Page 160 of Bound to the Shadow Prince

He flinches, and then his shoulders sag. “Aye, even if it must be blindly.”

I don’t understand this, any of it. I don’t understand why he won’t tell me what’s going on, or what’s so terrible a secret that he has to hide it from me. Is there a listening spell cast upon his home? Some sort of enchantment that forbids him from speaking certain things aloud? I wish desperately that I understood.

But I do know that I trust Nemeth. “Then blindly it is.”

A worn smile creases his face. He looks so tired, my beloved mate. So world-weary. When he pulls me into his arms, I hug him and then press kisses to his chest, my hand reaching under his kilt. I’m determined to make him forget, even if it’s for just a little while. To make the darkness lift from his eyes.

We make love, and afterward, Nemeth holds me against him so tightly it’s as if he fears he’ll lose me forever. I say nothing about it, of course.

But the next morning, when I find him gone again? I move to the teleportation circle and nudge the placeholder stone out of the way.

Chapter

Seventy-Eight

I’m not sure who I’m expecting to come through the teleportation circle, but I suspect it has something to do with the notes that have appeared on the door twice now. So I prepare myself. I comb and braid my hair, dressing it with gold chains twined throughout. I put on my finest Fellian gown and slippers, and I wait.

When a large, deep gray unfamiliar Fellian steps through and looks around, I get to my feet, rising from the bed, and hold myself like the princess I am. “You’ve been looking for me?”

“You’re the princess Candromeda?” he asks. “From Lios?”

I incline my chin, holding a shawl around my shoulders as I do, pretending to be chilled, but more so I can hide my belly. “Were you expecting other humans to be hidden away in Prince Nemeth’s apartments?”

He does the wing-flutter thing that tells me he’s embarrassed, and gives me a quick bow. “I have been sent by a friend. Do you know Riza?”

Even though I’m not entirely sure that this isn’t a trap, just hearing her name makes me burst into tears. “Is she with you? Is she safe?”

“Aye,” the Fellian says. “She’s been trying to contact you for the last two days. Have you not received her missives?”

I shake my head, a knot in my throat. I don’t want to betray Nemeth, but if Riza is the one sending me notes, how can he keep them from me? He knows how much I miss her. “Can you take me to her?”

He gives me an uncertain look. “I will have to fly you through Darkfell itself?—”

“You can teleport me,” I blurt. “I have Fellian blood.”

He looks utterly shocked. “You…what?”

“I have Fellian blood,” I state again. “Nemeth can teleport me.”

“How is this possible?”

“I shall be happy to tell you everything,” I say in my loftiest princess voice, “But only in the presence of Riza. If she’s truly here as you say, you’ll take me to her right now.”

The male nods immediately and holds out his hand. “Then come with me, princess.”

This might be a mistake. This male, for all his polite manner, might be Nemeth’s enemy. I could be walking into a trap. And yet…Riza. I think of the notes she’s sent, notes that Nemeth has withheld from me.

I trust Nemeth. I trust him with my life.

But I need to know what’s going on. So I put my hand in the stranger’s grasp and let him teleport me away.

The world tilts, my vision fogging like it always does when Nemeth teleports with me. I blink rapidly until everything settles again, and when I can see, I notice we’re in an unfamiliar place. It’s a house, but it’s unlike Nemeth’s. There’s a winding set of stairs, for one. But everything seems more spread out, more sprawled and open. There’s a stone ceiling high above me, covered with frescoes and held up by carved marble columns,and a fresh airiness to the rooms that I didn’t feel deeper inside the mountain.

There’s also the scent of salt. “Are we near the ocean?”

“Aye,” the Fellian says. “This is my family’s waterfront home. We have another deeper inside the mountain, but my mate prefers it here.”

“Your mate?” I ask as he moves forward, opening a pair of delicate double doors to reveal a balcony outside. It’s raining, because of course it is, but there’s a canopy protecting the balcony itself from the downpour.

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