Page 113 of Beneath the Flames
“What’s wrong?”I asked, instantly going into protective mode like I did when my younger siblings gave me the same type of look.
His eyes held a silent plea for help.“It’s Rhydian.”
“What happened?”My stomach curdled at the thought of something happening to him, but I didn’t let myself examine why that might be.I grabbed my boots next to the door and tugged them on.
Nico hesitated before answering, “I think it’s better if you see.”
Prince Rhydian of Eroth was strong, confident, and a powerful Fae of Avalea.Or at least that was what he claimed he once was.Despite the curse, he had projected that image since he’d kidnapped me from Minnesota.In the time I had been here, the only part of him that ever faltered or appeared to struggle was his weakening magic.
Though he was clearly saddened by the curse’s impact, he had never looked defeated.Despite his reluctance to hope, he hadn’t shown signs that he had completely given up before either.
So I hadn’t been expecting it when Nico opened the door to the room with the Magmara to find Rhydian on his knees, looking completely destroyed.
My boots mercifully stayed silent as I stepped into the room and walked over to him, vaguely aware of Nico shutting the door and giving us privacy.I didn’t know what to do.DidI reach out, kneel next to him, and offer silent reassurance?Or did I keep my distance?Before Carrow had come here and attacked me, there clearly had been feelings between us, but I didn’t know where things stood now.I didn’t know if he still wanted me, if he’d welcome my touch.
I should have been furious that he had lied to me, that he had kept such an important secret from me, and maybe part of me was angry.But a larger part of me was worried about him.I wasn’t one to give up when someone needed me, and seeing him curled in on himself, head hanging low—I couldn’t stand it.
I laid a hand on his shoulder.It was a whisper of a touch, but he still flinched.
“Rhydian?”
It took a long time for him to answer, his deep voice quiet.“You shouldn’t be here.”
Ignoring him, I dropped to my knees, trying to look him in the eye.He kept them firmly on the little green stem sticking out of the soil, still in a pile on the floor.
“What’s wrong, Rhydian?”
He shook his head.
“Please talk to me.”
The slightest of trembles shuddered through him.
“It’s funny…” He stopped, letting out a long breath, his fingers skimming over the dirt.“All these years my hope had withered in time with the Magmara until only the smallest ember remained.I knew the curse would take me one day, and all of Eroth would be gone.I had tried to make peace with it.There was nothing I could do to change it.I had tried all I could.”
His gold-ringed eyes slowly lifted to meet mine.“And then I met you, and I discovered what it felt like tofeel.To hope.”His throat bobbed as he swallowed, gaze flicking to my lips.“To want,” he whispered.
“I tried to ignore the third task, unwilling to even mention it because it felt like a distant dream, an impossible wish.”His hands moved back to his knees, his pinky barely brushing my knee.“But then, with you…” Rhydian finally looked at me fully.“I thought there was a chance, that perhaps the third task wasn’t so impossible after all.But Carrow—”
“Why are you listening to a word he says?”I couldn’t help but interrupt.Though my heart began to race, I reached out and took Rhydian’s hand and held it between both of mine.A jolt burst up my arm at the touch.“Carrow doesn’t get to dictate how we feel.”
“You don’t understand,” he whispered.
“Then explain it to me.”
Rhydian blinked at me, his brows drawing together at whatever thoughts were going through his head.Gently, ever so slowly, he pulled his hand from mine and stood to his feet.I tried not to see it as a rejection, but I still felt the sting nonetheless.
His bootsthunkedover the tile floor until he stopped in front of the balcony doors and looked up at the two moons high in the sky.The air in this room was freezing, and I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to stave off the shivers.
“The third task is difficult to complete because it’s a two-sided task.It’s not as easy as retrieving a relic or making a plant grow.”
“Because those were so easy,” I muttered beneath my breath.
“The people who laid the curse knew what they were doing.They knew who I was and my nature.It would be difficult to get a human to fall in love with me, yes, but it would be impossible for me to love them in return.”
He turned to face me, a deep, deep sadness welling in his eyes.
“Why?”I couldn’t help but ask.
