Page 40 of Taken By the Shadow Prince

We finish dinner in silence—him eating, me sipping on my drink slowly as I think. It isn’t the kind of quiet that’s tense, just... companionable, in its own way. Even if referring to Armin as my companion seems wrong.

But maybe it isn’t.

I find that I talk more around him. Not necessarily because I want to, but... he seems to say things that warrant replies more often than other people do. As if determined to make sure what he’s saying is worthy of conversation. Does he do it on purpose? Or does he just... know what to say?

I don’t know. I’ve yet to figure him out, no matter how hard I try to. Perhaps it’s because he’s the first of his kind that I’ve encountered, and I’ve yet to learn how his species works. Or maybe he just operates differently than most people as a whole.

I enjoy it. He is a challenge to me whereas most people are not. I don’t understand most his actions or his motives, and I like that.

When he’s finished eating, Armin stands from the table and drops onto my bed, as if it’s his. I frown, but follow him. He sprawls across it, but I sit with my legs crossed and my back against the headboard, watching him, hoping it’ll give me some answers about who he is. My thoughts, unfortunately, tend to stray the longer I watch him. I find myself fascinated by him, his beauty. Marveling at the strength in his jaw, at the sharp nose, the eyes that are almost feminine in their shape but still manage to hold that masculine angle, the hardness, to them.

Armin is beautiful. Undoubtedly so.

And—and he’s watching me, too.

I think about leaning down and kissing him, and pulling his shirt off, and telling him we finally have time to be distracted, but then he asks, “Tell me about your life, Mavey.”

“Inconsequential.”

Armin frowns. “You are nothing of the sort.”

I hesitate at his words. Or perhaps it isn’t the sentence itself, but more so the thick heat of honesty that surrounds them. And I believe him—or, at least, I believe he believes it. That for him, that is true.

But why?

That, I don’t know.

So I ask, “What do you want to know?”

Armin smiles, satisfied, and says, “Anything you’ll tell me, I suppose. Where did you grow up?”

“Here.”

“In the castle?”

I shake my head. “No. In Aligris.”

It’s not enough for him. “Wherein Aligris? In an estate? An orphanage?”

I blow out a breath. “In the slums of Urell. It’s a small, poor town near the border. We were the poorest of the poor. I mean, if you’re living in the worst houses among an impoverished village, then you know you’ve really got no money at all.”

That’s why that cake had been so important to my father—why those men had tried to take it from him. Nobody could afford that luxury. I hated to eventhinkof how long he might have saved for it—for something we’d quickly eat, something that offered us no nutrition, only tongues coated in sugar.

“Did you like it?”

I laugh drily. “It’s hard to enjoy having no money. Being afraid you’d not have enough for rent and wind up on the streets. But... but I didn’thateit. My mother and father did everything they could to make sure we were happy, despite our financial situation. She and my brother tailored clothing and sewed up holes in clothes for cheap to make money, and my dad and I would hunt and fish. We’d take our good pelts a few towns over where people could afford to spend money on them and then come back home. The fish we ate—almost every night, really. I’d be glad if I never had to eat it again.”

Armin sits up and faces me more fully. Does he actuallycareabout all of this? Is it more than just polite conversation, than getting to know the girl he’s shackled himself to for half a decade? “And your brother? What is he like?”

“My parents used to say it was a wonder we weren’t more alike, since we shared the same stars. He’s much more talkative than I am, and he’s got absolutely no shame. But he’s a wonder with a needle and thread. You could give him the ugliest fabric there is, and he’d still turn it into something beautiful. He’s also a huge romantic, though I’m not sure he’d ever willingly admit it. I think he’s afraid he’ll never find someone to love.”

“He’ll find a woman to marry soon enough. I saw him—he’s rather handsome. Looks just like you, but more... manly.”

“He’s not interested in marrying because someone thinks he’spretty,” I saw, frowning. “Ellis wants love. He believes in soulmates. Who knows how long it will take for him to fall in love?”

Armin gives me a thoughtful nod. “You must love your brother very much to defend him against a harmless statement.”

I answer quickly. “I love him more than anything.” My whole life, it’s been Ellis and I against all the odds. But I’ve also been the one to take care of him, through everything. When our father died, when our mom died... it was always me who put his pieces back together, and by then I’d be so tired that I’d just shove mine in randomly and hope they stuck.

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