Page 112 of A Dance With Fire
It was an order, and Shula didn’t consider him her prince, but the effort it would take to argue was something she didn’t feel like doing. She slipped her hand into his, and he helped her to stand. Once on her feet, he didn’t pull his fingers from her grasp. He seemed to hold her tighter as he tugged her away from the fire and prying eyes of the others.
Once they were well out of earshot, protected by the dense copse of trees, he released her. They were facing each other, and in the darkness she could make out the sharp, slashing lines of his features.
“Is there something you needed?” Scrutiny from the Seelie Prince was almost as unnerving as receiving it from Uric or Weylyn.
“You trained with Ryker.” It wasn’t a question.
“Um… yes.”
He nodded, and she watched the workings of his throat as he swallowed. She couldn’t be sure, but she was almost positive the Seelie Prince was nervous.
“Was he… kind to you?”
She blinked away her surprise at the question, only to be swallowed by it once again. “I don’t see why it matters.” No one had seemed to care about how he treated her before. Why should it matter how he treated her now?
“I worry about him. After what happened with Mairin…”
Shula felt her ears twitch. “Who’s Mairin?”
Valerio’s lips pressed closed. He shook his head. “Not my story to tell.”
“Yet you brought it up.”
“You once asked me why I went after you if I thought Davina was rambling mad.”
She remembered and chose to ignore the fact that he’d changed the subject so abruptly.
“After all, you were one Fae locked in a human temple with guards posted around the building. Why would we risk so much for you when we had already saved so many? Even if we were desperate for soldiers and to preserve our race, why risk it foryou?”
Shula’s heart pounded. Yes. She had wondered what method of persuasion Davina had used to convince the Prince of Seelie to go after her. It must have been something life-altering, somethinghugefor them to risk their lives going to get her out of that place.
“What did she say?”
He looked away. As if it hurt to face her. When he turned back, she felt a storm of dark power around him, like he was drawing all the strength he could towards him. Hiding behind a mask of formidable power so no one would know just how truly scared he was inside. But Shula knew fear, so she recognized it.
“She said if we rescued you, I would find my mate.”
Shula staggered back a step, her heart shooting up to her throat. Mates, like familiars, were held in the highest veneration. And this wasn’t the first time in the day someone mentioned the word ‘mate’ to her. Were they trying to tell her something?
She took in the prince again, from head to toe. All slashing, dark lines and a face that could enamor and kill with a single glance. Yet when she looked at him, she feltnothing.
She may not know a lot about the Fae because of her upbringing, but everyone knew about mates. The bond that clicked into place like a missing piece of a puzzle pressing into two differently shaped souls to bind them forever. It was a love that was catastrophic and extraordinary.
The Seelie Princehadaltered her life, but…
“I thought I would arrive there and find my mate in you. That our bond would snap into place.”
“But it didn’t…” Something tight in her chest eased. Something like relief, even if she felt a bit sorry for the hopes Prince Valerio had.
“I did not tell the others why I decided to go after you. Nor will I. Perhaps they’d understand, but if they do not…” He shook his head, his hair moving like strands of silk around his shoulders. “Regardless, I feel the fool. I allowed the seer to play me. She said what she knew I wanted to hear. The promise of my mate.” He sighed. “The Fae live such long lives; it’s only the promise of our mate that makes it bearable. I’ve lived centuries, and I thought you would be it.”
“I’m sorry, Valerio.” She didn’t have anything to be sorry for, and yet she felt his sorrow and mirrored it. She couldn’t imagine the hope he’d harbored for the Fae meant to be his only to find Shula instead.
“I suppose I thought if I kept you, a bond would fall into place, but now I see it is impossible.” He took a step towards her, pressing his palms against her shoulders.
She allowed the touch because she knew it was for him, to groundhim.“There still might be hope.”
“Perhaps. But I will not hang on to that hope anymore.” A moment passed, and then he was pulling her close. It was so surprising, she stumbled against his chest. His arms wrapped around her, and she knew this was him, saying goodbye to what he thought they could be. So she let him. He pulled away, and she felt the whisper of his lips across her forehead. “You are not mine.”
