Page 72 of Dark Prince's Mate

But then he confirms my first notion when he kisses my fingers and says, “Sometimes, my sweet, destruction can be beautiful.”

I fear he’s right.

I fear he’s already destroyed me, and now it’s too late to salvage my heart.

“Don’t worry,” he says, pressing a whisper on my ear.“I’ll make it good.”

Jerking my face up, I stare into his silver eyes and find the meaning there.

By “it,” he means my surrender.

Chapter17

Elsie

Aruan and I get ready to leave for Marikanea with the queen’s assurance that she’ll wait until our return before sending the humans home.I’d like to say goodbye and, if I’m lucky, make peace with Sandy before they go.I’d hate for us to part on bad terms, especially after everything we’ve been through together.Having shared the same horrible fate makes me feel close to all of them.

I wrangle a promise from Gaia and Kian to take Karl and the women for walks and to keep them busy.Since Eucabeth confirmed my suspicion that she’s developed a crush on Vitai, I prefer not to ask him.There’s no point in making the situation tougher on Eucabeth than it already is.If her blossoming feelings are left to run their course, she’ll be devastated when Vitai senses his mate.She went as far as to suggest staying behind on Zerra while her friends return home, and the king and queen will never allow that.

The king pulls Aruan and me aside and ensures us he’ll continue the search for the person—or persons—who sabotaged the bridge.He makes it sound as if we’re going away for a month when Aruan agreed to a week.

My aunt and uncle leave straight after breakfast, going ahead of us.One minute, we’re saying goodbye to Aruan’s family in front of the portal his mother has pulled up in her reception room, and the next, we walk out onto a white shore that glitters like snow under a pale sun.

Aruan kisses the back of my hand.“All right?”

“Yes.”Just excited and nervous.

Gaia advised me to wear a nice dress, but I figured my pants, shirt, and boots were more practical for exploring.I hope I’m not going to stick out like a sore thumb.Aruan is dressed in his habitual tunic and boots, his hair tied at his nape.He’s scanning the surroundings with vigilance.

I look around me.Turquoise water laps at the shore.The sea is calm and flat, not black and turbulent with crushing waves like back in Lona.The water is so clear I spot pink, blue, and orange corals on the shallow reefs.Hybodus are gliding over the sand bed.I recognize the prehistoric sharks by the strange horns on the tops of their heads.How cool.They have two sets of teeth, one for gripping slippery prey and another for crushing shells.They float by soundlessly, on the hunt for prey.

A kalligrammatid flutters by and disappears in the vegetation.Bright green ferns taller than I am sway gently from side to side despite the fact that there’s no air movement, not even a breeze.Their leaves rustle as they unfurl and curl up again.

See-through, tube-shaped plants grow on the fringe of the beach.Black veins knit through their walls, contracting and expanding with a lazy rhythm.Behind them, thin, black, stick-like trees the height of a three-story building sprout into the air.At the top, their offshoots are connected, forming a circle of hugging branches without leaves.Maybe it’s one big body and not several trees.Pink clusters of delicate little bell flowers hang like chandeliers from the pin-like branches.Beyond the border of the trees, cycads with red fruit resembling pineapples grow wild, each fruit sporting a white candy floss beard.

We must be on a high plateau because the air feels thinner and less humid.It smells sweet, like lilies.The sky is light blue with a pinkish hue, and although it’s clear, the cries of pterosaurs are audible in the distance.I can sense their presence all around us, the dinosaur population here much denser than in Lona.

I turn to Aruan.“Have you been here before?”

“Many times.”He stares off in the direction of a shimmery white cliff that frames the water.“I’ve been coming to this place ever since they told me you were dead.But I just got to know the surroundings and the animal and plant life here.I could never bring myself to go inside the palace.”

The forlorn, desolate feeling that reaches me through the bond is harrowing.The cold emptiness is like a parasite sucking the life out of every other emotion that’s left.

The bleak, grim hollowness jars me, unsettling me in a way I didn’t think was possible.

Is this what it feels like to lose a mate?All this time, Aruan suffered these painful emotions, and I was blissfully unaware of any of it.I lived my life on Earth, not knowing I had a mate in a different world, a mate who was slowly dying inside because a part of him—me—was gone.

I never really understood before.Now that I do, I don’t know if I can leave him.I don’t want him to go through something like that ever again.

I never want to hurt him.

Slipping my hand into his, I stare up at him.“Is this how I’ll feel if you’re gone?”

He meets my gaze, his silver eyes brimming with emotions, yet his lips curve into a smile.“That’s the fate of all men and women who lose a mate.”

That sad smile breaks my heart.“I’m sorry, Aruan.I’m sorry you had to go through that.I had no idea.”

He tightens his grip on my hand.“You don’t have to apologize.It wasn’t your fault.”

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