The Rise of the Dawnstar (The Avalonia Chronicles Book 2)

grave error in judgment by helping you leave the Summer Palace when I knew you were not ready. I thought I would be able to convince you to see sense and get you to go back of your own accord. I didn’t realize the Blackwaters would take this opportunity to return.”
“Never underestimate the Blackwaters, right?” I said, trying to smile. I knew what he was saying was right. He had to go back and I wasn’t about to stand in his way. I may have already cost him his throne.
Rafe nodded but didn’t smile. He took my hands in his. “Santino and Brandon will see you safely to Elfi.”
“What happened to Marcus?” I asked, remembering the little man was not on the ship. “I thought he was coming with us.”
“I have no idea.” Rafe shook his head. “Marcus was gone by the time I got back to the inn to get Kalen.”
My eyes went wide. “Do you think he was the one who betrayed us to Lucian?”
“That is what it looks like, and Brandon is convinced it was him,” Rafe said. “He disappeared as soon as the archmage came to Calos. But I have known Marcus since I was a child, and he would never betray me. My old nurse, Maggie, the fae lady you met in the woods, used to trade with him. She trusted him, and she is never wrong.”
“I didn’t know Magdalene was your old nurse.” I couldn’t imagine Rafe as a baby. He had the aura of someone who was born fully grown with a sword in his hand.
Rafe smiled. “There are still a few things you don’t know about me.”
At that moment Katerina Valasis came onto the deck. Her almond-shaped eyes, so like those of her brother, sought out Rafe in an instant, and she waved to him.
I raised my eyebrow. “Apparently, there is quite a lot I don’t know about you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rafe’s eyes narrowed.
“You know what I mean,” I said and forced a fake smile as Katerina walked toward us.
“Rafael, my love, why didn’t you mention you were leaving?” said Katerina, pouting and putting her arm through his, virtually ignoring me. “Santino just told me. You know how much I’ve wanted you to visit my palace in Sanria again.” She batted her lashes at Rafe and then glanced at me. “Do you remember how you kissed me behind the fig trees in my father’s garden?”
I had heard enough. I turned to walk away when Rafe caught my arm. “Don’t leave,” he said softly.
Katerina’s eyes shot daggers at me. But she continued to behave as if I wasn’t there. “Darling,” she said, running her finger over Rafe’s chest, “don’t you want to take me back to my room to say a proper goodbye before you leave?”
“I think I should go,” I said, pulling my arm away.
“Aurora, wait!”
I stopped.
Rafe turned to Katerina, his gray eyes piercing and angry. “Katerina, I told you at the ball in Calos I was not interested in resuming our relationship.” His voice was calm but his tone was icy. “The person I love is standing right in front of me.” He glanced at me before turning back to her. “And that person isn’t you,” he said, looking her straight in the eyes.
Did he just say that?
Katerina’s ears went red and her mouth fell open. She recovered quickly, her eyes narrowing, and she slapped Rafe hard across his face. “That’s for leading me on for all these years,” she said, gathering her skirts and stamping off, presumably to find her brother.
Rafe grimaced and rubbed his cheek. “I guess I deserved that.”
I laughed at him and nodded. “Probably.”
“Katerina means nothing to me,” he said as he took my hand and led me to a more secluded area on the deck.
“I know that now.”
He turned to look at me with a hunger in his eyes I had never seen before. “No, I don’t think you do.”
My breath hitched in my throat.
“I love you, Aurora, and it’s about time I tell you the truth about my feelings. I have held it in for so long, hoping it would go away, but it has only become stronger.” Rafe put his hand around my waist and drew me to him. “I have never felt this way about anyone. You haunt my dreams every single night, and when I am away from you I feel like a part of me is missing.” He lowered his voice to barely a whisper. “I would give my life for you.”
My hands had started trembling—I couldn’t believe he was talking this way.
Rafe’s lips crushed mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he pulled me closer, pressing against my body and molding it to his. He had never kissed me like this before. My mind and body exploded with pleasure as Rafe held me to him, devouring my mouth and invading it with his tongue.
He broke the kiss, and I gasped to catch my breath as he held me tightly in his arms, breathing heavily.
“There is something else I have to tell you before I go.” Rafe moved back and released me from his embrace.
“Is something wrong?” I tried to compose myself.
Looking around once he said, “Elial Dekela is dead.”
“What!” Professor Dekela couldn’t be dead. He was the mastermage at the academy. “Are you sure?”
Rafe nodded. “Captain Gerard told me he was found dead in his study at the academy. We don’t know how it happened. But now we have a bigger problem.”
My eyes went wide. “His key?” Professor Dekela was one of the guardians of the keys that opened the Book of Abraxas.
“Yes.” He nodded. “His key is gone.”
“Did the Blackwaters do this?” My heart was heavy with grief as I remembered Professor Dekela’s kind eyes and wise teachings. He had helped me when I needed it the most, and he was also one of my father’s supporters. Now there were so few left.
“I suspect they had a hand in it. We know Morgana is after