Page 20 of Hateful Prince

“Easy now, Cain.” I held out a hand to the towel-clad man in a gesture meant to calm him.

“W-w-we all do, obviously,” Cas said through fits of nervous laughter. “I mean, you don’t at the moment, but once you change, you will. And I... erm... Dahlia, what do you say we take a walk, love? See the mermaids? Or those pixies you like so much? I heard the shimmers were born.”

“Shimmers?”

“You know. The wee ones. Babies.”

“Already?”

“Can we please return to the topic at hand?” I asked, not bothering to conceal my annoyance. “You’ve never been able to do anything like this before, gem. What changed?”

“Nothing.”

Cain cleared his throat, eyes hot on hers. Dahlia’s cheeks went pink, and I understood.

“He fucked her,” Tor offered as he strode back into the room.

“What? No! I thought for sure I’d be the next lucky bastard,” Cas whined before pointing a finger at Cain. “You don’t even like her.”

“She’s mine,” Cain simply stated.

My dragon didn’t fucking like that at all. Nor did I, truth be told, but I’d already come to the conclusion she had more than two mates destined for her. The Shadow Queen had four, and I was pretty sure my treasure did as well.

“She’s ours,” I emphasized. “That includes you, Cain.”

“And Caspian,” Dahlia added. We all looked at her. She’d never declared him as one of her men before. “It’s all of you. I can feel it. I’m stronger when you’re with me. Even right now, standing here, I can feel the power inside me buzzing.”

My brain snagged on a detail even though she hadn’t spelled it out. “Wait. Does the power grow each time you accept a new mate?”

She sat down on her bed, and her brows drew together as we all watched her consider my question. “I don’t know. I think so? I mean, I could see the ghosts, and that was it, but after Tor, I tapped into my scream again. Then when we were together, Kai...” Her cheeks turned a tempting shade of pink.

“Go on,” I urged.

“I never told you this, but I did something in the greenhouse.”

“Kinky fuckery, eh, darling?” Cas teased.

She snorted and rolled her eyes. “No. Not unless you think killing and then reviving all the plants in one go is kinky.”

“Oh, I don’t know. With the right circumstances, watching you doing just about anything is kinky.”

“Zip it,” Cain said, eyes flashing. “Don’t speak unless you’re called on.”

“You’re not my daddy. I’ll do what I like.”

Dahlia’s gaze flicked to Cain, then back to the floor. “I’ve never controlled a ghost before. Not until after Cain and I found each other again.”

“Again? There was a time before this one? Oh, you wound me, love.” Hook made a show of clasping his chest.

“She was mine in another life. And she’s mine now.”

“Reincarnation,” I mused. “Interesting.”

“So he says,” Dahlia muttered, dimming a bit at his declaration.

“Be that as it may, it sounds like you’re right. Every time you join with a new mate, your power grows.”

“I know a surefire way to test the theory,” Caspian offered, hands dropping to his fly.

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