself. I know about the brilliant work you secretly perform at my Exchange, the friends you love, and terrible pain that lives within your heart. After the dragon, I made inquiries. How I shed bitter tears upon discovering your cruel imprisonment. Do not fret. Within time, you too will recall your true memories of me and love me as before."

His kiss crushed her lips with raw passion.

She gasped as his hands tightened upon her waist and hips, pulling her under his heavy body. She felt his firmness upon her, the icy burn of his touch, his mouth that sucked upon hers with insatiable hunger. Last night, she had come alive in his arms but now…she felt nothing. His fingers tugged upon the pearl buttons that enclosed her heaving bosom, peeling the silk from her skin.

"You are so beautiful." His hand had found a way under her skirts and she felt his palm drawing up her bare thigh. She closed her eyes, trying to will herself to feel something, anything, as she had last night.

"Look at me."

She met those blue orbs that shone with unblinking passion.

He leaned forward again and his lips crushed her mouth, as if he could suck the life from her. She returned the kiss, searching for answers in his touch.

"I no longer wear a mask, Vala. You have come home."

She gasped. Nothing felt right and she needed to know why.

"Wait," she struggled upright. "Stop."

He frowned, his concerned eyes luminous, his jawline shining silver-hot from the glow of the city beyond the windows. "Darling, what is wrong?"

She took a deep breath, her naked breasts heaving. Why did he want sex with her now after his abstinence just hours ago? His moods really were so unpredictable and she was beginning to hate them. "I'm sorry. It's been such a crazy week; I just need to…think about everything. I'm so worried about my runes and I just can't focus, not knowing what will happen to them. Please…Emperor Luiximor?"

He rose before her. "Call me Luiximor."

"Luiximor," she echoed and his eyes glowed in response. Last night, he had hated that name and now he insisted upon it. Did he even remember what they had done?

A dull glint of memory sparked deep within her. Perhaps she was reincarnated…the idea grew more believable by the day. Her face felt warm with a blush and the lingering traces of his kiss still wet her lips and breasts. Yes, she had to think. Something lay just out of sight, unanswered, and beckoning to her with increasing persistence.

He swept her upward from the chaise and into his arms. "Talk to me."

She clutched the fabric to her bare breasts, feeling oddly exposed before him. As though he were a stranger. She decided to probe deeper. "If we are being honest, I don't like all the secrets you keep. This shifting back and forth of your moods is too hard for me to follow. One moment, you're bloodthirsty and hard as iron, the next, you're gentle and kind. Just tell me which is the real you so I know what to believe in."

His fingers stroked her hair. "I must apologize. I have been so used to living alone with my sunfire and magic. Now that you have returned to me, adjustments are needed for both of us. I can help you. I have special abilities that can open your mind."

She started. Magic. Imperial magic. Not all good things glitter . The recollection struck her and she shivered.

He tilted his head. "Imperial magic is feared around here, true. But if I ever use it on you, I will only think of your benefit and enlightenment."

Doubt ran through her mind as she looked away to the windows. Her earlier hunch had a truth to it. Was the emperor able to read her thoughts?

She turned back at his gentle insistence. "I know. I remember the magic you used to heal me after Titus's attack?—"

She again wondered at the tightness of his lips. He was angry with her again but she could not fathom why. His eyes glowed. Those same blue eyes had traversed her naked flesh with trembling desire and gentle eagerness. The passion that had wracked her gasping, aching body last night. No matter that the buzz of wine still kept her thoughts spinning, a cold, hard truth had begun to materialize deep within. Something was not right. Perhaps it was not a ‘mood' issue after all.

"I don't understand what you want from me. You have your magic…your power. Why do you need me after the Noventury? I know what is to happen to me." She closed her eyes. Will I die for you , she thought toward him.

Nothing happened. Odd.

She opened her eyes, languorously lifting her eyelashes upon his honed chest. Then she stared upon him. Will I die for you? She thought again.

How his arms enfolded her, pulling her closer so he could kiss her…or, and the thought bothered her, kept her from escaping him. Panic rose within her and she tried to remember how gentle his touch had been last night.

"Darling, do know I will keep you from all harm. I know you fear death but you are here with me now. Together, we can love each other for many centuries…you as my wife and empress. No one can take you away from me this time, I swear it."

She closed her eyes as his lips brushed against hers. So, his ability to read minds was sight activated. She melted into his kiss. It was so passionate and possessed. With an agonized gasp, Luiximor crushed her mouth upon his, embracing her like one famished. And she kissed him in return, asking, feeling for that touch. The same touch from last night that had caused her knees to tremble. But she felt uncertain. There was a slight difference. A coolness where there should have been heat, a possessive arrogance in place of a tender gaze.

"Heep…Lord Victor…told me something strange."

His lips pulled away and those blue eyes fastened upon her. Those eyes really were so reassuring. The identical match to the irises under a certain black hood and leather mask. Eyes that anchored the reality of the emperor to those moments she had known with the Masked Man.

"What did Lord Victor say?"

She focused on his chest. "He believes that my runes have begun to change. I should not be in the palace for me to remain your great short."

Luiximor sighed. "I heard that nonsense from him last night. I hired the best traders in the world. If they can't find ways to adjust the future as I command, then I will just kill them."

Anger stabbed her. It was a shallow comment and surprising. "It's not that the traders are deliberately going against you. It's just…the trade equations took far too long to build. They can't change things at the last minute."

Luiximor's mouth twisted with annoyance. "They'll obey me and figure it out."

She winced, unbidden memories springing up of all the nights she had spent reworking equations for desperate Exchange workers to trade upon the next morning. They came to her for help, cursing the dark god of the Dynn who had created such a complicated world. Any reordering of the runes or growth in their corresponding plants and the trade had to be rebuilt, sometimes from scratch. And this was the Noventury , the biggest trading day in centuries.

"The runes don't work like that. If I'm your great short, then being here damages the very future you're looking to arbitrage and your whole strategy hangs in the balance. Why would you risk such a thing?"

Luiximor rose from the couch and crossed to the small table. He poured himself another goblet of wine, reflectively studying her, a great feeling of sadness clinging round his form. "I know what your future holds…I've always known. But I didn't know it would be YOU. I can't lose you again, don't you understand?"

None of this added up. Her death resulted either way, whether an avenging friend of Titus or the Noventury killed her. Any novice rune trader would understand the issue, never mind an elite Dynn Knight. Unless…and her heart suddenly thudded in cold realization… the emperor was not the Masked Man.

Impossible .

But then, perhaps highly sophisticated magic could do just that. What test could she run upon him to determine the truth? If he could read her mind and adjust to her thoughts, what moment of her times spent with the Masked Man remained safe from intrusion?

"Talk to me," his voice broke through her thoughts. "I don't like it when you shut yourself away."

She felt him take her hand and she suddenly knew. He could read her mind, but perhaps his vision into her moments of slipped consciousness was less potent. A moment when her eyes had been closed and her thoughts falling inside of a dream.

"Kiss me," she purred, extending the full power of her gaze upon him with all the adoration she could summon. "I want to know how much you love me."

"You never have to beg me twice." He hungrily pulled her face towards him but she resisted, a memory stabbing her mind. He had only repeated what the Masked Man had told her just before they kissed in front of the snow-swept fireplace. She schooled her face into a winning smile but terror thrummed within her heart. "No, kiss my hand. I want to feel that you want me more than anything else in the world."

He smiled then, perhaps at the whimsical request, and his lips dropped to her hand. The kiss felt passionate and so possessive. As if he stood assured of his charms. As if he owned her. But the kiss was not that kiss . When she had lain, fainting, her thoughts darkening into bleak nothingness, and the Masked Man had imprinted a raw, burning kiss upon her hand. Either way, there were no mood swings, no shifts of manners. She knew the truth.

Luiximor was not the Masked Man.

She breathed in sharp fear, staggering up.

Luiximor studied her with some irritation from the couch. "Come, what is this madness? Sit down."

"No," she said, feeling small and yet powerful all at once. "You may be the emperor. You can order me killed in a second. But you cannot deceive me any more."

His eyes were no longer blue. No. They shone silver upon her, full of rage. He leaned back upon the couch and crossed his legs with cool nonchalance.

"But you are so easy to fool, you who think you are so clever. Perhaps, you might begin and tell me who the man in your bedroom last night was. This man in a mask who has possessed your thoughts from our first meeting. How dare you supplant me and love another?"

She shuddered. "You knowingly pretended to be him. Why?"

He studied his fingers, his lip curling in disdain. "Darling, I'm the Emperor and a god. Magic flows in my veins. Did you truly expect me not to use my powers upon you?" He stood up and reared over her, silver eyes flashing. "You should thank me that I withheld as I did with simple trickery and nothing more."

"You're insane!" She trembled, shrinking from him.

He leered at her, his face elegant and tight with fury. "I always see his masked face in your eyes. Him and all the loathsome things he did to your body. I will gouge out his blue eyes and feed them to my dragons. I will burn his flesh to ash. My heart breaks for you to betray me like this!"

She backed away. "I don't know who he is. I swear it. I really don't know." How thankful she was now that the Masked Man had prevented her attempt to remove his face covering. He had saved her life and she had nearly sentenced him to a terrible death.

Luiximor's face twisted into sheer ugliness as he read her thoughts. "I could have forced you to my will multiple times already. You , the emperor's great short, crawling on all fours like a dog. But I wanted you to choose me freely. Willingly. And this is how you repay my trust? By giving your love to another man?"

Her heart seized in dread. What was happening? Every nerve within her screamed to escape this room and this mad, jealous emperor. "You pretended to be someone else and locked me away in your palace and now you demand I love you? That's not how love works."

He scoffed. "You speak of love as if you know it. I have loved and lost for a thousand lifetimes. And now I risk my future to keep you safe. Tell me, if risking my life for yours isn't love, then what is?"

She felt the wall behind her and saw the door beyond him. She was well and truly trapped. She blurted out some words, hoping to delay him so she could think of an escape. "You tried to marry me like I was some slave!"

For a moment, he looked confused. "You still do not get what lengths I would go to for you. Marriage to me was the only way you would have survived tomorrow. My advisors intend for your death, which I could not have. Not after I found out who you were."

Uniting their runes …so, his marriage proposal had been to keep her alive past the Noventury. Her mind paused, considering this fresh knowledge and wondering if she was wrong to hate his treachery, given he had done so to save her life. But…the runes didn't work like that. Or, did they, if a god was involved? Was this some fresh sort of manipulation? Her lips clamped shut. He had already deceived her once. He would do it again. Her future was worthless. Everyone knew that, including herself. Any escape offered was just another trap.

"If you really love me, you will let me go." With the corner of her eye, she looked for the door.

"You will die tomorrow if you leave me. Do you still not understand? The Noventury is structured to succeed upon your death ." Luiximor's fists clenched, glowing with fire.

"I don't want to marry you," she whispered.

She watched as his face hardened, all color and emotion turning to ice. When he spoke again, his voice was cold. "Marrying me is the only way to save you but how can I unite myself with a faithless WHORE?"

At that ugly word, all lingering questions over becoming his wife evaporated and a deadly chill settled within her chest.

"I would rather die," she whispered.

He shrugged. "I own your runes. You don't get to choose your fate."

She trembled with hatred for him and everyone who had manipulated her runes. "I will die before I let you decide my future for me."

He held up his hands, flames curling within his palms. The heat made her shudder but she remained still. Then, he sighed and stepped back. "I hate to see fear in your eyes." He turned away and the sadness she felt in his face made her swallow hard. "Go now. You may leave the palace. Do what you will. It matters not. Go, before I hurt you…by accident."

She stared up at him in loathing, her heart thudding loud in her chest. "I fear nothing, least of all you."

"THEN GO!" he shouted. Flames raced up his arms. "LEAVE ME."

She gathered her dress and fled.