A Crystal of Time. Soman Chainani

turned to him.

      “Tedros included?” she asked.

      Rhian stretched his biceps behind his head.

      “Tedros included,” he said decisively.

      Sophie paused. Then she sat back down across from him.

      “So I write your stories . . . and you let Tedros go,” she repeated. “Those are the terms?”

      “Correct.”

      Sophie watched Rhian.

      Rhian watched her.

      Now I know the game, she thought.

      “Well, in that case . . . ,” Sophie said innocently. “I choose Hort.”

      Rhian blinked.

      Sophie stretched her arms behind her head and held his stunned glare.

      It had been a test. A test to make her pick Tedros. A test to call her bluff and prove she could never be loyal. A test to make her his slave from this moment on.

      A dirty little test he expected her to fail.

      But you can’t beat Evil with Evil.

      Which meant now they had a deal.

      She would write his stories. Hort would be freed.

      Both would be her weapons in time.

      Sophie smiled at the king, her emerald eyes aglow.

      “I don’t eat cake,” she said. “But tonight I’ll make an exception.”