Page 150 of Bound to the Shadow Prince

“Do you have quarters high up because you’re important or because they want to forget you exist?” I twirl a finger, gesturing at his sumptuous apartments.

He gives me a narrow-eyed look. “Both, I imagine. My younger brother Ajaxi is quick to agree with Ivornath’s plans, no matter how strange or convoluted. I am the one that protests, and thus I am not nearly as loved by my brothers.” Nemeth’s mouth curves up in one corner and he pops a bite of cheese into his mouth. “I was never here much anyhow. I would visit a few times a year, but I lived at the Alabaster Citadel up until a few months before entering the tower.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you leave the citadel a few months before you were supposed to enter the tower?” I think of Meryliese, who never visited court to see me or Erynne. She stayed in the citadel up until the very end, only to die in a shipwreck. My conscience twinges and I wonder how she felt, trapped in one place and waiting to be trapped in yet another. We should have reached out to her more. Should have written more. Visited. Something.

Nemeth’s expression grows shuttered and he holds a piece of cheese out to me. “Family matters. Eat more. Remember you’re carrying our child.”

I know a deflection when I see one. “As if I could forget. All right, what’s that circle, then?” I point at the one that Nemeth appeared in when he teleported back. It is the same one the servant teleported in with. “Why does everyone come through there?”

He nods, as if this is an easy question. “Remember when I said that a Fellian can die if they teleport into a spot and something is in the way? The circles prevent that. They are safespots, spelled to ensure that if someone is standing in place, no one else can come through until the circle is vacated. Each house and building in Darkfell has such a circle.”

Makes sense. I nibble on the cheese he gave me, wondering if it’d be too greedy to snag another piece of bread. There’s a tasty-looking end near his side of the table that he’s ignoring and I have a powerful lust for. “Very well. So circles are for travel. What about the red swirl? The one on so many of the doors?”

“I wasn’t looking at the doors,” he tells me.

I dip my finger in oil and take the last piece of bread, drawing the door symbol on it. It’s almost snakelike, if the snake was eating its own tail, and each one had been a bright, vivid red. “I saw that marked on several doors. Do you know what it means?”

Nemeth stares down at the bread. He picks it up…and then rips it in half and offers half to me. “I’ll have to ask when I speak with my brother.”

Hm. It’s strange that Nemeth—as learned as he is—wouldn’t know a symbol like that. But I don’t press. I’m just thrilled to be here with him, safe inside Darkfell. For once, it feels like we can stop running in search of the next meal. We can breathe. I smile at him and lick the oil off my finger, then finish off my piece of bread. “The brother that I met?”

“No. That was Ajaxi. Ivornath is king. He is the one I must speak to.”

“When?”

“As soon as possible.” He rubs his jaw.

He’s right. Best we get this taken care of as quickly as possible. One day that my sister spends in slavery is a day too many. I don’t care about our differences—she was doing what she thought was best for Lios, for our bloodline. I can disagree with her but I can’t be angry. Not after everything that’s happened. “Good idea,” I tell him, fighting back a yawn. “Let me wash up and I’ll go with you.”

“No,” Nemeth says immediately. At my surprised look, he continues in a gentler voice. “It’s better if it’s just me for now, love. You might not be as diplomatic in your thoughts as you could be.” His gaze moves to my belly. “And we have a few secrets I am not quite willing to share just yet.”

I want to argue, but Nemeth looks tired. So tired. I remind myself that while I was sitting in a dungeon, passed out on a mat, he was searching frantically for me. That he didn’t know if I was alive or dead. My heart softens. “Tomorrow, then.”

“Tomorrow.” He rubs his face and gives me a weary smile, reaching for my hand. “You’ll be safe here, even without me. There’s a stone carving by the teleport circle. Put that in the circle once I’m gone and no one will be able to slip in without coming through the front, and I will lock the front with a spell that will only allow myself to cross the threshold.”

Once again, I marvel at the cleverness of the spells. A stone—or any object—placed in the circle stops the teleportation and gives someone privacy. It’s genius. “So we’re all alone up here?” When he nods, I get to my feet and move toward him, tugging at the leather straps on his chest. They’re bloated with seawater and the metal buckles are tarnished, but he’s here, and he’s gorgeous…and he’s mine. “So that means if I decide I can’t go another moment without licking your knot, no one would interrupt?”

His eyes grow heated. “No one.”

Well now, that sounds lovely. “Good, because I missed you dreadfully,” I tell him, aching with the truth of it. It’s been forever since we’ve touched each other intimately. Forever since we’ve gotten to caress one another. Forever since we’ve eased the hungry ache of need.

Our bond feels like the only thing that’s constant in this shifting world. I want to touch him, and I want to be touched.

Now.

Chapter

Seventy-Five

Itug at one seawater-soaked strap that crosses his chest. “Would it be inappropriate of me to take my Fellian husband’s knot into my mouth and suck on it until he comes?”

Nemeth’s breath grows ragged. “I…I haven’t bathed.”

I pretend to look around his quarters. “I thought I saw a bathing pool around here. I’m happy to bathe you first.” Personally, I’ve swallowed enough seawater in the last few weeks that I don’t care if his skin tastes like salt and sweat. I don’t care about anything except touching him. He could drag his dick through mud in the next moment and I’d still want to lick him clean, I want him so badly.

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