Page 25 of Prince of Never

‘Are you crazy?!’

I blinked up at a familiar face, at Tarian’s face.At the anger and panic warring on his features.My heart jolted into a gallop.The warmth of his body so close to me made me realise how cold I was.My senses began to return, as if I was being pulled out of a trance.The wisps shrieked loudly, their colour changing from that ghostly blue to an angry red before they vanished.

‘What happened?’I asked.We were standing in some kind of marsh.A light fog hung close to the ground, the moonlight giving it an eerie glow.The water was barely visible, inky black, broken only by some kind of pale rock.Not a rock.A body.Bloated and floating on the surface.Staring up at me with blank, dead eyes.I gasped, turning my head away, burying it in Tarian’s chest.Panic flooded me, my breaths quickened and I squeezed my eyes tight, my hands gripping his shirt as I tried to get a hold of myself.Control it, Imogen, control it,I almost begged myself.I forced myself to suck in air until slowly my breathing came back under control and the panic subsided.

And I was clinging to Tarian.

I jumped away from him, a blush rising to my cheeks.‘Sorry, I—uh, I suppose I should thank you,’ I said awkwardly, unable to hold his gaze for more than a second before my eyes dropped down.That seemed like a safe place for them to be.

‘Aren’t you supposed to be smart?What kind of idiot follows a wisp?’he asked irritably.

‘Oh yes, how silly of me, I completely forgot to study up on Fae Realm one-oh-one right before you snatched me,’ I said, all fear momentarily replaced with anger.‘Maybe next time you could give me some notice.’

I took a step, stumbling as the muddy floor beneath the water sucked at my shoe, refusing to let me go.His hand shot out to steady me.‘Then for future reference, don’teverfollow balls of glowing light anywhere,’ he said.‘I would have thought that was fairly obvious, no matter what realm you’re in.’

I jerked my arm away from him.‘I’ll add that to my notes.Right after the one about how fae princes are assholes.’

‘Of course, you could have just listened to me when I told you it was dangerous out here.Then we wouldn’t be covered in mud right now.’

‘It was a better idea than waiting for you to kill me,’ I snapped, looking up at him, holding his gaze.When had we gotten so close?My eyes dropped to his lips, and I swallowed hard as I wrenched them back up again.What the hell was the matter with me?I stepped away from him again.‘I got further this time.Perhaps next time I’ll finally get away from you.’

‘Perhaps next time you’ll get yourself killed,’ he growled.

‘You are unbelievable.How—’

‘Shh,’ he said, holding up a hand as if that command was enough to silence me.

‘Did you just shush me?’I asked in utter disbelief.Of all the arrogant, egotistical men I had ever met, this one took the fucking cake.

‘I need to hear, be quiet,’ he said, though he clearly wasn’t willing to leave that to chance, because he pulled me close, putting a hand over my mouth, ignoring my indignant cries and my struggles.

But then I heard something too.A sort of buzzing sound, like wings.I stilled and after a moment he released me, just enough that I could speak.‘What is that?’I asked softly.

‘Pixies,’ he said, then he clicked his tongue in irritation.He grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the water.

‘Pixies are bad, I take it?’

‘Only if you want your flesh to remain attached to your bones.’

‘That would be nice, yes,’ I said, that familiar sense of panic stirring in me again.God, why would anyone live in this hellscape?It looked pretty but it seemed like everything wanted to kill or eat you.I glanced behind us to see hundreds of small, winged creatures zipping out of the trees, swarming together over the inky black water, though they were still too far away to see them in much detail.

But they wouldn’t be for long.

The buzzing grew louder as the swarm chased towards us.Pixies began to dive at us one by one, as if toying with us, needle-sharp teeth biting at bare skin.I tried to swat them away, but they only darted out of reach with a noise that sounded ominously like a gleeful giggle, then they dove again.I stumbled over the uneven ground, my hand slipping from Tarian’s as I fell.I gritted my teeth against the stinging pain of teeth and claws as several converged on me at once, like they wanted to strike while I was vulnerable.

Tarian sighed angrily.He pulled me to my feet.‘Run,’ he ordered, with a sharp shove between my shoulders.I did as he said, running as fast as I could, my feet tripping and stumbling, my lungs beginning to burn, before I realised he wasn’t running with me.I slowed enough to glance back.He stood still as the swarm whirled around him, a hurricane of wings and teeth and claws.What was he waiting for?Was he waiting for me to get far enough away?Guilt twisted in my stomach and I pushed myself harder.When I reached the tree line, I turned and caught his eye.It seemed I was far enough now.

I watched as the air shimmered, swirling with wisps of a darkness deeper than the night, like tendrils of a void were stretching from his fingers to swirl through the space around him.Those tendrils almost seemed sentient as they moved through the swarm of pixies, seeking them out, and the creatures dropped to the ground as they were touched, falling like insects.They began to fly in a frenzy, humming like a kicked hornet’s nest as they dived on Tarian with vicious precision.I gasped, covering my mouth with my hand.How long was I supposed to watch this?But I couldn’t turn away, couldn’t take my eyes off him.

Why was he protecting me when he wanted me dead?Why was he going to such lengths to save me?

As more pixies dropped, the swarm began to dart away, fleeing to the other side of the marsh.When they were gone, Tarian’s shoulders slumped.I moved towards him as if my feet had a mind of their own.A crunch beneath my shoe drew my eyes to the ground, where I realised I’d trodden on one of the fallen pixies.Or what was left of it.It was little more than a dry, withered husk now, crumbling to dust where I’d stepped.I grimaced and tried to pick my way around the others.I barely made it halfway to Tarian when he turned, a scowl on his face.

‘What are you doing?’he snapped, storming towards me with quick strides.For once, I didn’t have a snappy reply.He grabbed my wrist again and dragged me back to the trees.I tugged my wrist free, unnerved by how odd his hand on my skin made me feel, and we walked in silence, a thick silence that I didn’t know how to break.I knew I should probably thank him again, but it was hard to thank someone who seemed so irritated at having to save you in the first place.

When we came to a small clearing, that beast was waiting for us.The griffin.‘I am not getting on that oversized chicken,’ I said, stopping in my tracks.

‘You will, unless you want to stay with the pixies.’

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