The Bound (Ascension #2)(84)

“General Jakoby Longe,” Alise filled in for Cyrene. “He’s our most renowned general.”

The General held his hand between the men. “Victory goes to…” He paused dramatically. “Prince Dean Ellison.”

Robard’s mouth dropped open. “He forfeited.”

“Only a true leader would offer his own life in exchange for his soldiers.”

“Bias!” Robard cried. “You make him Captain because he is the prince.”

“Watch your mouth!” the man said, smacking Robard across the face and sending him flying back in the sand. “He has earned the title of Captain, and you will do well to remember that, as you will be serving under him.”

Robard nodded his head and then rushed out of the arena in a tantrum. Cyrene didn’t see that arrangement going very well.

The man who had given Dean the title held Dean’s hand up in the air, and the crowd roared their approval. Dean’s eyes roamed the crowd as he had a confident smirk on his lips. He was completely in his element here. The sweet, charming man from the woods, who had also danced with her in Aurum, was just one part of the soldier standing before her.

Then, his eyes found her. He started forward in surprise and then frowned. He looked almost…ashamed that she was in the audience. She had seen him fight before. Why would he look at me like that?

He cast his eyes to the ground, retrieved his sword, and then quickly left the arena.

Cyrene was so confused.

“Come on,” Alise said. “Let’s go see him in the barracks.”

“Are we allowed in?”

“Of course. It’s customary for us to congratulate the soldiers after their victories,” she said. “Right, Brigette?”

Brigette laughed. “Be easy on her, Alise.”

“I’m just showing her the barracks! It’s a party. It always is after a fight.”

Cyrene hesitated, but Brigette had already turned her attention to someone else in the box, and Alise was pulling her out of the arena.

Alise pushed through the doors to the barracks, and she was right when she’d said that it was a party. Wine was flowing freely, musicians were playing upbeat music to dance to, and there were girls everywhere.

Cyrene’s eyes sought out the one familiar face in the crowd but didn’t see him. Instead, the person who appeared before her was the man Dean had just fought.

“Robard!” Alise cried. “Do you mind taking Affiliate Cyrene to see Dean? I want to say hello to General Longe.”

Before Cyrene could even protest, Alise pushed her to Robard, and Cyrene stumbled into his chest. His well-oiled, very firm naked chest. She gasped and then pulled her hand back.

“My apologies,” she said quickly. “I didn’t mean…”

“No offense taken, Affiliate.” He chewed on the word, as if it disgusted him, but he looked at her in the thin red gown that Livia had given her with anything but. “Should I take you to the Princeling then?”

“Um…yes, please.”

Robard pushed through the crowd of soldiers and women. He shoved her toward a back room, and there was Dean, standing in nothing but his loincloth, with a half-dozen women clinging to him.





Cyrene gaped at the display before her.

Then, she closed her eyes for a few seconds and righted her demeanor. This was what Alise had hoped for. She wanted Cyrene to see Dean as immodest, a soldier, and a flirt. She expected Cyrene to give in to her Byern propriety, to be disgusted, tuck tail, and run the other direction.

She felt a hand at her back and realized Alise’s other motivation. Robard.

“Hey, Ellison,” Robard called. “I brought you something.” He raised his eyebrows and didn’t remove his dirty hand from her fine clothing.

Dean’s eyes snapped up and latched on to her. He opened his mouth to say something, but she had seen enough. She didn’t need to see this. It wasn’t any of her business. Dean Ellison was not the reason she was in Eleysia. Being a toy in the midst of one of his bitter sisters’ plots was not part of her plan.

She shoved Robard away from her and dashed toward the entrance of the barracks. Her magic was firing under her fingertips, like it had done that night in Aurum when Kael coaxed it out of her. Her breathing was ragged, and she couldn’t keep her emotions in check.

This was a setup. A ploy. She knew it for what it was. It was something Jardana would have pulled back home in Byern to try to keep Cyrene away from Kael and to diminish her importance at court. But she hadn’t had to deal with petty court antics in a while, and her heart hadn’t been prepared for it. It was beating fiercely in her chest, and she was terrified of what would happen if she didn’t get herself under control.

Am I going to have another accident, like in Aurum? Could I level the barracks this time?

No. Creator! She couldn’t let this keep happening.

This was why she needed to find Matilde and Vera. Her magic was out of control. If she wasn’t careful, she would do horrible things, and she would have no way to stop it.

“Cyrene!” Dean called behind her.

She turned to look at him as he rushed out after her in nothing but his loincloth. Sweat still coated his skin, and sand coated his skin where he had rolled on the floor of the pit. Up close, he was even bigger and broader than she remembered. And he was blinding to look at.