Page 33 of Somber Prince

Chapter Ten

DAWN

A tray slid under my door a few minutes after Prince Rha had left my room. I’d already brushed my teeth, getting ready to go to bed. But at the smell of food, hunger returned with a vengeance.

I ate it all—the prawns, the steak with the fancy potatoes, and the dessert, licking the spoon after finishing the crème brûlée. I actually enjoyed the dinner, and the joy was all mine. Prince Rha wasn’t here with his creepy tendrils to “share” it.

He must be disappointed that our dinner didn’t go as he’d planned. It might’ve been better for me if it went more smoothly. Maybe I should’ve worked on gaining his favor then he’d help me locate Ciana or even find a way to get us all back home.

I sighed. Did I blow my chance with this one? Or had I even had a chance to begin with?

Apparently, the prince found my appearance “unsettling.” With seventeen other more “symmetrical” people in his possession, it was safe to assume I’d never see the prince one-on-one ever again.

That thought shouldn’t have upset me. I didn’t like the guy, anyway. But I also didn’t hate talking with him.

He had a calm, balanced way of explaining things with reason and patience. He’d been forthcoming and honest in conversation. And he had that smooth, deep voice that soothed my frazzled nerves, making a conversation with him rather enjoyable, despite the difficult or outright unbelievable topics we had to discuss.

I wished I could ask him more questions. Too bad another dinner invitation was highly unlikely after this morning. My best bet now would be to question Sigid about Ciana and the portal when I saw him again. I also had to speak with Elaine and Melanie. Everyone had assured me that the Joy Vessels were well taken care of, but I needed to hear it from them to believe it.

I shoved the tray with the empty dishes back under the door, then brushed my teeth again. As I lay in bed, the image of the dead head rose in my mind, black smoke rising from it like steam from a roast. My stomach spasmed with disgust, threatening to expel the delicious dinner I’d just had.

How could the prince think it was a good idea to present me with that?

After talking to him, however, I understood him a little bit better. This was a different world. With different customs. Rha seemed to genuinely believe he was doing me a favor by beheading one of his men to avenge my dad.

Except that it’d changed nothing. The death of his murderer didn’t bring my dad back. And now, there were two dead people instead of one.

The balance Prince Rha was striving for just didn’t exist.

* * *

Without a clock or a window in my room, I had no idea what time it was when I woke up. My sleep cycle had been all over the place here, which added to the lingering feeling of being constantly disoriented.

Was it evening or morning?

Time for dinner or breakfast?

It didn’t help that the shadow fae functioned on a reversed cycle by staying awake during the night and sleeping during the day.

The breakfast tray wasn’t there, however. I got up and got dressed in the clothes I wore yesterday—a long beige dress made from light, cotton-like material, a pair of underwear, and a soft comfortable bra. The shadow fae wore no clothes above their waists, but it was nice of them to have those for someone like me who wasn’t ready to run around topless.

As I was fixing the straps of my flat-sole sandals around my ankles, a knock on the door came.

“Dawn? Are you awake?” Sigid called from behind the door softly.

“Yes. Awake and fully dressed. Come in.”

The door opened, and Sigid poked his head in. “Did you sleep well?”

As he entered, I slowly backed away to the far wall. Sigid’s tendrils were out. All six of them hung limply, almost reaching the floor. A wide, dark-metal clip circled each tendril at the base, close to his skin.

I swallowed hard, my throat turning dry at the sight of them. “I thought you weren’t allowed to release those when humans were around.”

“Right.” His left ear twitched, and he scratched behind it. “But I was just sworn in as a Joy Vessel Keeper earlier this evening,” he announced proudly. “All Keepers have their tendrils clipped.”

“What does that mean?”

“The iron in the clips disables our magic. We can’t use the tendrils.”

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