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"What are you doing here?" he demanded.

Kel gulped nervously. She opened her mouth to defend herself but closed it again. Claiming the irritable secretary had given her permission seemed like the exact wrong thing to do at the moment.

The emperor waited patiently for her to answer his question, keeping his gaze locked with hers.

.

As she studied his eyes, partially hidden beneath dark messy bangs, she realized they seemed less fiery than she was accustomed to. They didn\'t seem to be full of anger at all. Rather, they looked tired.

Looking closely, the man in front of her wasn\'t a frightening dragon. He was just a worn out king.

Instinctively, Kel reached out to brush some of the ebony strands away from his forehead. As her fingers grazed his surprisingly soft hair, her eyes widened.

What am I doing?! She screamed internally.

She moved to pull her hand away, but the emperor caught it with his own and pressed her palm against his cheek. He closed his eyes, and the two stood in silence. Kel\'s shaky breaths filled the space between them with a soft whistling.

The thumping of her heart against her ribcage grew louder. She felt the urge to tug her hand away, but the muscles in her arm refused to obey her will.

Finally, the emperor opened his eyes. A look of vulnerability flashed across his face, quickly giving way to an unsettling smirk.

"I\'m beginning to think they sent you here on purpose to trick me," he whispered.

Kel\'s pounding heart stopped.

Was the emperor hinting that he already knew the truth? If that was the case, she and Barclay both were as good as dead.

Instinctively, Kel reached for the pearl necklaces. To her dismay, her fingers caught hold of the dainty gold chain Lucy had chosen for her to wear that morning.

She bit her lip as she recalled the necklaces left lying on the vanity with the thought she\'d slip them both on later.

How could I be so foolish! Kel scolded herself.

She hated those poisonous pearls. She hated the idea that a fast self-inflicted death was the only parting gift Adriell had left her with. And she hated even more that the same parting gift was the only thing she could leave with Barclay.

But now, she felt sick to her stomach at the thought of not having them.

Her hand trembled as she clutched the front of her dress. She\'d learned a great deal about the Serin Empire\'s infamous torture methods.

Among the many horrific options, the most popular was a slow-acting poison. Unlike other slow poisons, the pain would begin almost immediately after exposure. It was a pain one account had described as \'the feeling of glass shards flowing through one\'s veins.\'

It could take weeks or even months for a person to die after ingesting the poison, but most victims lost their sanity long before that point.

Kel shuddered. That gruesome poison was probably what awaited her and her burly comrade. Perhaps her fire ability could be used somehow… to save them or kill them faster. It didn\'t matter either way.

"However, you should know," the emperor continued, interrupting Kel\'s thoughts. He stepped back and dropped Kel\'s hand, snatching the leather book off the table as he moved, "your clumsy attempts at seduction will never work on me."

A tiny sigh of relief escaped Kel\'s mouth. He hadn\'t caught on yet after all. Her easement was cut short, however, as the man\'s words began to sink in.

"C-clumsy?" she repeated. Had the emperor just referred to one of the most nimble soldiers in all of Mevani as clumsy? How dare h- wait.

"Seduction??" she blurted in surprise.

"My retainers have been nagging me about getting married for quite some time," the emperor teased, holding a hand to his forehead, "but even I would never be so desperate."

"Who wants to marry you!" Kel exclaimed, rapidly clapping her hands over her mouth.

First she had touched the emperor\'s face, and now she had yelled at him. That hideous poison torture really might be in store for her if she kept it up.

"I mean, I assure you I am not trying to seduce you," she muttered, glancing at her feet.

"It\'s a shame then," the man replied.

Kel looked up in surprise. "Excuse me?"

The emperor smiled fiendishly. "It\'s been so long since I\'ve been entertained."

Kel forced a smile of her own in response. She had absolutely no interest in seducing this psychopath, but even if she did, her attempts would be considered entertainment at best?

The Dragon Emperor\'s ego was larger than his whole empire.

As she let out a slow breath, trying to calm her flaring temper, Kel caught sight of the book in the emperor\'s hands.

"Could that be… yours?" she asked hesitantly, nodding toward the book. "Then is this room…?"

The man said nothing for several moments as he stared down at the leather-bound pages.

"It\'s not mine," he finally responded, "but it is important to me."

"Can I ask whose it is then?" Kel inquired. She watched his reaction closely for signs that she was going too far, but he wore a stone-like expression.

"My teacher," the emperor answered after another brief pause.

Kel thought back to the words she\'d read.

-I won\'t be able to watch you fulfill the continent\'s destiny-

Then, was this teacher the person who had convinced the emperor to start such a vicious revolt? The person who created a total monster and then left him behind?

Kel\'s momentary attachment to the book due to its similar appearance to Uncle\'s turned to disgust. Whoever the owner was, they had sent a scourge to devour the continent.

Her blood began to boil and she dug her nails into her palms. That book. Whoever owned it caused her and Dash to lose Uncle Itzae. That person caused a continent-wide war and countless deaths. And, they had caused Adriell and Dash to betray her.

Whoever the emperor\'s teacher was, they had stolen everything from Kel.