Page 65 of Taken By the Shadow Prince

“We don’t have time to waste on giggling,” she scolds.

I force myself to swallow the rest of my humor and say, “You must be mad if you think I’llforceyou into another bargain.”

Suddenly, she understands. “This... this is not a force. It’s a mercy.”

A mercy. A creature made for torture, for cruelties, offering a mortal mercy. It’s never been done before. It’s certainly not what we’re known for—and yet she tries anyway.

Mavey continues. “I am sorry,” she says. “For what I said before. I didn’t mean it. I was just... overwhelmed, I think. Perhaps frightened even, of how quickly everything was happening. And I don’t just mean the war, but I mean... I mean everything with you. With us. I’m not used to experiencing such fierce emotions. I didn’t know what to do with them.”

My heart softens, but I force my eyes to harden, refusing to show her how weak she makes me. “It was a cruel thing to do. You’ve learned a lot from me.”

She shakes her head and runs a hand down her face. “No, I—I’ve always sort of been like that. I push people away when it’s easier than letting them in.” She pauses. “Which is always.” Mavey paces the terrace, then says, “I don’t feel like I was forced into that bargain. Truly. I’m grateful for it—for everything it offered, despite the consequences. So please, Armin. Make me another. Save us. Ask whatever it is you want in return, and I’ll give it to you.”

Despite the consequences.

Ask whatever it is you want in return, and I’ll give it to you.

I am still a consequence to her. After everything, even after her admission of feelings for me, she still feels I am nothing more than a consequence.

So, I say, “Fine. I’ll make a bargain with you.”

“Thank you,” she breathes.

“I will turn the tide in this war. I will bend the minds of those fae back to the way they were before they were brainwashed. I will make them realize, remember, that witches are not lesser than them—that they are equals.”

Mavey thinks the wording through and nods her approval.

“In return, I offer you a choice.”

She blinks. “A... choice?”

“You are no longer required to come to Atheya with me. It’s your decision whether you stay here or you go. With me.”With me. I want the words to sink in, for her to realize what I am saying. “Do we have a deal?”

“It hardly seems fair,” she breathes. “I... I clearly get the better end of the bargain.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Is that why you’ve yet to agree to it? Because it’s a simple choice, not at all a torturous thing to have to decide?” I force myself to smile, though it’s the last thing I want to do. Because this... this could ruin everything. She could say no. She could decide she will stay here, and I won’t even have those five years to convince her to be with me.

But Mavey says, “Deal.”

And so it is done.

I don’t ask for her answer. I’ll find out what she decides later, after I’ve had a chance to properly scold myself for potentially ruining everything I’ve been working to build between us.She could say no.

I silently beg that she will not say no.

Before she can speak, I jerk my chin toward the doors that lead inside the castle. “Go. Head back to the fight. By the time you get there, they should be retreating.”

Mavey gives me a curious look, nods, and turns. Before she goes, though, she casts me one last look. “Thank you,” she whispers.

She’s gone before I can answer.

I watch as the lines fall back. As the rebel fae look around at each other, confused, wondering what they’re doing, why it took them so long to realize it, why they’ve all figured it out at the same time. Some cry out in the sadness of what their hands have done. Some sob at what, or who, they’ve lost.

But they all turn. They run, as if in fear that the castle’s soldiers will come for them. For revenge. But those must not have been the soldier’s orders. I suspect they were told to hold the line, to only kill who they had to, to let a retreat happen, a surrender, if they tried for it.

And now it has.

The confusion is palpable even from up here. Nobody understands what happened—and I sure as hell won’t be the one to tell them. I doubt Mavey will, either. Though her people must be wondering... why did they retreat? It was clear they were winning.

---