Chapter 11: The Unusual Warrior
Arthur walked through the palace hallways, looking calm but thinking hard. He felt Valentina's jealousy through their blood bond so strongly it surprised him.
He went down a quiet hallway to be alone with his thoughts. The dim lighting matched how he felt.
"That's interesting," he said quietly to himself while leaning against the wall. The blood bond was doing more than he expected. It wasn't just sharing feelings—it had somehow shown him images through someone else's eyes, probably one of Valentina's spies.
His system confirmed this discovery: the blood bond let him track emotions from farther away and sometimes showed images when emotions were strong. It recommended staying emotionally calm around potential new partners.
This worried Arthur. If Valentina could see through her spies' eyes when feeling strong emotions, what else might she discover? Could she find out about his plans for Lysandra or Beatrice?
Suddenly, he felt Valentina's possessiveness and saw a flash of her pacing in her room with wine in her hand.
"Seven hells," Arthur whispered, touching his temples. The connection was getting stronger, not weaker. This made everything more complicated.
He needed to handle this before meeting Valentina tomorrow night. If she could sense his interest in other women, his plans for a harem would face problems. Valentina might have submitted to him physically, but she was still proud and ambitious—and now seemed to feel she had a claim on him.
Arthur continued walking with new determination. He would need to convince Valentina his interest in Lysandra was only political, though the blood bond might reveal if he was lying.
As he neared his rooms, he felt another wave of emotions—curiosity and excitement—but from someone else.
His system indicated this was from an unknown source, someone he hadn't bonded with but might be naturally compatible with.