Chapter 172: Her Left Hand

Elara:

The silence lasted long enough for me to start wondering whether I had been too impulsive.

Magnus hadn’t moved, and neither had anyone else. For a moment, I considered telling him to take a few days to think about it. It wasn’t a small offer, after all. I was asking him to tie his future to mine, and while I had been confident enough to make the offer, I wasn’t arrogant enough to expect someone to accept it without consideration.

I had just opened my mouth to tell him there was no need to answer immediately when he finally moved. His eyes briefly shifted toward Hazel. His sister looked back at him, and after the smallest pause, she gave him a supportive nod.

Magnus turned toward me again, and whatever uncertainty had been there disappeared from his expression.

"I accept."

The words were simple, but there was something unusually firm behind them. He stood from his chair and straightened, his expression calm but his eyes carrying a quiet determination I hadn’t seen before.

"Thank you, Princess," he said, and then immediately corrected himself. "Boss."

The corner of my lips lifted slightly at that.

"I appreciate the opportunity you are offering me, but more than that, I appreciate the trust behind it. I won’t pretend I expected something like this when I came to here. I have spent years choosing independence because I never found a person or organization I believed was worth surrendering that independence to."

His gaze remained steady on mine.

"You asked for loyalty that is chosen rather than forced. I can give you that. I don’t know what the future will look like, but I know that I want to find out what I can accomplish working beside you. I’ll do everything within my ability to justify the trust you have placed in me, and I won’t give you a reason to regret it."

There was no exaggerated promise in his voice, no dramatic declaration of eternal devotion. He simply sounded sincere. And somehow, that made his acceptance mean even more. He wasn’t interested in working for the Crown Princess because of the power attached to my name. He had chosen Elara.

I couldn’t stop myself from feeling ridiculously pleased with myself. Somehow, in the middle of an assassination investigation, a hospital stay, and discovering that my dorm had practically been left with a giant magical welcome sign for intruders, I had managed to recruit exactly the kind of person I had been searching for.

"Good," I said, smiling at him. "Then come to meet me tomorrow. We’ll draw up the official contract and go through your salary, benefits, responsibilities, and everything else properly. I don’t want any misunderstandings later."

Magnus nodded. "Of course."

I glanced toward Hazel before adding, "And make sure you are ready. Once Jasper is discharged from the hospital the day after tomorrow, I’ll be leaving for the Royal Palace, and you’ll be coming with me."

Magnus’s eyebrows lifted slightly, but he nodded without hesitation. Hazel thanked me as well, and after a brief exchange of goodbyes, the siblings finally left the office together.

The door closed behind them, and only then did I realize that Lorien hadn’t said a single word since I’d started talking to Magnus.

I turned toward him slowly and found him staring at me with an expression I couldn’t quite decipher. There was surprise in his blue eyes, certainly, but there was also something that looked suspiciously like pride.

I arched an eyebrow at him. "What?"

He finally exhaled softly, shaking his head. "You have absolutely no idea what you have just done, do you?"

I frowned. "I hired someone."

A quiet laugh escaped him. "You snatched Magnus away from me."

I blinked. "You wanted him?"

"I have been trying to get him onto my team for years." He picked up a folder from his desk and shook his head in disbelief. "Years, Elara. I have offered him positions, contracts, access to resources, better pay, and opportunities most people would have killed for. He refused every single one."

I smiled knowingly. "Maybe your offers weren’t good enough."

He gave me a look of mild offense before sighing. "It wasn’t the offers. Magnus simply never seemed interested in committing himself to a master or a permanent employer."

I smiled faintly. "Maybe that’s because he never found anyone worth trusting."

Lorien’s expression shifted, and for a moment he simply looked at me. "Apparently, he found you worth trusting."

I couldn’t help smiling at that. Then a thought occurred to me, and I tilted my head. "Are you jealous?"

He stared at me for a second before answering with complete honesty. "Yes."

I laughed softly. "At least you are honest."

He shrugged, a faint smile appearing on his face. "Only a fool wouldn’t be jealous after losing someone like Magnus. He’s one of the most capable people I have encountered in years." His gaze softened as he looked at me. "But I don’t mind that much."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

He smiled. "Because you are the one who stole him from me."

Something about the way he said it made my smile deepen. There was no bitterness in his voice, only amusement and perhaps a strange kind of pride. He seemed genuinely pleased that I had managed to accomplish something he hadn’t been able to do.

Lorien finally stood and reached for the suit jacket hanging over the back of his chair. "Come on." He slipped his jacket on and adjusted the cuffs. "I’ll drive you to the hospital and then to the hotel."

I rose from my chair as well, carefully ignoring the faint ache still lingering through my body.

The holidays had officially begun yesterday, but I hadn’t been able to enjoy even a minute of them. The plan was for me to return to the Royal Palace once the term ended, but the accident and Jasper’s condition had changed everything. There was no way I was leaving while he was still recovering, and even now that he was stable, I refused to leave until he was discharged.

For the moment, I was staying at the Mooncrest Grand Hotel, one of the city’s most luxurious hotels, where Lorien had booked a penthouse for me. He too was staying at the same hotel because in my blood knight’s absence, he was responsible for my safety.

As I followed him out of the office, my thoughts were already racing ahead.

The accident had delayed everything, but it hadn’t erased my plans. In fact, if anything, the last few days had made me realize exactly how much I needed to accomplish before returning to the academy for the new term.

I had a list waiting for me. A very long one.

There was money to organize, connections to build, political information to gather, my relationship with the Royal Palace to figure out, my powers to continue developing, and now Magnus to integrate into my growing plans.

And once Jasper was discharged, I would finally have access to the Royal Palace and everything that came with being the Crown Princess of Starfall.

The holidays had barely begun.

And now that I had Magnus on my side, I had a feeling they were about to become very interesting.