Page 31 of Taken By the Shadow Prince

Forty-two of those demon witches said yes. Said they’d fight.

I’m so excited I could scream. That means that, altogether, we’ve got forty-three of them. Armin and I are planning to leave Atheya tomorrow. But the demon witches will stay behind for the rest of the month until he comes to collect them and take them to the castle with us.

My heart hammers in my chest as Armin leads me back to my rooms, since I still haven’t quite figured out this confusing mess of a palace. I’ll get used to it eventually, I suppose.

A smile teases at my lips, no matter how much I try to hold it back. That bargain, those five years, they seem worth it now. Seeing the numbers in front of me, imagining them and their seemingly depthless magic mixed in with the witches and the fae who fight on behalf of Mair...

We might just have a chance.

We could win this. Aligris might have a chance at beingas good as it was when Ender’s mother and father ruled,or better. Mair could do that if she was just given the chance.

Hope blossoms in my chest, thick and thorny vines of it that wrap around my heart and squeeze. It’s dangerous to hope, but I can’t help it. Ineedhope.

Armin stops outside of my room and touches my shoulder gently. He says, “We can do this.”

We. It’s odd, to think of him as on my side.Weimplies that we are in this together.

I ask it before I mean to. “Do you even care what happens to Aligris?”

He blinks at me, surprised.

I say, “I won’t be offended if you don’t. But... you just sounded like it mattered to you what happened to my country.”

After a moment, he shrugs. “I can’t say it will affect me very much either way. But... I have been around since it first rose in place of the kingdom before it. And I will be sad to see it go if your Queen does not prevail.”

And it would, I realize. It would fall to ash, become nothing, if we lost. There would be no one to rule—not since the whole monarchy, since all the Lords and Ladies and Dukes and Duchesses were deposed by Mair’s mother, Queen Lethe. Surely, one of the fae fighting against us would try to lead, but how would that work? They would be too fragile, and other countries too strong. I have no doubt they would wipe Aligris out within the next decade.

Which means that, after I’ve finished serving my time with Armin, I could come back and Aligris could be gone. Everything I’ve ever known could be something else entirely.

The thought cuts through that satisfaction I felt earlier, at the sight of all the demon witches willing to stand for my country.

My country, which might just go up in flames while I’m here, in Atheya.

And I’ll have no way of knowing until I come back. Maybe I won’t want to come back. Maybe it’ll be gone and there will be nothing left for me in the mortal realm. Maybe Armin will make me go, anyway.

Maybe I’ll have nowhere to go at all, no one to serve. Maybe I won’t be anyone anymore when all is said and done.

I don’t know if the thought terrifies or relieves me.

Chapter 18

Armin

breakfast

I join Mavey for breakfast the next morning.

By her expression, Mavey seems surprised by the ordinary food we eat, as she shovels scrambled eggs into her mouth.

We’ll be leaving Atheya later today, though I’m not sure if she’s got a plan for what we’ll do after that. I do know that neither of us trusts the other to leave one another to our own devices for too long—I fear she’ll try to find a way out of the bargain, and Mavey seems to think I’ll find a way to twist it to my favor, as if there’s a loophole I’ll discover if she’s not around.

Not the most logical of thought processes, but I can’t say that I don’t understand it.

When her expression of surprise doesn’t go away, even after she’s nearly finished her plate, I finally ask, “What? Did you expect a more gruesome meal than eggs topped with cheese?” There are also crispy strips of bacon, orange juice, biscuits, and pastries with an assortment of options.

She shrugs. “I’m not sure what I expected. But... but no. This definitely wasn’t it.”

I can’t help but give her a wicked smile. “Perhaps you thought we’d feed off blood. Is that it? Do you also think we prefer coffins to beds?”

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