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through his mind. He swallowed
past the lump in his throat, knowing he’d been played like a puppet.
    “I should have known,” he murmured. “All this time…I should
have known.”
    Vida came up beside him. “How could you have? Your duty lies
with Shivar. What happens outside these walls isn’t your concern.”
    He glanced at her but as usual her face betrayed no hint of
what she was thinking. Only her amber-flecked green eyes gave any indication of
her feelings. They seemed to soften as she looked at him.
    A growl broke free from his throat. “You have no idea what
it’s like to suffer endlessly while the one person you love most in the entire
universe is taken away from you.”
    A sad smile curled the corner of her mouth. “You’d be
surprised.”
    “I doubt that. Others have made every decision for me since
before I was born. I’ve had no say in anything .” He whirled around and
slammed his fist against the hearth. “And now you want me to bring Nelina here
and hand her over to another man?”
    “Not exactly.” Vida passed her hand over the top of the orb
on her staff. The pearl-colored glass ball shone brightly, causing him to avert
his eyes. “We want you to train her. Fully. She has to pass the Tradition’s
trials. After that… What happens isn’t up to me.”
    The pain that always hovered close to his heart reached out
and squeezed, making it suddenly hard to breathe. Kirel collapsed into the
settee Domenic had vacated earlier, the wind suddenly knocked from his lungs.
    He scrubbed a hand over his face. For the last eight years,
he’d lived with the knowledge that because of him, the only woman he’d ever
loved was dead.
    As a final test to end his long years of training, he’d been
sent on the ultimate mission. The task assigned to him had been to live among
commoners for a year. He was allowed to choose the name by which he’d be known
and his profession. All in all, it should have been an easy assignment. There
was only one rule. He had to ensure he made no emotional attachments during his
stay.
    When he’d ridden out through the castle gates, he’d thought
that rule absurdly easy to follow. After all, he’d made no emotional
attachments in his entire life. Why would that change just because he now lived
among commoners rather than courtiers?
    But he hadn’t counted on Nelina. He’d never met anyone like
her. She sent his heart racing every time she came near. Her beauty was
mesmerizing, sure, but it was more than that. She was stubborn and determined.
She’d never been intimidated by his strength or his authority. She hadn’t given
in to his whims just because he asked and she had a way of driving him
absolutely mad with desire. The nights he’d spent in her arms had been the happiest
of his life. He wanted to lose himself in the heat of her soft pussy, to drown
in the smell and taste and feel of her.
    And then, in the blink of an eye, his ecstasy had ended.
When he missed his deadline for returning to the castle, Shivar had sent his
men after him. Thor had been one of them. Gods, he still remembered how
fiercely he’d fought, how desperately. Only he hadn’t expected Nelina to jump
into the fray. To this day, he could still hear the sickening crack of bone as
Nelina’s head had connected with the nightstand. The night she’d died, a part
of him had died with her.
    Shivar had assured him she’d met her end instantly, but that
fact had offered little comfort. Kirel had known he was the reason Nelina was
dead. And that knowledge had tormented him for the last eight years.
    Vida leaned on her staff in front of him, her piercing eyes
seeming to bore right into his soul. “You’ve never struck me as a man who gives
up so easily on what he wants.”
    Kirel’s chuckle held no humor. “What I want doesn’t matter.
You of all people should know that.”
    “But your duty matters. The king needs an heir granted him
by a suitable queen.” She sucked in a breath between her teeth,