Page 33 of Prince of Never

‘But none who know what I just told you.Think about it, think about it, we’ve got that out of the way now, right?You can put precautions in place, make sure I’m not a leaky boat, head it off at the pass, then when you need the sight, there’s no worrying about me finding out.I can be your personal oracle.’

‘I don’t much want you as my personal anything,’ I muttered.‘And the power of sight has brought me nothing but trouble.’

‘But fight fire with fire, right?Right?Fight prophesies with prophesies?I can be an asset!Better than needing an oracle down the line and having to take a risk with a new one, hey?I’ve got some sense, got some self-interest.I’d not be stupid enough to loose my lips.And I’ve got no other alignments in the court.’

‘You just told me you were friends with half a dozen fae on the High Council.’

He scratched his head and wiped his nose on the back of his hand.‘Friends might have been a liberal term.Look, I’d swear myself to you.We can shake on it.Loyalty all the way.’

I rose to my feet and scowled down at him as I considered it.He was spouting whatever he thought might lead me to sparing his life, yes, but he was also making some sense.There’d been a handful of oracles who’d been consulted and had led me astray over the years.Haddock, lowlife that he was, clearly possessed an unusually strong gift of sight.He was the one who had finally led me to Imogen, after all.He might be useful.

But leaving him alive would be a risk.He knew Imogen’s face.He knew what she was to me.In the wrong hands, that information would be a weapon.

‘I want your blood oath,’ I said finally.

He blanched.‘Ah, well you see...’He trailed off as he caught my expression.‘I’m at your service, your lordship.One blood oath, coming right up.’He began to pat at his pockets again.‘I’m mated myself, you know,’ he said as he drew open his coat and peered into a pouch sewn into the lining.‘Going on a century now.Love her to bits, my Agnes.Of course, she threatens to break our bond every now and then, when I’m in a bit too deep with the leprechauns.But can’t be done once it’s consummated, eh?She’s stuck with me now.’He laughed weakly as he pulled a small flick knife out of his belt.

‘What did you just say?’I said slowly.

‘Oh, you don’t need to worry about the leprechauns, your eminence.I only—’

‘No, about your mate trying to break your bond.’

He opened the knife and hovered the blade over his hand, turning it this way and that as though trying to find the place that would hurt the least.‘Yeah, she’s a little spitfire, my Agnes.’

‘Where’d she get the idea that the bond could be broken?’

He waved the knife in the air flippantly.‘Females always know these sorts of things.Know how to be rid of you.I think she looked into it a bit when we first met, to be honest.’He fell into thought, frowning a little at some memory, before he shook it off.‘But she never figured out how to go about doing it.And it’s gotta be done before your branding and whatnot comes in, while the bond is still weak.And I can be pretty charming when I want to be.’He gave me a wink.‘She didn’t have long before that happened.’

My lip curled in revulsion.‘Your oath, Haddock.’

‘Yeah, yeah, of course.Enough chin wagging.’He pressed the knife to his forearm and took a deep breath, before he dragged it along the skin, leaving a line of welling blood behind.His hand shook so badly that he dropped the blade as he held out his arm for my inspection.With a sigh, I drew my finger through the blood and traced the whirling rune of vows in shining red.When I was done, I arched an eyebrow at him, waiting.

He cleared his throat.‘My pledge is bound, my blood is bled, let death hold words in promise said.I vow eternal loyalty to you, the Unseelie Prince, and that your wishes be my wishes, and my sight, your sight.’

‘And your silence.’

‘And my silence,’ he added with a grimace.‘I’ll not speak a word of your business to anyone without your say so.’

I held his watery stare for a long moment, before finally nodding.‘I accept your oath.’

The blood rune flared bright, and Haddock squeaked as it burned its way into his skin, leaving behind a white scar when the light died away.He stared down at it for a moment before looking back up at me.‘I feel like we should hug or something.’

‘I might have need of you soon,’ I said, ignoring the comment.‘Try not to get yourself gutted before then.’

‘Of course, your lordship!As you command.I’ll not take any unnecessary risks.I’ll keep myself safe and healthy for that day,’ he called as I walked away from him, back into the street.

As I slipped past a fruit seller and into an alley, I wished I’d not let my emotions escape me.I hadn’t meant to destroy Haddock’s book of visions.I hadn’t wanted to turn that picture of Imogen to dust.And I could tell myself that what I regretted was the lost opportunity, the lost information, the possibility that there had been something in that image that I didn’t see immediately that might be important.But it would be a lie.

I just wanted to look at it again.

I hadn’t been able to shake the sense of unfinished business hanging over me since the spring.It was becoming an obsession pecking away at the back of my mind, a refrain of questions demanding to know why I had let her slip away.It was a clear indication that I needed to move faster.I couldn’t trust myself to be around her, and if what Haddock said was true, then all the more reason to stay away from her.I had to find a way to break the bond, and I had to do it while keeping my damn hands off her.

Of course, any resolve I had to stay away from her was shattered when I returned to Dreadhold and found her gone.

Gone.

Frustration sunk its serrated teeth into my shoulders, tightening every tendon, corralling the searing burn of anger.How many times was I going to have to go and find her?Why was she never where she was supposed to be?

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