Chapter 2

Chapter

Two

I t was just after eight p.m. As I flew home, fatigue pulled at my limbs. My night wouldn’t be over for hours. I still hadn’t even spoken to my sisters or Tetra. Everything had happened so fast.

‘Is Kohen still following us?’ I asked Liana. I had a handheld radio hooked to my belt; Elaine had the receiver in the car below. I had convinced her to let me fly on ahead because I could get home quicker with Liana not having to follow the roads. The distance between the radios had only a few miles before they lost connection, so I wasn’t even sure I could call Elaine if I needed her. I think it just made her feel better, and so I’d hung on to it.

‘Yes, he and Onyx are at a distance.’

The fact that Kohen thought he was my own personal bodyguard would be kind of charming under other circumstances. This was going to hurt. Remembering the sexy kiss we shared in the hallway at the graduation ball had an ache forming in my chest. Kohen was a weakness I couldn’t afford.

Liana and I passed a dense stretch of woods. ‘Tell him to land over there and meet us,’ I told her and pointed out an open patch of grass away from any roads or villages or signs of life. I wanted to tell Kohen that whatever we had started was done and get it over with. We were just professional colleagues now.

Liana landed, and I slipped off of her and paced the meadow. Reaching up, I touched my lips and tried not to think about how Kohen had kissed them only a day before. How could so much change in twenty-four hours?

I’d planned to have a mildly passionate love affair with Kohen until my father found out and threatened to kill us both before forcing me to marry someone of better breeding. Now that was definitely not going to happen. I was officially living under a microscope, and though Kohen was a sworn member of the Imperial Fleet, he’d never be good enough to be seen as a partner for me. In fact, if anyone saw us together romantically now that I was the empress, it would be a public relations nightmare. He was a Badshah, after all. His father’s son. The man who took thousands of Amersean lives. A terrorist.

My stomach ached when I thought about what I was giving up without even being able to have it first.

I didn’t even hear him land until the sound of his footsteps was behind me.

I pulled up every single wall I could around my heart and spun. Even so, the sight of his handsome face peering down at me with concern, his chiseled muscles pulling at the fabric of his black shirt, caused my stomach to bottom out and my heart to constrict.

“Thank you for meeting me,” I said formally and held my hands clasped in front of me, fingers laced together.

He slowed, his gaze cautiously running over my body like a physical caress.

“Of course, Aisling. Are you okay?” My name on his lips was like a reverent prayer.

I cleared my throat. “I’m fine. But I needed to talk to you about a few things privately.”

He stepped closer to me, and I stepped back from him, causing his brows to bunch together in the middle of his forehead. “Why are you acting weird?” The hurt in his voice killed me.

I straightened my spine. “Kohen, whatever romantically may have started with you and I has to stop now. I’m empress, and unfortunately a relationship between us would not be accepted by my people.”

“ Our people,” he corrected, and it felt like he’d reached into my chest and squeezed my heart. “Aren’t the Imbrians your people, too, now?”

Shame colored my cheeks. “Of course they are. But…” Why was he making this hard? “Your father, and in turn, you , are not an acceptable match for me.” I kept it short and to the point.

He grinned, and it caused my stomach to flop over. Why was he smiling, and why did he look so handsome doing it? He took another step forward, and I stepped back again until my butt hit the trunk of a tree.

“Then we will make them accept us,” he declared.

He grasped the fingers of my uncasted hand, unlacing them as he stroked my palm with his thumb, sending waves of warmth throughout my body. My eyelids fluttered as my heart hammered like a war drum.

“They won’t,” I told him. “And neither will the Fleet or my advisors, or Elaine, or?—”

He leaned in, his hot breath on my neck. “Then we’ll hide it from them,” he whispered, dragging his lips across my skin, which left a trail of fire in their wake. I whimpered, gripped by a throbbing need.

“Kohen,” I panted.

“Yes, my Empress.”

Oh stars , that nearly undid me right there. In all the grief of the last twenty-four hours, Kohen Badshah was my one bright spot.

“This won’t end well,” I told him as he peppered kisses along my collarbone, and I wrestled my hands free to thread them into his hair. Kohen pulled back, meeting my eyes with his blazing blue ones.

“Yes it will. It ends with you as my wife, Aisling.”

I gasped, and then his lips were on mine, scorching, hard, insistent. That was a lie. It had to be. Bedding Kohen, I could believe. But marrying him? It would never happen. Not in a million years. Now I knew he wasn’t truly seeing the future clearly. Maybe some things he did, like when he knew I would break my wrist or the attack on the training center, but I wondered if his visions were clouded by desires. His tongue stroked mine, and I moaned as I deepened the kiss, pressing my pelvis into him. I was just about to reach up into his shirt when something he said at the imperial graduation ball came back to me. I pulled away, panting. “Wait… last night…” I could hardly believe it was just last night. “…you said that was the last time you would kiss me for a long time. We’re kissing now. A day later.”

He chewed at his lip and nodded. “I think that sometimes I see things out of order. I’m still learning how to piece them together on the timeline. I thought it was?—”

I frowned. “So your visions can change?”

He shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. But I might get the timing wrong if I think I’m seeing something that happens more recently, and it’s really farther in the future.”

It sounded like he could be wrong about the future, but I didn’t want to press him.

That reminded me of the other thing I had been wanting to ask him. “Kohen, would you ever lie to me?” I asked him.

He bristled, going stiff. “What?” He sounded hurt.

I swallowed hard. “Would you ever lie to me?” I wanted him to answer.

He seemed to consider my question and nodded. “If it meant keeping you from harm, I would.” He stood taller at that, and I was taken aback by his raw admission. “What’s this about?”

I felt my shoulders drop. I didn’t want to know the answer to the next question. “You saw that someone I loved died. You said you didn’t know who it was, only that I was sobbing over them. Is that true that you didn’t know who it would be?”

His face flushed, and he swallowed hard. I knew from just looking at him that it was a lie. Whatever grief he’d chased away with that kiss was back in full force. “You knew my father was going to die!” I shouted into his face. “And you didn’t tell me! I could have kept him hidden away, or I could have stopped the killer!”

He reached for me, but I backed away from him, slipping to the side, trying to calm the storm of emotions that had risen within me.

“Aisling, listen to me.” His voice was steady. “I’ve said this before, but everything I do is to protect you.” His eyes swam with emotion. “And not telling you that your father was going to die was protecting you.”

What the hell did that mean? Would I have been emotionally impacted more by my father’s death if I had known beforehand? Maybe if he told me and I wasn’t able to stop it, I would be. It might have broken me to know I couldn’t protect my father.

“I don’t need your protection!” I screamed at him as fat, hot tears rolled down my face. He pulled me into his arms, and I let him crush me against his chest. “Yes you do. Trust me, you do,” he breathed against my hair.

I let it all out then. In the safety of his arms, I broke down. It had been drilled into me my entire life that I had to be strong, to not show emotion. Emotions were weak. Love was weak. I was weak.

But maybe it was okay to be weak just this once, to allow myself to grieve the loss of the only parent I had… just this once . The sob shook my chest as I wept into his neck, and he stroked circles on my back, holding me with a strength that made me feel safer than I ever had in my entire life.

It felt like our fates fused together in this moment. Being this emotionally raw and vulnerable with someone… it bound you in a way, whether you wanted it to or not. Already, I was dreaming up ways to keep him, even if just in secret.

When I was all cried out, and it felt like the river had run dry, I pulled away and wiped at my eyes. Taking in a deep, calming breath, I shored the walls around my emotions up again and stiffened my posture.

I was the empress of all of Amersea. I couldn’t break down like that ever again.

“There’s something I have to ask you,” I told him, changing the subject.

He nodded. “I will fly with you to blow up the Luskin Red Palace.”

I gasped. “Liana told Onyx?”

He grinned and tapped his head. “I saw it.”

A thrill went through me. “You saw us do it in a vision? Were we successful?”

“I thought you didn’t want to know the future?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Kohen,” I warned. “I’m your empress now. Tell me if we are successful.”

He gave me a playful smile. “Yes, Empress. We blow that building sky high. Now, whether we make it home safely or not, I haven’t seen,” he said, but there was something in his face that told me there was more to the story.

“And what else aren’t you telling me?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Nothing.”

“Kohen, I know you by now. You have a look. Why?”

Kohen just watched me with curiosity. “It’s just that… today, you didn’t fly over Imbria,” he said, and I frowned.

“What? Why would I?”

He looked like I’d just shot him in the chest with an arrow. “I thought that now that Imbria was a part of Amersea and you were empress, you might fly over it to show the people you stood for them, too.”

His words caused cracks to form in the walls I’d just erected. They tore a hole into my heart.

Why hadn’t I flown over Imbria? Even the border? Were the people there even aware of what had happened to my father? Did they care? Did they even want me to fly over? I was basically their empress by force. Or at least that’s what I’d been told.

“I… didn’t think anyone would be outside to see me,” I told him honestly.

He shrugged. “Only one way to find out.”

I frowned. “Kohen, it’s almost bedtime. I highly doubt the people of Imbria are staying up, waiting to see me in the skies.”

Hurt crossed his face, followed by anger. “You’ll never accept them as yours, will you?”

I shifted on my feet. “Of course they’re mine. I will protect them if attacked, but?—”

“But that’s it. That’s an ally, Aisling, not a leader.” He shook his head in disappointment. “We should get back. It’s getting late,” he spat.

An ally, not a leader . That stung because it was true. Before I could say anything more, he got onto Onyx and then took off for the skies, leaving me to stew in my regret.

‘Why the hell would I fly over Imbria? They hate us,’ I asked Liana as I crawled onto her back, my mind spinning with everything Kohen and I had just discussed.

‘Maybe so that they wouldn’t hate you anymore. You are their empress, after all, and this is the empress parade, is it not?’

Dammit, she and Kohen were right.

I was keenly aware that one moment might change everything. I’d been spoon-fed a certain narrative about Imbria my entire life. It was time to find out if that was true.

‘Head for the Imbrian border,’ I told her, and she veered her course that way.

‘What about Elaine and the admiral following you by car? They will expect you back in Riverine at an appointed time.’

I shrugged. ‘I’m the empress. I don’t ask permission to do things I want to do.’

I could feel Liana’s approval. But I should at least tell them so that they didn’t worry. Pulling the handheld radio from my waistband, I depressed the button on the side.

“This is Firebird.” I used the code name Elaine had given me. Not very subtle.

“Go ahead, Firebird.” Elaine’s voice was laced with worry.

“I have a private detour to make. There is a guard with me and I’m safe. Don’t stay up.” I then turned the radio off so that I couldn’t hear the earful Elaine was no doubt giving me, empress or not.

‘Is Kohen still trailing us?’ I asked her.

‘Yes. He’s shocked you are actually going to Imbria. He’s staying out of sight for your reputation’s sake.’

I wish I didn’t have a reputation. I wish I didn’t have the responsibility and title that meant Kohen couldn’t get too close to me in public. I wished I could give it all up for him.

The last thought shocked me. It let me know I’d fallen deeper for him than I thought.

That was dangerous. I’d fallen in love with Jace, and look where that had gotten me. Cheated on.

But Kohen wasn’t like that. With Jace, things were surface-level, puppy love. With Kohen, everything felt deeper, stronger. It scared me.

It was almost midnight when we flew over the Wilds. I could feel the heat of the fire sky above us and the ember rain around us. I’d never flown over the Wilds like this. It was beautiful.

Liana glanced up at the fire sky longingly, and I felt something rush through her and into our bond. Grief, pure and raw.

I stroked the feathers around her neck, waiting for her to tell me what that was about, but she never did, and I didn’t press her. Liana had a complicated and long history. She was so old, with so many memories. I didn’t ever pry for her to reveal them.

We crossed the river that split the two sides of the Wilds, the Amersea side and the Imbrian side, and I sat up straighter. I’d never been this far. I could see lights on the horizon just outside the densely packed forest of the Wilds on the Imbrian side, and as we neared, nervousness balled in my stomach.

I’d never been to Imbria. My father had never seen it as important enough to bring me. They were a conquered people. We used them for labor and resources, and otherwise, they kept to themselves.

As we neared the small border town, Liana flew lower. I searched the ground for some sign of people, but I knew it was probably futile. It was so late, and we were still in a fragile truce. I gasped when I saw the Amersea flag at half-mast. They’d lowered the flag for my father? It was probably some of the Imperial Fleet that lived in the small mining town that convinced them to do it. But the closer we flew, the more I noticed little specks on the rooftop of the apartment building. The specks had glowing lights…

When the scene came into view, my throat tightened. The rooftop was packed with people of all ages, all Imbrian. They held glowing candles and clanged pots and pans as they saw me near. There were about fifty people in all, a small town with a tiny population, but it looked like nearly everyone was in attendance on this rooftop.

As I flew lower, I could hear them screaming.

“It’s the empress!” a little Imbrian girl in a bright pink silk wrap dress shouted as her father hoisted her up onto his shoulders.

The people cheered wildly as Liana flew circles above them, and I waved stupidly, in shock that it was past midnight and they’d waited up for me. Tears threatened to run down my cheeks, but I sucked them back. I’d been emotional enough for one day. It gutted me that they’d been waiting this entire time, and I hadn’t intended to show. Would they have slept up here? Waited all night?

‘Give them a show,’ I told Liana.

She tipped her head to the side, and a stream of fire flew from her lips. The pots and pans clanged even louder as the children screamed joyously into the night.

They didn’t seem like they hated me…

Were more towns in Imbria like this? Or was it only because they were on the border and we had the most interaction with them?

Liana’s voice of reason cut through my thoughts: ‘I cannot advise that we go deeper into Imbrian territory without a large Imperial Fleet escort.’

I nodded, dashing any plans of an all-night flyover.

‘ But we can stop here if you’d like to meet these people? ’ she suggested. ‘Word will spread that you came, that you cared.’

I did care. I didn’t know how much until this moment. The Imbrian people were my people. I’d been stupid to think of them as separate. For the first time since my father died, I questioned some of the things he’d told me about them.

‘Okay, lower us down.’ Elaine would kill me if she knew I was in Imbria about to speak to fifty civilians without a security detail.

Well, I had Liana. And I could control minds. And Kohen was somewhere in the darkness watching. I knew it. I could sense him. So I wasn’t totally defenseless.

‘I can protect you among this many people,’ Liana informed me.

When the Imbrians saw me step out onto the ground, the people of the small village came downstairs to greet me. They wore huge smiles and fancy clothes of colorful silk. Their faces were adorned with some ceremonial face paint, and the women’s long hair was braided with white fragrant flowers tied to the end. It appeared that they had dressed up as if this were a treasured holiday. I was so touched I had a hard time keeping the emotion out of my voice.

“Thank you for staying up,” I told them. “I am Empress Aisling.” I clasped my hands together in a prayer pose, the way I knew they did in a traditional greeting. They mimicked the motion but also bowed deeply to me.

A female elderly woman stepped forward, and I noticed the little girl in the pink dress clinging to her side. “We didn’t think you would come, but we heard there would be a flyover, so we thought we’d stay up and see,” she told me.

“I knew you’d come!” the little girl interrupted, and I smiled down at her.

Crouching down to her level, I met the little girl’s gaze. “Can you tell me something?” I asked her.

She nodded, looking very serious.

“Is it true that Imbria makes the best spiced tea in all the world?”

The little girl’s eyes lit up, and she nodded. “My nani does!” She yanked the old lady’s hand, and the woman smiled down at the youngster.

“Empress Aisling, would you like to come in for some tea?” the woman asked me, and the others nodded expectantly.

I swallowed hard. Such a simple offer, and yet it came with so many repercussions. The tea could be poisoned, and if I drank it and died, that would leave Amersea with a fourteen-year-old untrained empress in the form of one of my very immature sisters. But if I said no, it showed these people that I didn’t trust them, and I didn’t want that to be their first impression of me. Like Liana said, rumor would spread that I came to see them. I wanted to have tea with them, I really did, but I couldn’t leave my family or my country without a leader.

“I—”

“She’d love to.” Kohen’s deep voice came from behind me, and I bristled.

The villagers looked up at him, and their eyes went wide. They clasped their hands and bowed to him, the same as they had to me.

“Prince Badshah,” the elder woman said.

Interesting. They still called him “prince” and honored him in the same high regard they did me. It didn’t bother me at all, but my father would have killed Kohen for it.

Kohen faced me and bowed deeply. “Empress, I’ve sent word via raven to Elaine and Admiral Caruso that there will be a slight delay in your plans to return home but that you are safe.”

That was… thoughtful. And he was saying it out loud for all to hear, so that meant he was warning anyone here who had ill will against me that my people would know where to look for me. I’d already told Elaine I would be late, but I hadn’t expected to land and have tea. She was probably furious. I’d pay the price for that later.

He looked at the old woman and rattled off something in his mother tongue and the woman glanced at me and smiled.

“What did you say?” I asked him, my mind spinning about the rumors that would spring from this. Kohen Badshah and Empress Aisling together in Imbria?

“I told her that I am your food taster and that I am hungry, so she’d better not poison me.” Then he leaned in closer to me. “I also asked them not to tell others that I was here tonight.”

I swallowed hard and gave a nervous laugh. “Of course they wouldn’t poison you.”

The woman gave me a knowing smile. “It would be my honor if you would come inside my home, Empress.”

She led the way to a lower-floor apartment while the other residents pulled up chairs and tables outside. The second we entered the home, I was hit with the smells of amazing food. There were fragrant spices and roasted onion and stewed tomatoes. Even though I’d eaten earlier, my stomach growled and my mouth salivated. It was near midnight and yet a party had somehow begun. Live music blared to life outside, trays and trays of food began to appear, and I glanced around the home. It was small but clean, with light brown tile floors and clean white walls that held artwork native to the Imbrian culture. I was led into a tiny four-person dining room and requested to sit down by the little girl.

I did, and Kohen sat next to me as the older woman clanged around the kitchen.

A few others milled around the living room, talking, but kept their distance. The little girl leaned into me and whispered. “Is it true you got powers?”

I grinned and nodded once.

Her eyes widened. “Can I go into the Wilds one day and bond with a creature and get powers, too?”

“If you want to, of course,” I told her. Though, I knew that she’d be less likely to get into the Lottery because she was Imbrian. I’d never really questioned that law until this moment.

I had a wild thought then. Maybe I could change the law. Have an even number of spots for Imbrians and Amerseans. We were one people after all, weren’t we? Why not an even number in our Imperial Army? But even as I had the thought, I knew the admirals wouldn’t go for it.

The older woman brought the tea to the table and poured the steaming liquid into four stainless steel cups. I noticed the amount she gave the little girl was only two mouthfuls. Enough to make her feel included, but not enough that she wouldn’t sleep.

Kohen reached over to mine and took a swig. I saw his eyes fill with tears, and I straightened.

“Is it…?” Did she poison him?

“It tastes just like my mother’s.” He cleared the emotion from his throat and set the cup down before me.

I relaxed, shifting uncomfortably. We shared that, losing our mothers, and now neither of us had our fathers either. Orphans. We were orphans. The word felt so severe I didn’t want to think it ever again.

After waiting for my tea to cool and to make sure Kohen didn’t fall dead on his face from poison, I brought it to my lips and inhaled.

“Oh wow. It smells amazing.” It was a rich, creamy brown color, with only a splash of milk, and smelled of clove and cardamom and something peppery. It smelled of Kohen.

Bringing my lips to the cup, I took a sip. The bright, aromatic flavor of tea and spices splashed across my tongue, and the warmth ran down my throat. It was incredible, spicy but sweet at the same time.

“I love it,” I told the woman, and she smiled at my compliment.

“Are you hungry?” she asked us both.

We nodded, and then she proceeded to feed us a four-course meal at midnight because why not?

I waited for someone to bring a fork or spoon, but Kohen took a bite from each item on my plate by using his hands, so I figured I would do the same. When he gave me the all-clear, I popped in a cube of chicken coated in red cream sauce, and my eyes bulged as I coughed.

“Aisling!” Kohen said, alarmed.

I waved him off, and the grandmother appeared concerned as well.

“Spicy,” I croaked.

“This isn’t spicy! She’s like a baby,” the little girl said, and the entire table erupted into laughter, including me.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Empress, here.” She spooned more creamed rice onto my plate to make everything milder.

A few moments later, Kohen laughed at me when I used a torn piece of flatbread to sop up some lentils, and it wound up in my lap.

“Shut up, I’m still learning,” I scolded him under my breath.

“Nani, she said shut up ,” the little girl tattled on me, and I winced.

The grandmother, who I had learned was named Chara, tried to hide her smile. “She did. I’ll have to make her do dishes for that.”

The little girl burst into laughter, followed by the whole table.

“I will if you want me to,” I told her seriously. I wasn’t above doing dishes, especially if that was the house rule for cursing. Though I didn’t technically think of shut up as a bad word.

The grandmother shook her head, trying to hide a smile. “I wouldn’t dream of it, Empress.”

Kohen watched me with an expression I could only interpret as adoration. I squirmed under that gaze because I felt it on my skin like a physical touch.

“Here.” Kohen reached out and put his fingers over mine, showing me how to scoop up the food with the flatbread. “Like this.”

My heart hammered in my chest as he brought it to my mouth, and I took the large bite.

“There are less dishes with no utensils,” I said through my mouthful, and everyone was laughing again, including myself. How could I laugh when my father was dead? When I’d been grieving just this morning? It was these people, I decided. This humble home and the hospitality gave me a normalcy I’d craved my whole life. We tucked into our meal, and I allowed myself for just an hour to forget all of the seriousness waiting for me back home.

The food was amazing, but beyond the food, the company was the best. People took turns coming inside to greet me and introduce themselves. Some even brought small handmade crafts in the shape of my firebird creature. It filled up a part of myself I hadn’t known was empty. I was so grateful we’d stopped here.

The next man who approached us I recognized as the one who had put the little girl on his shoulders on the roof. He bowed to me with prayer-clasped hands and then faced Kohen. “Prince Badshah, if I could have a private word with you?” He was a sturdy man in his forties, with scars and sun damage to his skin. If I had to guess, I’d say he was an embersmith.

Kohen met my gaze, and I nodded.

“I’m sorry, but I cannot leave the empress’ side. Whatever you have to say to me, you can say in front of her,” he stated.

I peered at Kohen in surprise.

The man swallowed hard and nodded. “People in Nimra are saying things I thought you should know.” He wrung his hands together nervously.

Nimra was the capital of Imbria.

“What are they saying?” Kohen asked.

The man eyed me apprehensively, and I braced myself. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like this.

“They are saying that now that the emperor is… no longer living… they want to gain independence again with you as our leader, as our king, like your father once was.”

I stood so fast my chair skidded across the floor. The man bowed his head deeply.

“No offense was meant, Empress,” the man muttered at my reaction.

“Gain independence how ?” I asked him. “War?”

Could we handle a war with Imbria and Luska at once? We’d done it before, but it would put a huge strain on our resources, and it had been decades.

What he’d said was treason. And Kohen leading like his father? That would make him a terrorist, too. I watched Kohen’s face for any sign that he approved of this plan, but he appeared as shocked by the news as I was.

“My Empress…” The man bowed even deeper. “I’m merely a messenger, just sharing what the rumor is. I do not agree with their plan, but I thought you should know.” He held out his hands in submission.

“I think it’s time I leave,” I told Kohen and everyone present.

The little girl was slumped over on the table, head cradled in her arms, fast asleep. The grandmother appeared dismayed that the night had ended this way. I was sorry it had as well.

“Thank you for the wonderful meal,” I told her and clasped my hands together.

“It was my honor,” she responded.

I turned my back on them then and made my way out to Liana.

What had started as a lovely night with people I’d been wanting to know more about my entire life, had turned into a sick feeling in my stomach. If Imbria rose up against me, I wasn’t sure I was ready to fight two wars on two different fronts. I didn’t want to hurt them; I wanted to welcome them to Amersea in a way my father never did. But maybe this was the proof my naivety needed.

I walked to the road, where Liana and Onyx waited. Kohen followed after me. Reaching for my arm, he turned me to face him. My chest was heaving. I was so upset. Everyone else had dispersed, making their way back to their homes, but I was stuck staring into Kohen’s impossibly blue eyes with a horrifying question on my lips.

“Have you seen it? Have you seen Imbria attack Amersea?” I asked him.

He looked saddened by my question and shook his head. “No, Imbria doesn’t attack Amersea first.”

I frowned. “What do you mean first ?”

Kohen let out a deep breath and held my gaze. “Aisling, I wish I could just fast forward us to when everything is better and we are together.”

I shook my head. “That’s not how life works.”

He nodded. “I know.” Then he looked out at the lights off in the distance, another town. “My little brothers are so close. I wish I could see them,” he said wistfully.

His brothers? That shocked me. I’d forgotten he had two little brothers.

“Where do they live?” I asked, suddenly distracted by what he’d said as my earlier anger fled. Though I intended to circle back around to what he had said.

“They used to be in a rundown government school in Nimra, but when we started boot camp and I got my first Fleet paycheck, I sent them to a nice boarding school in Sorak. It’s just over there.” He pointed to the lights in the distance.

He was telling me where he had stashed his little brothers away? That was something you only did with a person you trusted. “Well, you should go see them,” I said, and then I got back to the topic at hand. “Kohen, what do you mean that Imbria doesn’t attack Amersea first ?”

Kohen glanced at Onyx as if he was itching to ride him away from here so that he wouldn’t have to answer me.

“ You attack Imbria first, Aisling. You lead an angry mob of soldiers into our land, and you burn a lot of it down.”

I gasped. “I would never! Why?”

Kohen reached for my hands and then thought better of it. There were still people milling around. “There are so many things I want to tell you, but you won’t believe me. If I tell you, it will make things between us worse.”

I frowned. “What? Try me.”

He shook his head vigorously. “No. I’ve made that mistake before. You’ll just have to figure things out on your own. It’s better that way.”

I growled because what he’d said was so annoying. “Do you want to be king? To lead your people like your father did?” I asked him, thinking back to what the man had said.

He didn’t answer right away, and I knew that it meant he did. Was he just using me? Making me soft towards him so that I would give him his kingdom back? Because I’d do that over my dead body.

“I wouldn’t shy away from leadership if the opportunity fell into my lap, but my loyalty is to you first, Aisling. Then to Amersea, the Fleet, and Imbria last.”

I gasped at the declaration. Me first? That was a bold thing to say. It was the right thing to say. Maybe he knew that.

“Because I’m your empress?”

He shook his head and stepped closer to me, letting his breath brush against my ear. “Because I’m in love with you,” he whispered.

I stood there in complete shock as he then walked over to Onyx, slid one leg over her back, and took for the skies.

Did he… did Kohen Badshah just say he loved me?