Page 21 of Essence of the Throne

“Give me your hands,” I whisper, holding my palms out in silent invitation. Unlike mine, there is no hesitation in his movements as he wraps his fingers around my wrist. His skin is warm. Soft. The skin of someone who lived their childhood in royal privilege.

It’s exactly what I need to calm my raging thoughts and center my focus.

With one last look between his inquisitive eyes, I close mine and tug—

I barely touch my umbral strand before releasing it, wincing as I sink further into myself again.

I need to do this. No, Iwantto do this.And fuck if I’ll allow my past to dictate any choice I make.

No one tells me what to do. Not even myself, apparently.

After a few deep breaths, the heaviness in my chest lifts as my mind falls into the calm I thrive in during assignments. The kind of calm that pushes me forward and is confident instead of hesitant in all decisions.

I reach for my umbral strand once more and coax the shadows out from beneath my skin, relaxing at their cool touch. The hitch of the prince’s breath is the only encouragement I need to pull them out fully. I can't quite grasp how I feel as I open my eyes and take in his shocked expression in front of me. He watches the tendrils of my essence slide over my arms and around my torso, as if they are greeting me with the lightest of hugs.

I know they are not sentient, but there is certainly more to them than being just the absence of light that I bend to my will. They feel almost…full.

I absorb every small detail of Caspian’s reaction as the shadows drift to his hands and caress his arms. He seems to be in pure disbelief, laughing softly and watching as the essence studies him. My brows furrow. I didn’t expect him to be scared, but I also did not expect him to be so happy and open to forbidden essence touching him.

It is against his father’s laws, after all.

Laws that he’s been raised to one day uphold.

The shadows seem to have a chosen path, swirling around him playfully. The feel of the prince’s body is distracting as they mold to each ridge of muscle. I’ve always appreciated this little quirk about the shadows—they are almost an extension of me; as if I had extra limbs that I used to feel the realm around me. I send a tendril to capture his throat, tightening until I feel his pulse as a phantom of touch under my fingers. It’s beating almost as fast as mine.

But that’s not all I sense—no, there’s something…more? If the shadows had the capability to feel, I’d describe their current state as fondness. Their aura seeps with an air of familiarity, as if they recognize the human they’re exploring.

“This is incredible,” Caspian whispers to himself. His movements lock me in a trance as he pulls a hand back to run his fingers along the different tendrils circling him.

And what a sight it is to see.

Image of Ariella showing Caspian her shadows.

I clear my throat when heat builds deep inside my abdomen. I’m utterly fascinated by the view before me. I hadn’t considered how it would affect me to watch my essence slide across the prince’s body. Tofeelevery detail they do—places that my own hands have yet to explore.

Caspian grins as he continues to dote on the shadows, and if I did not know any better, I’d suspect they were blushing at his attention. The areas he focuses on darken under his scrutiny, but they do not express any negative sentiments, so I leave them to explore.

I sweep a finger upward, coaxing a tendril to spread through his hair. I’ve always preferred my ethereal affinity to the others. The strands in those affinities weave essence from land and objects outside of my body, whereas those in the ethereal affinity weave from the essence that residesinsideme; I’m unsure of where, though the humming—what I believe is my essence—feels to be as close to my soul as it could be.

That was a long and difficult lesson that I struggled with in the guild. Even as a child, I knew the importance of not exposing my ethereal affinity. So when the time came to train the essence listed on official documents, I took much longer than the other children to grasp that the strands I used did not weave from the essence inside of me. They came to life through the essence offered by the realm. Learning to weave entirely out of my body, relying on my surroundings, was disconcerting. Frustrating.

And sitting here with the prince, watching him marvel over the essence as if it hasn’t been the single most threatening thing about my existence, it feels almost the same. Frustrating, strange, overwhelming. Fuck, if someone told me before the competition that I’d be sharing such intimacies with the heir of Eldoria, I’d have slit their throat just for uttering such nonsense.

An unfamiliar sensation ripples through me.

“Ariella, I ca—” His sentence cuts off abruptly as I do something I’ve refused to for years.

Something I’m making a problem for the future, more rational side of me.

But right now? I need to do this.

I tug on my psionic strand and melt the essence into Caspian’s head the moment I catch his eye.

Don’t speak,I instruct his body, fascinated with the way his mouth continues to form words, but no sound leaves his lips. It’s almost amusing—the degree in which his eyes widen in my direction.

Ideas swirl through my head and…Oh.I never considered just how fun my essence could be.

My lip quirks in time with his rising heart rate. I’ve long wondered if others could feel my essence claiming their bodies as my own, though it seems not if Caspian’s reaction is to be believed. He’s looking at me as if he’s worried I will experience whatever ailment has overtaken him. His hands snap to his throat, and I don’t like that. I don’t like that at all.

---