The Royal Wizard Read Free Page B

voice, for she suddenly sensed he was in front of her, so close her nose almost touched his chest. His breath stirred the hair at the top of her head and she could hear his heartbeat. Gasping, she took a step back, but encountered a wall. The contact threw her off balance. Nia began to tip to one side, her hands flailing for something to grasp on to.
    The man caught her waist and turned her so she was trapped between the wall at her back and him.
    “Release me,” she hissed, funneling a small thread of magic into her voice to charm his compliance. It didn’t work.
    “My, aren’t you in a temper,” he said with a chuckle. “Not to worry, my girl, I’ll take good care of you.” As his lips brushed her temple, his hands slid up from her waist until they were level with her breasts.
    Nia slapped his hands away and shoved as hard as she could at his chest. It didn’t make him fall back as she’d intended, but he did move to give her room. She sensed he only did it to humor her, which only frustrated her further. Anger made her magic boil, and she gritted her teeth to keep it contained. “Don’t touch me.”
    Silence answered her. Nia felt the moment he sensed a threat like a charge in the air. His alarm, however muted, sparked her own, and she felt along the wall, moving sideways to get away from him while racking her brain for something to help her get out of here.
    What came to her was nothing so structured as a spell. It was a sloppy invisibility cloak she’d used as a child. It never lasted long, and it took more magic and concentration than she’d had back then, but it was something. Reaching deep inside her, she called up her magic and drew darkness and silence around her.
    Completely cloaked, she moved another step to the side and winced when her hand struck a rickety table. The water jug and wash basin on top of it rattled together and in a blink the man was in front of her again, caging her in. “If you aren’t here to warm my bed, girl, then why are you here?” His hand braced on the wall next to her head, but it was his other hand that worried her for in it he held a dagger which scraped along the stone wall, making her cringe. Her cloak dissipated.
    “By mistake,” she said hoping the man didn’t decide to stab that dagger into her heart. Nia could hurt him if she needed to, she could even kill him if he forced her hand. Magic filled her palms, ready to be used, but caution kept her still.
    “Mistake,” he repeated, his deep voice strained, as if he was trying to hold back laughter. “You came to the prince’s bed chamber by mistake? And how, pray tell, did you manage to appear here without me hearing you enter?”
    “What prince?”
    “This prince,” he replied. “Son of King Manfred of Frastmir, heir to the throne of Wilderheim. Are there so many princes around you need clarification?”
    “The prince is not due to return until tomorrow. You’re lying to me.”
    He leaned in closer. “Are you certain of that?”
    Scowling, Nia quickly cast her senses down through the walls into the earth to orient herself. She went two stories down and through the underground study before she touched packed earth and bedrock. She found the leylines running north and south and determined she was in the south wing of the castle. The royal wing, where only the king, his heir, and visiting nobility slept. Flowing back to the chamber, she followed the floor stones out into the hallway and traced it left and right. Not far to the left, she felt a different song. Wood. A great wooden portal which could only be the king’s bedchamber.
    Oh, no.
     “P-prince Saeran?” she asked weakly. Who else would be sleeping in the prince’s bedchamber?
    “Who are you?” he demanded. “Did you come through the window? Where are the ropes? Who helped you?” The tip of the dagger ran up the crease in her cloak to her neck. “Why are you here, little bird?”
    “It was an accident. Please, I mean you no harm,” she