Page 75 of Prince of Never

‘No,’ I replied without taking my eyes off Imogen.‘Thank you.’Were her lips staring to look a little blue?

‘Don’t fret,’ the woman added, her tone warmer.‘Haddock...’She trailed off, and I looked at her to see she was frowning at him, wringing her hands, like she was casting around for something positive to say.‘He has a strong survival instinct.He knows he’ll need to be careful if he wants to live,’ was what she settled on.

It did nothing to comfort me.‘And he’s done this before,’ I said to reassure myself.

‘Oh yes, your lordship,’ she said, nodding.‘For my niece.’

I waited, expecting a longer list, but none was forthcoming.Dread wrapped its cold claws around my chest.‘You mean that’s all?He’s only done itonce?’

‘Well—’

She was saved from responding when, with a startled gasp, Haddock spluttered back into consciousness, blinking rapidly and clutching a hand to his chest.He immediately turned to Imogen, his face crumpling.Her eyes remained closed and she floated in the water as still as stone, almost completely submerged.

‘Haddock.’The word came out a growl.

He put a hand on her shoulder and shook her gently, flashing me a glance laced with panic.‘She’s, uh, well, she’s—’

I was in the water.My heart was in my throat.The satyr cringed away, like he thought I was coming for him, but I scooped Imogen up, cradling her close as mud and water poured off her and soaked me through.‘What did you do, Haddock?!’

He splashed through the water after me as I carried Imogen to the shore, babbling a torrent of words.‘She was off as soon as we got there!Just wandering too fast, not thinking a thing for her sense, legs too long to catch and there’s me, trotting after her and trying to keep a hold of the threads all at once and—’

I lay Imogen on the grass, touched her face, listened for her breath, before I choked off Haddock’s babble by grabbing him by the shirt and yanking him down.‘Fix her.’

He squeaked, nodding vigorously.‘Yeah, course, course.She’s, ah, she’s...’He touched his fingers to her cheek.‘She’s not dead, she’s still warm!See?Her mind, it’s just not home right now—’

‘Oh gods,’ his wife moaned, peeking down at us through her fingers.‘Oh Haddock, of all the things you’ve done, losing the Unseelie Prince’smate—’

‘Agnes, love, you’re not helping,’ he pleaded as he rubbed the back of his neck and blinked down at Imogen like he really had no fucking idea what to do next.

‘I’m not helping?I’m not helping?!’She began shrieking at him as he begged her to calm down, but other than the certainty that I was going to bury the lowlife as soon as I could catch my breath, I wasn’t listening to them.My whole world had narrowed in focus, until I couldn’t see anything but the pale pallor of her skin, the blueish tinge to her lips.I rubbed her hands between mine, like I could spark life in her with friction, like I’d ever possessed the ability to do anything other than destroy.

‘Imogen?’My voice didn’t sound like mine.It was cracked through with fear.‘Come back, Imogen.’She wasn’t gone.She couldn’t be.I’d only just found her.And I’d wasted so much fucking time.‘What are you waiting for, Haddock?!’

‘Look, I, uh, I’m not sure...There’s something I could—’

‘Do it,’I snarled.

He rolled up his sleeves and shook out his hands before he gently touched his fingers to her temples.I held my breath, staring intently at her, begging all the gods I’d never believed in that her eyelids would flutter open and she would smile at me.After an impossibly long moment, Haddock shook his head.‘I can’t find her!’

‘Then look again.’

He gnawed on a filthy thumb nail, before snapping his fingers.‘Got it!Give me your hand.’

‘What?’

‘You’re bonded, right?I can sort of—’ He flicked the air, ‘—tweak it.Help her find her way.’

He jumped when I thrust my hand at him before he took it gingerly in his stubby fingers, letting out a bubble of laughter that was slightly washed with hysteria.‘Women dissolve all that hoity-toity stuff, don’t they?’

‘Haddock,I swear on the stars that if you don’t find her, you will wish you hadn’t come back either.’

Agnes let out a low, keening wail.

‘Course, course,’ Haddock spluttered, pressing both my hand and his to Imogen’s head again and closing his eyes.He went very still until he almost seemed to stop breathing.A shudder ran through me, rushing down my spine and ending in a pit of yearning in my stomach, like I’d lost something that I badly wanted to see again.

Imogen gasped a breath.Her eyelids snapped open and she jolted upwards, coughing and shaking violently, her gaze darting around her like she had no idea where she was.I caught her face, held her still.

‘It’s alright.You’re alright,’ I said, and I didn’t know who needed to hear the words more; me or her.The relief I felt when her eyes locked on mine and sparked with recognition was so heady I wanted to laugh.I ran my thumbs back and forth across her cheeks.Her skin was so cold, her wet hair plastered to her forehead.

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