Page 10 of The Prince's Mate

Before either of them could say another word, I used my magic to hurry back to my living room, where I fell onto the couch and buried my face in a pillow, finally letting off the scream that’d been building in my chest.

Ro’Shassz

Okay, so step three might’ve gone a tad off the rails, but this might be good for them. I still didn’t understand why Caelan didn’t just tell Walker they were mates. It was a line I didn’t want to cross, but if Walker kept being such a dumbass, I might have to tell him.

The look on his face after Damien had almost blurted it out was interesting, though. I would have to figure out what was going on in his head.

Step Four: Wait and watch.

Five

Walker

In all the time Caelan had been gone, and in the time since he’d been back, I’d never once thought about what leaving had meant for him. Not until now.

Dad had never lost his cool with me like that. I’d seen him angry before but never at me.

Dad’s words kept ringing in my head, and for the first time, I thought about what leaving Otherworld had been like for Caelan. I knew he had shown up in Otherworld a few years after Dad, which meant he’d been an Otherworlder for at least 900 years. In all that time, he’d been Dad’s best friend. He’d also been close to Maximus, Nox, and a lot of the others.

And then he’d left them all. Dad said Caelan had sacrificed for me. What did that mean? I’d known he’d left because of me, and I’d assumed it was because he’d gotten tired of my clinginess. I'dheld on to that explanation for all these years, but I wasn’t so sure now.

If that was the problem, he could’ve just told me he didn’t want to hang out with me, or avoided me until I got the message.

You have no idea how much Caelan has sacrificed for you…

No, it had to be something else. What did Dad mean? What other reason related to me could Caelan possibly have for leaving? And what had changed to allow him to come back?

I needed answers, and I wasn’t sure who to ask. Caelan had stopped Dad from saying too much, and I doubted Dad would tell me anything if I went asking.

“Ro,” I said.

“Yes?” he said, slithering onto the couch.

“Do you know why Caelan left back then?” I asked, and he stared at me for a long moment.

“You know, you’ve never asked me that,” he said, and I ducked my head, something like shame flitting through me. I was starting to realize I’d made a whole lot of assumptions when it came to Caelan. The look on his face when I’d told him I hated him—which I now knew without a doubt was a big fat lie—flashed through my mind, and I squeezed my eyes shut, giving my head a hard shake in the hopes of dislodging the image.

“Yeah, I know. I always thought it was because he got sick of me,” I said, and Ro made a scoffing sound. “So? Do you know why he left?”

“I do.”

“Will you tell me?”

“Nope. It’s not my place to tell,” Ro said, and I raised a brow at him.

“Since when do you give a crap about what your place is?”

“Since Caelan earned my respect. If you want to know why he did what he did, you’ll have to ask him,” he said, and I stared at him, dumbfounded. Now I really needed to know, if onlybecause whatever the reason was, it’d been good enough for Ro. I remembered how Caelan and Ro had bitched at each other when I was a kid, and now the snake was being respectful of him. What the hell?

“Okay. I guess I’ll ask Caelan,” I declared as I got up.

I debated between going to his door or just showing up in his room, but decided I’d disrespected him enough for today. I walked over and knocked on his door.

There was silence before I heard footsteps and then the door opened. His hair stood up like he’d been running his fingers through it and he stepped back once he saw it was me, crossing his arms over his chest. I wasn’t sure if I was welcome inside, and I decided to stay where I was, sticking my hands into my pockets in an attempt at nonchalance.

“Did you need anything?” Caelan asked, and it struck me that in all the time since he’d been back, he hadn’t once been rude to me, no matter how much of a dick I was to him. We teased each other and talked smack, sure, but Caelan never started it. How had I missed all of this?

“Uh, I wanted to apologize. For earlier,” I said, and he nodded without saying anything. Biting my lower lip, I blew out a breath and said, “I’m sorry for what I said. I didn’t mean it.”

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