Page 72 of Somber Prince

“Is there no going back, then? No chance at all?”

Rha tightened his grip on me, helping me stay upright.

“There is always a slim chance that you’d be brought back close enough in time to resume your old life. The River of Mists may bring you centuries away from your time, but it could also be just months or even days.”

“Is there any way to predict or influence that?”

“No, my treasure.” He kissed my hair. “No way at all.”

Which meant that even if we managed to open the portal somehow, we’d still be taking a huge risk going back.

“It means we’re stuck here. Stuck here forever.”

Lifting me in his arms, Rha carried me to the carefully arranged sitting cushions by the wall and sat down.

“Is it so bad to stay here with me, Dawn?” he asked, placing me on his lap.

Cradled against his wide, warm chest, I found his lap a pretty good place to be. It was tempting to just give up. Like Melanie said, I had no grand ambitions in life. Going with the flow was what I’d always done. Why fight it now?

But what future lay ahead of me if I stayed?

In this world, I would never belong to myself ever again. I’d be a pet of the Crown Prince for as long as he would have me. And when he grew tired or bored with me, I’d have to be ready to “share my joy” with whoever else he’d happen to have over for lunch that night.

But how could one remain happy while locked up? What if I had no more joy to share? How long would the prince keep me around, then?

Through his tendril, Rha had full access to the turbulence inside me. He ran his fingers over my hair, tucking a loose strand back into my bun.

“You’re so close to trusting me, Dawn, but you keep fighting it. Whatever happens, I want you to remember you don’t ever have to worry about anything. I’ll take care of you.”

I stopped short of thanking him. The reason he was taking care of me now had everything to do with him taking me from the life I had before.

He might be a gentle and caring captor, but he was my captor, nevertheless.

Chapter Eighteen

DAWN

I’d lived in the golden bedroom for two days. Other than the servants bringing me meals, I spent most of the time alone. Rha would drop by often but only for brief visits.

He explained he was busy organizing reinforcements to send to the High Lady of Sumakis to help her defend her city from raids by rogue desert dwellers. Apparently, that was the order from the queen, delivered by Rha’s cousin Alzali. She seemed polite and soft-spoken. But Rha’s expression hardened whenever he spoke of his cousin. I sensed there was tension between the two, in addition to some family troubles Rha appeared to have with his mother.

As curious as I was about his situation, I didn’t question him about it. I had no business to be involved in his life too deeply. I didn’t need to get to know him any more than I already had. What I needed to focus on was my own situation.

I thought long and hard about what he’d told me about traveling between Earth and Nerifir, the portals, and the River of Mists. The process sounded complicated, but the repercussions seemed clear.

If Rha told me the truth, then we could never go back home. Not to our time, anyway. This was the information I absolutely had to share with Melanie and the others. Except that Rha was as stubborn as a bull when it came to my safety and refused to let me leave the golden room or allow any outsiders to visit me behind the magical wards guarding the caves. The only thing he’d agreed to was to let Elaine and my sister know through a Keeper that I was safe and had been moved to his private rooms permanently.

With the increased amount of activity in the palace and with the outside visitors being here, including Princess Alzali’s escort from the queen’s city of Kalmena, Rha acted outright paranoid about my safety, as if someone was going to take me from him.

On the third day, the isolation started getting to me. I felt displaced and restless, with no direction for the future and no goal in sight. With the lighting underground being the same day and night, my sleeping pattern had unraveled completely. I napped through the night and often stayed awake during the day when everyone else was sleeping. I had a gorgeous wall clock in my room, similar to the one in the palace baths. But it didn’t help much in regulating my sleep cycle.

Waking from yet another fitful sleep, I sat on my bed, feeling disoriented. Was it still morning, and I’d just gone to bed? Or was it evening already, and I should be getting up? Either way, I knew I wouldn’t fall asleep again if I tried.

I climbed out of bed and threw on a light robe over my nightshirt, then shoved my feet into a pair of suede slippers. I used the baths that also contained toilets artistically hidden behind plants and rock formations.

The double doors on the other side of the stream across from my golden room led to Rha’s bedroom. They were closed, with him either still sleeping or maybe not there yet. I wasn’t going to check. I hadn’t been invited to his bedroom yet, and it was better that way.

Instead, I went out into the large main cave with the waterfalls. The entrance to the prince's private rooms was heavily guarded above, but there were no guards down here. All was quiet, only the sound of water rushing over the rocks filled the air.

---