so unwillingly to the prince that it refused to remain long.

Kamran awoke before dawn

with a sharpness that surprised him, for he was both abed and then out of it before the
sun had even met the horizon. His body was fatigued, yes, but his mind was clear. It
had been running all night; his dreams fevered, his imaginings frenzied.
He'd begun to wonder whether the girl had cursed him.
She clearly knew not what she'd done to him, nor could she be blamed for her success
in so thoroughly disordering his faculties, but Kamran could not conceive a more
elegant explanation for what had overcome him. He was moved neither by a base need
to physically possess the girl, nor was he deluded enough to think he might be in love
with her. Still, he could not understand himself. Never before had he been so consumed
by thoughts of anyone.
The girl was going to be murdered.
She was going to be murdered by his own grandfather, and it seemed to Kamran the
worst kind of tragedy.
The prince was one of the few people who knew, of course. He and Hazan both knew of
the prophecy, the foretelling of a creature with ice in its veins. Every king in the history
of the Ardunian empire had received a prophecy, and King
Zaal had felt it his duty to manage the prince's expectations of such an event. Long ago
his grandfather had explained to him that, on the day of his coronation, Kamran would
receive two visits.
The first, from a Diviner.
The other, from the devil.
The devil would offer him a bargain, the terms of which Kamran should under no
circumstances accept. The Diviner, his grandfather had said, would make a prediction.
When Kamran asked what prediction the Diviners had made for him, King Zaal had
grown unnaturally reticent, saying only that he'd been warned of the rise of a fearsome
adversary, a demon-like creature with ice in its veins. It was said to be an enemy with
allies so formidable its mere existence would lead to the king's eventual demise.
Enraged, the young prince had promised his grandfather right then that he would search
all of Ardunia for this monster, that he would slay the beast and deliver its head to the
king on a pike.
You need not worry
, his grandfather had said, smiling.
I will slay the beast myself.
Kamran closed his eyes and sighed.
He splashed water on his face, performing his morning ablutions with care. It seemed
impossible that the terrifying monster of his childhood imaginings was in fact the
stunning young woman he'd encountered last night.
Kamran towel dried his face and applied orange blossom oil to his neck, to the pulse
points at his wrists. He took a deep breath and drew the intoxicating scent into his body,
relaxing as it warmed his chest, lowered his heart rate.
Slowly, he exhaled.