Page 191 of The Last Syphon

She inclined her head and quickly rushed back through the crowd to return to Prince Walder’s side.

“What were you doing?” he asked with a frown as she stepped up onto the dais.

“Getting a drink. I told you that.”

He opened his mouth to respond, but Sentinel Orion appeared and bowed at the waist.

Prince Walder’s frowned expression over what she was doing finally clicked. Like Felix, he could not see Bathlus, and it would seem to him that she was having an entire conversation with thin air.

Inara startled, her gaze snapping up to find Balthus in the room with her. She hadn’t heard him come in. He was dressed in the same outfit she’d seen him in in the librarium.

“Again, you sneak up on me,” she breathed out, hand to her chest.

Fraener lifted his head.

“I shouldn’t have been spying anyway. It was unintentional.”

She nodded in thanks. Confusion hummed down the soul-link. Inara ran her hand up and down Fraener’s spine, and he instantly relaxed, brushing up against her. Maybe he was confused as to why she wasn’t as afraid as he had been by what happened with Prince Walder.

Fraener’s confusion suddenly made sense. He could not see Bathlus either.

None of them could.

Only her.

Every interaction she’d had with him in Arelia, he had never really been there.

A thousand possibilities ran through her mind. Only one made sense with the information she already knew about the Cursed King.

“Astral projection.”

Balthus nodded, that bright, beaming smile still on his face. “I knew you’d eventually put it together yourself. I’ve been watching you for two years, after all. I know how smart you are.”

Inara blinked. “That’s just fucking creepy.”

He shrugged uncaringly. “I did what needed to be done, as I always do, and now, after 2,000 long years, I am finally free.”

“How?” she couldn’t help but ask again. “How are you still alive? The kingdoms killed you.”

“They almost killed me. They failed to take one thing into account.”

“Your Guardian.”

His face softened as he glanced over his shoulder at the magnificent beast watching them with a predatory gaze. “We were on the verge of death. Although I had syphoned more power than anyone would know what to do with, I got…distracted.”

“You mean while you were gloating, someone got the better of you.”

He chuckled. “Good guess.”

It wasn’t a guess. Villains like him always did the same thing. She’d read enough books to know. They always had to get the last word in. Talk about the magnificence of themselves and their plan. They couldn’t help it.

Fuck. Here he was, doing it again. Not that Inara minded. He was answering many unanswered questions for her.

“The king of Arelia jumped in front of me and rammed his sword straight through my chest,” he continued, lifting up his shirt, revealing a long, jagged scar that ran right from the centre of his chest down to his abdomen.

Fates. A sword that could cause this much damage had to be one hell of a weapon.

“Tiberius cast us into hibernation to save me from dying and protect us, and there we stayed, slowly taking energy from those that were stupid enough to enter Tolanaa until I finally had enough to astral project. At first, I could only do it for a short time, over a short distance. But it was all I needed. You’ll be surprised how many people listen to a strange voice in their head.”