Page 71 of Prince of Never

‘Then I’ll take you today.’Tipping her chin up again, I frowned down at her.‘But first, you should eat something.Sarah likely thinks I’m ravishing you right here in the garden.’

‘She wouldnotthink that,’ she said, but her gaze flitted to the doorway again and her cheeks flushed.She didn’t sound sure.Perhaps she was remembering that it wasn’t so farfetched, given what we’d been doing in the garden the night before.

‘Go on.I’ll come and find you later.’

She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed me one last time before she slipped her hand out of mine, and I watched her go with a strange sense of warmth unfurling in my chest, something that had nothing to do with the fate bond tying us together and everything to do with the way her eyes shone when she looked at me.

What did Solas know about her?It wasn’t a coincidence that she’d been branded with Seelie magic, and I was sure he was somehow involved.If I took Imogen to Dhrigada, would the star reader be able to tell me?It wasn’t certain, given that she was aligned with neither court.She might well turn us away and refuse to get involved.Then I groaned, running a hand over my face as I realised we couldn’t see Dhrigada.We couldn’t pass through a portal without it being reported to the queen.But Dhrigada wasn’t the only one who had a connection to the tides of fate, though she was easily the most powerful.The high fae saw her for our fiorainm,but lesser fae made do with common oracles.

Luckily, I knew just where to find one of those.

Chapter 31

Imogen

Flyingwasdefinitelynotmy favourite thing to do in this realm, but I was getting slowly more accustomed to it, though I still gripped Tarian’s waist like he was the only thing between me and the ground.He might trust the beast, but I sure as hell didn’t.

I wasn’t sure where he was taking me exactly or how long it would take to get there, but with each passing minute, that knot in my stomach tightened, growing so big I felt like I might be sick at any moment.Was I really doing this?Did I really believe I wasn’t my parents’ daughter?I was sure every little girl from a dysfunctional family wished she belonged to someone else, but that didn’t make it true.

Who was I?Was I the daughter of Heather and David Summers, faithful church-goers with a firm belief in a God I’d never really been able to believe in myself?And if I wasn’t, did that make me the demon they always claimed me to be?Possessed by evil, seeing monsters that weren’t really there.Or did I belong to someone else?And if so, where were they?Why didn’t they want me?And what did that make me?

I swallowed the lump in my throat.I wasn’t sure if it was better to know or to just pretend.What would the truth really reveal?I hadn’t really thought about that part when Tarian had offered to help me find out.He’d made the suggestion so quickly, an offer on a silver platter, and here we were, flying off in search of answers the very same day.There was an unsettling urgency in the whole process.I hated to think of what Sarah would say when we returned.I thought of the awkward lunch we’d spent sat across a table from each other, with no room for me to explain what she’d seen in the garden while Madam Hetia was slurping away at her soup within hearing distance.Sarah had raised her brows in question every time she’d caught my eye, so I’d focused more and more attention on my plate.How was I supposed to explain this to her?What must she think of me?

We landed with a thump that jostled me, shocking me with fear, and I clung tighter to Tarian.I was eighty percent sure the griffin was trying to scare me on purpose, and when she turned her head and fixed her yellow eyes on me with far too much expression for a bird, that surety rose to ninety percent.She lookedsmug.But Tarian’s hand covered mine, his touch gentle.It was hard to believe he was the same man sometimes.But I wasn’t going to tell him that.I liked this side of him.

I relaxed my grip, letting him go, and he dismounted before reaching up to help me down.The heat of his hands on my waist sent a thrill rushing through my body.If I felt like that every time he touched me, I was going to have to seriously work on my poker face.

The place he’d brought me to was a little cottage by a lake.A creek flowed around the right side of the building, and the windows were lit with a golden light.Flowerbeds swayed either side of a gravel path that curled its way to the front door, and fireflies darted through the evening air as I watched.The whole thing looked so serene that I could see myself living there.

The door flew open and the man who rushed out was definitely not what I expected.Partly because he wasn’t entirely a man.He was short, with dirty blond curls that bounced with each step, and the stubble on his face looked more like laziness than purposeful growth.Of course, these features barely registered before I took in his furred legs and the little hooves they ended in, kicking up dirt as he raced towards us.He was a satyr.An actual satyr.

‘Your lordship!’he said far too loudly, his voice almost a surprised squeak.‘What an...unexpected pleasure.’His eyes darted to me and widened.‘This is her!You brought her here.Why have you brought her here?’I wasn’t sure if he was talking to himself or to Tarian as he stared at me, his face slowly falling as if he expected he was about to be party to some awful deed.

‘Stop blathering, Haddock.I require your services,’ Tarian said flatly.‘And you owe them to me.’

He was definitely still the same man.

‘I’m Imogen, it’s lovely to meet you,’ I said, holding out my hand to him out of habit.He looked at it for a moment before taking it cautiously.

‘I’ve heard humans do greetings like this, never done one before myself,’ he said, shaking my hand enthusiastically.Then he froze, his eyes going wide again, and he looked back at Tarian.‘You—!’

I looked over to find Tarian glaring at him.

‘Not my business,’ the satyr said, holding up his hands in surrender.‘She does have nicer manners than you, though, your lordship.’He squeaked and jumped back as Tarian moved forward.

A laugh burst from my mouth before I could stop it, and the sound seemed to surprise them both.I cleared my throat awkwardly.‘We’ve come here for your help, Haddock,’ I said.‘Tarian said you could discover my fiorainm.’

He looked at Tarian in confusion.‘You’ve come for a fiorainm ceremony?For a human?’

‘Yes.’

‘Now?’

‘Yes.’

Haddock flapped about for a moment.‘I don’t have the right tools.’

‘Can’t you make do?’

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