Page 84 of Prince of Never

As suddenly as it had begun, it ended.I opened my eyes to find that I was lying on the floor, and I pushed myself up on shaky arms.My whole body ached, and my throat was raw.I would have bruises in strange places from thrashing around, and I wouldn’t be able to eat for a while.She underestimated the power of monotony, though.Her magic gave her the ability to trigger pain in the mind with little more than a twitch of her fingers, and for many, it was shocking.Terrifying.Any sane being avoided pain.But when you’d been subjected to it over and over again for most of your life, it lost a little of its lustre.

If only she’d stop at pain.

The queen was standing over me, looking down with her arms folded.‘I hate when you make me do that, darling.I wish you wouldn’t make it necessary.’

The taste of blood coated my mouth.I spat it onto the flagstone and laughed.‘I don’t care what you do to me, mother.All the pain in the world won’t change the fact that you can’t lay a finger on Imogen without forfeiting your right to that throne.’I tried to stand, but my head spun woozily and I sat back on the floor hard.It didn’t matter, anyway.She could loom over me all she liked.I’d still won this round.A monarch would be forcibly removed by the High Council if they violated a law like that.Forcibly removed and grotesquely executed.Just as I would be if I ever raised a finger against her.‘You’re just going to have to accept her.’

Her eyes narrowed as she looked down at me, then a dangerous smile spilled slowly across her lips.‘I thought I’d taught you better than to form sentimental attachments.’She sank down on her heels before me, her voluminous skirts blooming out around her as she brushed my hair back from my forehead.I flinched away from her touch.‘You think you have some special connection with your mate that is so unique and yours alone, but I’m going to make a bet right now that it has all played out exactly the same as every pair of lovers who has ever come before you.And if I’m right, then you are an idiot and your mate will be dead without me needing to lay a finger on her.’

‘What are you talking about?’I watched her warily, a heavy sense of foreboding sinking through my stomach.She couldn’t make me hurt Imogen.The mate bond would keep me from harming her.She knew that.What was she playing at?

‘Teimhean,’she said, so softly it could have been affectionate, if she’d been capable of such a thing.The compulsion immediately snapped around me, gripping me in a vice of helplessness, denying me the right to move a muscle.I glowered at her, trying to read her.If she would risk compelling me here, would risk me destroying the most important room in the palace, then she had a reason.

‘Soft, stupid boy,’ she continued.‘Son of my womb.Heir to my crown.Willingly tied to the woman who is fated to destroy it.Tell me your mate’s fiorainm.’

No.No fucking way.Panic and desperation jolted my heart, twisted my stomach, and magic rioted beneath my skin, trapped and furious, a demon of frost and death that wanted to burn the world down.I clenched my jaw, fought the word that balanced on the tip of my tongue, biting down on it so hard on it that I thought my teeth would crack.

My mother’s smile widened.‘So youdoknow it.That seems very short-sighted of you.You had to know that anything she told you would come to me.Tell menow.’

The compulsion doubled down, squeezed tighter.I couldn’t breathe, could barely see, my head pounding as I struggled against it.

It wasn’t enough.

‘Aurelia.’I stumbled over the name, choking on it, but it left my mouth anyway, slipping through my clenched teeth, shattering my promise to always keep it safe.

‘See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?’The queen rose to her feet again with a sigh.‘Now I just have to decide whether yourAureliais worth keeping around as a little more leverage to make sure you behave, or whether I should have her end her miserable life.I suppose I’ll decide on my way there.How do you think she’ll take the realisation that you’ve betrayed her?’She straightened her crown, plucked at her sleeve, and began to walk away from me.

Magic was screaming in my head, writhing against the prison of my fiorainm, like a hurricane contained inside my skin, and my fear, my despair, my rage whirled with it, inflaming every instinct that roared at me to protect my mate.

The ground beneath me shifted.A loudcrack!echoed through the chamber.The queen paused and turned back to me, running her gaze over me with an expression that, for the briefest of moments, showed a flicker of fear.The flagstone was slowly crumbling beneath me, splintering and cracking.A bright, sharp shard of hope pierced the despair.Some of my magic was slipping the compulsion, was raining down onto the flagstone in tiny wisps of shadow, eating away at anything it touched.

But it wasn’t enough.

Her hands went beneath her hair, unclasping the loops of black pearls from her neck and ran them through her hands.‘There are six-hundred pearls on this necklace,’ she said.‘Those who harvested them braved sea serpents and selkies, not to mention the lethal spines of the clams themselves.Many died.’She gripped the strands in both her hands, then pulled.They snapped, and pearls began cascading to the ground, pinging off the stone and rolling away in every direction.She poured them all to the floor, every last one, then with a swift kick sent them scattering even further.‘Collect all of them, and then you can leave.’She tapped a nail against her chin, then flashed a cruel smile.‘But you must pick them up with your teeth.’

Immediately, I was compelled onto my hands and knees, crawling over the floor towards the pearl closest to me.She stayed long enough to watch me bend forward and press my mouth to the ground to collect it, before the sounds of her footsteps once again filled the hall.

I couldn’t go after her, couldn’t roar at her or beg her.She walked through those double doors heading for Imogen, armed with the terrible power she’d always held over me, and I could do nothing to stop her.

And it was all my fault.

‘Watch him.Make sure he doesn’t leave this room,’ she said, and as I crawled to the next pearl, I saw a handful of guards enter the room.A final punishment.Witnesses to my humiliation, and then bodies for me to climb over when the compulsion loosened and the hurricane inside me broke free.They eyed me nervously, but did as they were told, and their queen left them waiting to die.

But I would catch her.She had nothing more than a head start.

Chapter 35

Imogen

Istaredatmyreflection in the full-length mirror as the sun climbed higher in the sky, chasing away the last of the shadows of the night, my finger absently tracing the mark on my wrist.Everything had changed so fast, too fast.I’d hardly had time to think about it with Tarian consuming all of my thoughts, but now that I was alone, there were so many feelings swirling around inside me and I didn’t know which ones I was supposed to focus on.My undeniable feelings for Tarian, the knowledge that my parents weren’t my parents, the question of who my real parents were?Or should I instead focus on the fact that I hardly recognised my own face in the mirror?Everything was somehow heightened, as if a camera lens had been suddenly brought into focus.My skin seemed smoother, my hair brighter, my eyes, too.But what drew my attention most was the new points in my ears, how sensitive my skin was to the touch, how bright everything around me now seemed, and how loud the world was.I could hear birds singing outside with such clarity I could have sworn they were in the room with me.

And that ethereal beauty I’d become so wary of now nestled in my own skin.

Not only did I not knowwhoI was, I didn’t knowwhatI was.I had no idea how to be fae, or what that entailed, or what race I was within that structure.Was I high fae or lesser?Was I a half-breed, like Ethan, or something else?Would I manifest powers?Would I have other abilities that humans didn’t?

And who were my parents?Where were my parents?Did I have siblings and relatives?Did we have family traditions?

Did they even want me?

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