Page 34 of Dark Prince's Mate

I look over my shoulder to find Elsie standing in the archway of the bedroom with a bath sheet wrapped around her naked body.She tries to hide her feelings from me by keeping her expression neutral, but her hurt reaches me through the vague connection of our incomplete bond.

She’s upset—not as much with me as with herself.

“It wasn’t your fault,” I say gruffly.“You couldn’t have stopped what happened even if you’d wanted to.”

She studies me from underneath those long, russet lashes.“Couldyou?”

My jaw locks around the denial.I’ve always owned my actions.That’s not going to change now.I don’t regret coming inside her, and I won’t blame it on the mating heat.

She sucks her bottom lip into her mouth, working it between her teeth for a while before pushing out a heavy question.“What if…?”

My reply is decisive.“Then we’ll handle it.”

She nods but not in an affirmative way.She looks so frail and delicate standing there half-naked, drowning in a bath sheet, that a chilling fear eats into my gut.Now that it’s a real possibility, the idea of Elsie in childbirth terrifies me.After what she’s been through on Earth, coming so close to dying over and over again, I’m worried she may not be strong enough, that her body may relapse under the strain of growing a baby inside her.

I’ll have to keep Vitai on standby for the full moon cycles of her gestation period.And I’ll find out what happened to make her so sick in that other world, so I can make sure it never happens again.

I’ll keep Elsie and any child she may conceive safe if it’s the last thing I do.

In my peripheral vision, the pulsing of the light becomes insistent.Turning away from Elsie more to prevent her from reading my concern than to address the matter that demands my attention, I lift the seal I’ve put in place and let the archway appear.

My mother stands at the threshold, supported by my father on one side and Vitai on the other.Her guards form a close-knit half-circle at her back.She looks a little better, but she’s still pale.

Seeing her with those thoughts still churning in my head brings back all the old anger and accusations.My mother lied to me.She told me my mate was dead, and I believed her.That fact alone has always made her the main suspect in the wrong that was committed when Elsie was banished to Earth.However, now that the Phaelix’s slave trading has been blown wide open, I have to admit that my mother isn’t the only one capable of sending someone to that other world.Although… the slave trading started a lot later than Elsie’s disappearance, which logically still leaves my mother as the most probable guilty party.

“Mother.I was just about to come see you.”

Her eyes flare as she focuses on something behind me, or I should say, on someone.

I know what she sees—Elsie covered in nothing but a bath sheet withthatlook on her face.It’s a look only a well-fucked woman wears.

“You’ve mated,” my mother whisper-exclaims.

Almost immediately, a frown pleats her brow.The tangible harmony that exists between mated couples is impossible to miss, yet the disagreeable atmosphere in the room is palpable.My mother’s questioning eyes rest on my face.She’s wondering why, if we’ve mated, that harmony is absent with Elsie and me.But she wipes her doubtful expression away quickly before schooling her features.

Holding my gaze with a tilt of her chin, she says, “I need to talk to you.”

“By all means.”I step aside.“Let’s not do it in the hallway where the walls have ears.”My smile is cool.“Come in.”

“Alone,” she says in a firm tone.

“What I have to say concerns Elsie too.”

“Aruan,” my father says.“What you want to say will have to wait.You will speak with your mother first.”He stresses, “And you’ll do it as she requests—alone.”

Maybe it’s better like this.Elsie’s emotions are still too raw.It’s best to give her more time to deal with everything before throwing the wrong that’s been done to her in her face.Nothing can change what she’s suffered.However, I’d be cursed if I don’t make it right.

“As you wish,” I say, my manner cold even as red-hot fury sizzles inside me.

My mother turns and heads down the hallway.“My quarters.”

The look I give Elsie holds an unspoken message.We’ll continue our conversation when I return.

The longer I stare at her vivid eyes, so alive with hurt and betrayal, the bigger the chance grows that I won’t leave at all, so I tear myself away from her and follow in my family’s footsteps.

Elsie’s plea is spoken to my back.“Don’t lock me in.”Then she resorts to begging.“Please.”

It’s impossible to harden my heart against the outcry of my mate.I turn to face her.“You’ll stay here.”

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