Page 86 of Somber Prince

Chapter Twenty-One

DAWN

It’d been ten days since I moved to Rha’s private rooms underground. During this time, we’d made it a habit to have lunch together. He’d join me for dinner whenever he had time to spare. And we even got to dance again, twice.

But this was the first time ever that I entered the bedroom of the Crown Prince of the Alveari Kingdom. He didn’t lie when he said it was bigger than mine, quite a few times bigger. Colorful mosaics decorated the floor and ceiling. Each of the six walls held a recessed, arched niche. Five of them were painted with murals of some epic battles. One had an intricate waterfall that trickled down a system of different sized vessels tilted at various angles. The bubbling sound of water filled the room that held a couple of sitting areas and a huge hexagon shaped bed.

In addition to the canopy above the bed, Rha also had panels of carved wood positioned around it like a fence. The two panels in the front had been moved aside, and he carried me up the platform and placed me into the plush bedding carefully, then moved the panels a bit further aside.

“Why do you have these?” I asked.

His left ear twitched. “This room is too big. Without the screens, I feel like I’m sleeping out in the open, which isn’t very relaxing.”

It was dark and cozy behind the screens under the canopy. The large bed was like a small room on its own.

“I see.” I nodded. “I like it better this way too.”

Sigid knocked on the open door tentatively.

“Your Highness, the royal hag is here.”

Rha nodded. Sigid opened the door wider, letting in the dark figure shrouded in a dusty-gray cloak. I’d seen the royal hag before once or twice, always in passing. If the fae of Alveari Kingdom were shadows, then she looked like nothing more than an apparition, moving like a patch of gray fog.

The woman seemed shorter than an average shadow fae with her back permanently hunched over. Mists seeped through her shroud, like smoke escaping the embers hidden within. However, when she approached the bed, I sensed no heat emanating from her body. Instead, chills brushed my face.

She carried a small bronze tray with an earthenware pot on it next to a wide mug.

“Greetings, Your Highness. I brought the tea for your sweet Joy Vessel,” she said in a soft, rasping voice.

“Thank you, Grandmother.” Rha seemed at ease around this spooky woman whose appearance gave me the creeps.

He poured some steaming liquid from the pot into the mug. The hag took it from him. While the prince carried the tray with the pot to a side stand by the bed, the woman leaned over me, handing me the mug.

“Here you go, Sweet One. I made it mild, like for a baby. It won’t put you to sleep but will soothe your ache.”

Rha turned his back to us, setting the tray on the stand.

Among all the chaotic feelings I had for the prince, one was firm—I trusted him to keep me safe. His protectiveness often felt restricting and isolating, forming a shield around me. But I felt safe behind that shield. It kept any potential danger at bay. Rha would never let this woman in here if he didn’t trust her completely, and it gave me all the reassurance I needed.

I took the mug from her.

“Thank you…um…Sorry, I don’t know your name.”

Everyone referred to her as “the royal hag.” But the word “hag” felt almost insulting to say to her face.

Her pale-yellow eyes glistened from under her hood. Her face was lined with deep wrinkles. She looked old, unlike all the other fae I'd met in Teneris.

“Call me Grandmother, like everyone else does,” she said.

“Thank you, Grandmother.”

As she withdrew her hand, the wide bangles around her arm shifted, revealing a tattoo inside her wrist. It was a picture of a black scorpion inside a golden circle. Our gazes crossed before she yanked her hand away from me, hiding it in the midst of her gray cloak.

“If Your Highness no longer needs me, I wish to retire back to my rooms.” She bowed to the prince.

With a nod, Rha dismissed her. The woman left, relieving me of the eerie feeling in her presence. I drew in a breath, then took a sip of the dark, sweet tea she’d brought.

“She’s not really your grandmother, is she?” I asked Rha.

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