Page 48 of Taken By the Shadow Prince

He throws his hands in the air. “Of course it fucking matters, Mavey!”

“No, it doesn’t. Because I already made the deal, and there’s no taking it back. I wouldn’t even if I could.” Before he can yell some more for me to tell him what I did, I say, “Armin found five dozen demon witches for us. In return, I’ll go with him to his realm for five years.”

“Fiveyears? Are you insane?”

I shrug my shoulders. “It’s a fair trade. More than fair, if those sixty demon witches are what save this country. I’m only one person, Ellis. In the grand scheme of things, half a decade from me isn’t even a drop in the ocean.”

“I don’t give a shit about the grand scheme of things. You can’t go.”

“I have to.”

“No.”

“I don’t have a choice, Ellis.”

He lifts his chin. “Then I’m going with you.”

I shake my head. “No, you’re not. You wouldn’t last a day in Atheya.”

His brows furrow. “Have you— have youbeento Atheya?”

“Once. And you’d hate it there.”

“I’ll hate it here without you more.”

I place one hand on each of his shoulders. “No, you wouldn’t,” I promise him. “I’ll be back before you know it, alright? And in the meantime, you’re going to find a girl to love, and you’re going to marry her, and you’re going to have a family and a shop where you design your own clothes, and you become famous for it. And when I get back, you’re going to buy me a plot of land right across from yours and build me a house with all your wealth, and we’ll grow old right across the street from each other.”

Tears well in his eyes. He’s never been one to hide his emotions.

That’s exactly why he can’t come.

Ellis wraps his arms around me and buries his face in my hair. “You suck ass,” he mumbles.

“I’ll miss you, too,” I whisper.

More than he’ll ever know.

Chapter 27

Mavey

a dance

Mair’s wedding was just as I suspected it would be—grand. Extravagant.

Lillian and Isa must have put hours into it. The ceremony itself was lovely. The Sefa, though without the robes they usually wear since he’s retired, could not stop grinning. It made me wonder how long it had been since he’d last spoken for a wedding, and now he was doing it for the Queen and his soon-to-be King. And while the traditional rope had to be replaced with a ratty thing from storage, the message was still clear as Mair and Leven spun and spun, and came face to face when the rope ran out. There were Iulean traditions woven in, too, like kneeling before each other as they said their vows and tying thin red threads to each other’s pinkies that they would leave until they break and fall off.

Now that the ceremony itself is over, and Mair and Leven are united, he’s a King. It was a little surprise Mair made sure to have incorporated into the day, but now it’s capped off with what is decidedly my least favorite part of the whole thing.

The dancing.

Mair looks happy, though. She and Leven both do. Throughout the day, she’s worn a total of three dresses. They were all undoubtedly made by my brother, probably done in any spare moment he could catch, from the moment he woke until the second the sleep won his fight to stay awake and keep sewing. I wouldn’t be surprised to find his fingers flecked with the smallest of scabs from pricking himself with the needle.

The dress she married in was white, of course, which is both an Iuelan and Aligrian tradition, I’ve been told. The dress with its heart-shaped neckline and body-hugging bodice that spread out around her was perfect for her, and Leven wept when he saw her.

The one she wore after, for his coronation—so that he wasKing, and not the Queen’s Consort, was of Aligrian’s colors—cobalt and gold. It was fashioned in a way that made it seem far less ostentatious than one would expect, with such contrast and vividness.

Leven had cried once more at his coronation, probably because he hadn’t seen it coming.

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