Poisoned Empire by Elyse Thomson

Author:Elyse Thomson [Elyse Thomson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Two Laurels Press
Published: 2023-06-03T00:00:00+00:00

Belisarius paced, every grain that fell into the bottom of the hourglass ratcheting up his unease. He only hoped Selene was up to the task. Nicephorus had insisted on the final test to find a proper prospective bride for when all the madness finally subsided. Feeling much too dutiful, he’d agreed.

The thought of Selene loosing made him ill. Belisarius wanted her. He wanted all her brazen, wicked recklessness, all her smug grins, her every cry of pleasure, every insult, every fight and every moment of peace she allowed him. But he dared not admit it, lest he speak into being something that could never be. Or lest he receive another lecture from his praetor.

The thought of wedding someone else filled him with existential dread as it never had before. It was folly to think he might have Selene. Besides his own minister’s objections, he didn’t even know if the poison mage would stay once the magistri were caught. For all he knew, she considered him no different than any other she’d lain with. As he paced with increasingly undignified and obvious anxiety, the last grain of sand fell from the top of the hourglass. The antechamber doors opened and his heart stopped. Belisarius schooled his face and posture into a calm poise that bore no trace of his inner turmoil.

“Who have you elected as the winner?”

“I believe I have met the conditions for victory, Your Royal Highness. I have held onto my vote and gained two others.”

Selene grinned her thief’s grin, holding out three purple orbs for inspection. When he stepped down to take them from her, a burden lifted from him. Thank the forgotten gods—she’d won. When she placed them in his hands, however, a new problem arose. Selene pulled him down, ostensibly to kiss his cheek, but what she hissed in his ear was anything but amorous.

“You’ll pay for tossing me to the wolves like that, Belli.”

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