Page 17 of Prince of Never

‘It seems you’re well known here,’ I said.

She shrugged.‘We all come here.There are limited places we’re allowed to go… unaccompanied.’

‘Why?Because we’re not high fae?’I asked incredulously.She nodded.‘Well, that’s just… speciesist.’

She snorted a laugh at my made-up word, coaxing a giggle out of me too.‘I don’t suppose they’re too different from the lords and ladies in the human world, are they?’

Lords and ladies of the human world?I almost laughed.But I supposed it was arrogant to think that the ways of my world were common knowledge.‘We don’t really have those anymore,’ I said, though honestly, it was perhaps similar.‘We do have different classes, I suppose, those who are rich and those who aren’t.But on a basic human level, we’re all equal.Or… in principle we are.’

Sarah nodded but seemed lost in thought, as if she was trying to wrap her head around a foreign concept.One I wasn’t really explaining very well.

‘It’s complicated, I guess, if you haven’t grown up with it,’ I said instead.Talking about home filled me with a longing to get back there.Ethan would be so worried, and Ivy, too.No doubt he’d told her of my disappearance by now.Would I ever see them again?My eyes drifted around the room, falling on the door.This would be the perfect time to make a break for it.I was already out of the castle.Tarian had brought me here through some sort of portal.I wasn’t sure the creature guarding it would help me back through it, but maybe I could convince him.Or just distract him and jump right in?The ramifications of a reckless action like that could be catastrophic, but it was better than waiting for the prince of darkness to overcome his little problem and kill me.

‘Please don’t,’ Sarah said, the hurt in her voice snapping my attention back to her.

Guilt twisted in my stomach.‘I’m sorry, I just…’

‘You miss your home,’ she said, offering a sad smile.‘But the Shadowmire is dangerous, and the prince would be furious.’

She didn’t say what she really meant, and she didn’t need to.If I escaped after she’d snuck me out, she would cop the brunt of the punishment.I couldn’t do that to her.She’d been so kind to me since I arrived, it would be an awful way to repay that kindness.I’d have to choose another moment, one she couldn’t be blamed for.‘I won’t,’ I promised.

She exhaled in relief and got up from her chair.‘I’ll get us another round,’ she said, her usual brightness back.I honestly didn’t know how she could be so chipper all the time.It was as if she was sunshine itself.It made me feel like a grey cloud that kept trying to block out the light.

I lost track of how much we drank as she asked me questions about the human realm.And it was… nice.I felt strangely comfortable in that tavern surrounded by fae.As the night progressed, the music grew more jovial, the pace speeding up, and people took to dancing on a small patch of floor space that was cleared of all obstacles, which I assumed was supposed to be a dancefloor.The sounds around us grew louder as each group competed to be heard over the noise, and the ale was starting to go to my head, making me feel light and carefree, something I hadn’t felt in years.Despite everything that had happened, I was actually having fun.

I was thinking of dancing myself when the tavern suddenly grew hushed and tense; conversations halted as heads in every corner of the room turned towards the door.I followed their stares, my eyes falling upon a dark-haired man in the doorway, staring at me with a look of mingled disbelief and rage.

Tarian had come for me.

Chapter 9

Tarian

Myvisittothearchives had been unproductive.In an underground labyrinth housing thousands of years of history on endless shelves spiralling down seemingly endless corridors, I should have been able to findsomethingthat could help me.The keepers of the archives had brought me plenty of books and scrolls on all variations of bonding magic, and all I’d found confirmed what Arun had said: that there wasn’t much that could bind a powerful high fae for this long.Daysnow.Daysof this insufferable itch at the back of my mind, wanting to check on Imogen, go to Imogen,stareat Imogen,touchImogen.Wanting to know what she was thinking, what she was feeling, if she felt the same itch I did.

When I’d asked one of the archivists for information on bonding magic that had that kind of staying power, he’d brought me a book onmate bonds.I’d pushed it away, disgusted.

‘This isn’t what I asked for,’ I’d snapped, and the bent-spined, half-blind creature had scuttled off to find something else, muttering to himself as he went.When he’d been out of sight, I’d pulled the book towards me, apprehensive as I fingered the smooth burgundy cover.I could look at it while I waited, I’d decided.It didn’t mean the information was relevant to me.I’d opened it and flicked through a few pages, scanning over the contents....sparked through touch...fate-driven bond...timeless and eternal...consummation gives rise to a physical mark...I slammed the book shut when the archivist’s footsteps approached, scowling as I thrust the book at him for return to whatever dark pit he’d retrieved it from.

Now, returning from the archives without having found anything to prove the point I’d been trying to make to Arun, I was bad-tempered and covered in dust.And I was looking for Imogen without consciously deciding to do so, my feet headed for the servant’s quarters automatically, like I’d worn down my discipline for the day to the point that I could no longer resist.I kept thinking about the moment I’d witnessed earier, when she’d been flicking bubbles at a housemaid.The way she looked when she was laughing, the way her eyes shone with joy.

The servant’s quarters were unusually quiet.

‘My lord!’Madam Hetia blustered as she bustled out of her office to meet me.‘Can I help you?’

‘Where is everyone?’I asked.

‘We didn’t expect you back until much later, sire.Some of the staff have gone into the village.Would you like me to fetch them back?’

‘No, let them have their fun.But I’d like to see the new housemaid.’

‘She’s gone with them, sir.’

I stared at her, for a moment sure I’d misheard.‘She’s gone with them?’I repeated slowly.Madam Hetia seemed to realise her mistake.She began to shrink down, stammering some sounds that weren’t quite words.But I was already storming away from her, anger tangling with a sharp, irrational fear that had nothing to do with me and everything to do with that clawing, demanding magic that had been tormenting me ever since I’d touched the girl.It was all instinct, all roaring possession, driving me tofind herbefore something happened to her.Madness when I’d so recently wanted her dead.My thoughts flicked briefly to that burgundy book before dismissing it.Whatever this was, I would break it, but right now I couldn’t think beyond dragging my prisoner back to Dreadhold and locking her back in the room I’d given her.I should never have let her out of it.

The village attached to Dreadhold was only small, a collection of homes of mainly lesser fae and half breeds clustered together in a protective wall that kept the creatures of the Shadowmire out.I knew the tavern the servants usually drank at: a building on the edge of town that seemed to be staggering to one side, threatening to collapse in a heap at any moment.

Night was settling in as I approached it, turning the air cold, and I tried to reign in some of my fury before I reached for the door.I hadn’t made it clear that Imogen was a prisoner.The other servants wouldn’t have known she wasn’t to leave the castle.Most of the staff outside of the servants wouldn’t even know she existed.

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