Page 70 of The Prince's Curse

“What in the Goddess’ name are you doing?” Haldric demanded. He set his feet, refusing to budge. “Let go of me!”

“I’m saving you from yourself!” Benjin retorted.

He continued to pull at Haldric, trying to force him out of the spell’s path, but it was a losing battle, the prince too strong.

“This is my decision! This is what I want!”

“Too bad!” Benjin snarled.

Abandoning his futile efforts, Benjin raised a hand crackling with runeflame and yanked with a rush of force. The Evocation caught Haldric by surprise, jerking him forward so that he stumbled into Benjin’s arms.

Benjin grinned, holding the prince up. “I got you, and I’m never letting go.Never.”

Haldric gazed up at him, something akin to wonder in his eyes. Then, the whirlwind of magic around them shuddered. The room began to rumble.

“No!” the Grand Magus screamed. “Get out of there before you—”

But it was too late.

In a spiral of collapsing magic, the ritual exploded, hurling the Grand Magus across the room. Eddies of runeflame coalesced around Benjin and Haldric, buffeting them like a gathering cocoon. Benjin gripped Haldric tightly and Haldric returned the gesture, clinging to Benjin in a desperate embrace even as everything else faded away beneath the blinding sheen of blue light.

PART III: FUTURE

twenty-six

Haldric

Haldric awoke in hisown quarters at the palace, snug in his bed beneath the sheets. Someone had undressed him to his smallclothes and deposited him here to rest.

Blinking away the deluge of memories, he groaned and sat up, clutching his head in his hands and rubbing at his exhausted eyes.

Confusion addled his brain as he struggled to sort through it all. Memories of his time with Benjin in the cottage bled into recollections of his past and childhood. Of growing up in the palace in Revesole. Of his father, hale and hearty, and his sister, ever his idol, smiling patiently at him as she taught him some new trick she’d picked up in her training. His father’s sickness and Melisie’s death hit him anew with fresh grief.

But intermingled with those older memories were also recollections of the more recent present, stark and vivid. Of his first, ill-fated run-ins with Benjin. Of their begrudging lessons together. Of the budding closeness they’d shared as Haldricfound in him someone he could trust, open up to. Someone to share his burdens with.

Memories of their trip to Luxem and the newfound intimacy he and Benjin had discovered despite the noose of responsibility tightening around Haldric’s neck. Of their return to the palace, and his growing desperation for some way,anyway out. Of the Grand Magus’ ritual and Haldric’s reckless decision…

Overcome with guilt, Haldric jerked to his feet. He paced about his chamber, struggling to get a grip on his whirlwind of emotions. His feelings for Benjin remained a confused jumble, the handful of blissful months they’d shared in that cottage in Gerald’s Spring intermingling with everything that had come before.

Benjin had risked himself to save Haldric from his own idiocy. Because that’s what it had been—sheer idiocy. Haldric had made a terrible mistake. In a moment of weakness, he’d sought to run from his life rather than face it head on. To flee his responsibility, his duty…and Benjin himself. It had only been a happy accident that, in that respect at least, he had failed.

Fresh urgency seized Haldric, and he hurried to tug on clothes. He had much to sort out, much to seek forgiveness for. But above all else, he had to speak to Benjin. To attempt to apologize for everything…as insufficient as such a gesture might be.

Suitably dressed in a plain leather jerkin, he moved to his door and was startled to find it locked from the outside. He pounded on the wood with a fist.

“This is Prince Haldric. I command you to open this door at once!”

Movement echoed from beyond the door, followed an instant later by aclickas the lock disengaged. The door opened to reveal his aunt dressed in her usual armor. She eyed him warily, flanked by two royal guards.

“Haldric? Is that really you?”

He frowned at her. “Of course it is. Who else would it be?”

She fixed him with a withering look that made him feel like a small child. “We weren’t certain how the ritual might have affected you. The Grand Magus said it worked, but there was no way to tell for sure until you awoke.”

Forcing himself to slow down and take a breath despite his impatience, he offered her a strained smile. “Of course. My apologies, Aunt. I remember everything.” Guilt and regret churned in his gut as he gripped her arm. “Thank you for helping to bring me back where I belong.”

Janelle peered into his face for a long moment, then relaxed, motioning the guards back. “Of course, Haldric. You know I would do anything for you.”

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