Page 8 of Prince of Never

‘Immy!What’s going on?’The handle rattled, then the door shuddered as the person on the other side smashed into it.My eyes darted around the room, fixing on that absurd fishbowl, hissing in irritation as she sank her teeth into my hand.I didn’t release her, dragging her along as she struggled and landed a kick to my shin, then an elbow to my stomach.Her friend’s high-pitched voice began to chatter through the door as he spoke to someone on his phone, urging them to come quickly as he continued to ram against the door, but we weren’t going to be there long enough for it to matter.

The unhappy fish darted into the cave as I plunged my hand into the water and tapped into the faint thrum of magic hovering over the surface.The girl shrieked with her newly freed mouth, squirming and kicking at me, and just as the door burst open with a splintering of wood, the magic took hold, whisking us into the dark oblivion between realms.

In that nothingness, where I was more void than anything, I gripped her tight, pulling her close, that instinct to protect her transcending even the unmaking of portal magic that crept over my skin, seeking to soothe away everything I was.And then I burst into being again on the other side, sloshing the water in the pool as she stumbled against me and we went tumbling down.The watcher squeaked in surprise as I climbed to my feet, dripping water, and scowled down at the woman I’d dragged through the portal with me.She was on her hands and knees, spitting up bile and shaking violently.There was that thing, that urge in me to pick her up, to take her somewhere safe, and I curled my lip, baring my teeth as I fought against it, wanting to lash out at it, to shred its skin and spill its blood, to tear it from my flesh, like it was an invader in my own body.

‘What magic is this?’I snarled as she wiped her mouth and sat back on her heels, looking around her with eyes wide.

‘Where are we?We aren’t...we were...what...’She could barely speak through the chattering of her teeth, but when her gaze landed on me, she seemed to remember herself, launching to her feet and holding her trembling fists poised before her, like we were in a boxing ring.I might have found it amusing if I wasn’t so fucking enraged.

‘If I have to force the answers out of you, girl, you’ll sorely regret not speaking now.’My voice was low, deadly, enough to make the portal watcher cringe back into the shadows, like he was trying to make himself as small as possible.She caught sight of him, then she closed her eyes and shook her head.

‘Oh God,’ she moaned, pressing her palms over her face.‘This isn’t real.I’ve really lost my mind.’

I grabbed at her hand impatiently and yanked it away from her face.‘Is Solas behind this?’I demanded as she writhed out of my grip.

‘Don’t touch me!’She swung a hand, connecting with my face in a smack that made my ears ring, before she scurried a few steps back, bracing herself again for a fight.

The slap shocked me out of my fury for a moment, long enough for me to take a breath, to try to rein in the magic itching under my skin, to get a handle on my spiralling emotions.I let it out slowly as I eyed the girl, assessing her.She seemed afraid.Bewildered.Almost as bewildered as I was.

‘What magic have you bound me with?’I asked slowly, trying to modulate my voice.‘Was it given to you by a Seelie fae?’

‘Fae?’she squeaked.It was almost a laugh.‘This is bloody insanity.I don’t know how you got me to wherever this is, but you need to let me go.Ethan saw you.The police will find us.’

Even the suggestion of letting her go was enough to stoke that instinct to grasp, to hold, to claim, and I gritted my teeth, my chest heaving as I tried to smother it, but her shirt was wet and clinging to her like a second skin, and it made my head foggy with the urge to put my hands on her, to drag her to me and taste her.Some of that must have shown in my expression, because she took another step back, her mouth falling open slightly in a gasp.

And at the strength of my response to her, a small part of me considered the possibility that this wasn’t just some Seelie trick.

I pushed the thought aside quickly.No.Impossible.

She was rubbing at her eyes again, like she was expecting the whole scene to disappear if she rubbed hard enough, and it made me wonder if she really was telling the truth.Though unlike fae, humans could lie, sometimes very convincingly.

‘You aren’t in your own world anymore,’ I said slowly, watching her reaction.She peered at me through her fingers, her brow crumpled.‘Your police will never find you here.’

Her gaze darted to the watcher again, who was inching closer, drawn to the spectacle.We needed to get out of here.It was bad enough that he’d seen as much as he had, and there was no telling when someone else might arrive through the portal.

‘You won’t survive alone here long,’ I continued, lowering my voice.‘He isn’t the worst of what will find you.’

‘I can’t imagine anything could be worse than you,’ she spat, demonstrating a lack of instinct for self-preservation.

‘Imogen,’ I said, rolling the name around in my mouth.‘That’s your name, isn’t it?’She didn’t reply, and I stole a little closer.‘I can take you somewhere safe.Somewhere’—my eyes trailed down to her wet clothes again, and she folded her arms across her chest—‘dry.’

‘You must be joking.You attacked me!And dragged me off to wherever the fuck we are.I’m not going anywhere with you.’

While she was shouting at me, I’d signalled the portal watcher, and he shuffled closer, digging his enormous fist into a pouch hanging from his belt.As she took a breath to fuel her next tirade, he threw a handful of giddy dust, aiming at her face.She coughed and spat as the green dust choked the air, then her expression slackened, her eyes rolled back, and she dropped like her bones had turned to vapor.Acting on a reflex I’d never possessed before, I darted in and caught her just before her head hit the floor, hissing my fury at the fact that I’d done so.As though in rebellion against that urge, I picked her up and dumped her over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes.She hung limply against my back, but she wouldn’t remain that way for long.

‘Your name?’I said, turning on the watcher.

‘Garr, sir.’He puffed his chest out in pride.

‘And you’re the only one here, Garr?’

He nodded enthusiastically.

‘No one else has seen us?’

Again he nodded, his small ears wriggling, his curling tusks waving dangerously through the air.

Darting close to him, I snatched at his tunic with my spare hand and yanked him down to eye level.‘So if anyone hears of what happened here, you’ll be the only one who could have spread the information.’

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