The guards rapped upon the ornate doors to the royal suite, and Kaillen brushed back his damp hair with shaking fingers.
He tried to hold to Ezekiel’s confidence, but fear was rapidly gaining a foothold. His mind whirled with all he had been told, terrified to hope too much, to believe. He had spent so long trying to cast this aside and now to be handed his dream seemed improbable at best.
This woman, this Queen, could only hate him. For being the Imposter, for being one of the enemy, for daring to love Nikolaus…
So many reasons for this to go terribly wrong.
Every particle of his being longed to go to Niko, concern forming a lump in his throat. But first, there must be this. Whatever this would turn out to be.
He heard a voice, then a man opened the doors, viewing them all for a long
