“Just answer it.”
Rowan’s topaz eyes narrowed. “Prince Sawyer.”
I laughed again, and this time it came out slightly unhinged. Fitting. That’s exactly how I felt.
“What’s so funny?” Irritation bled into his normally cool tone.
“Talk about one hell of a misunderstanding.” I wiped at my eyes. I couldn’t stop laughing. Looking back, it all made sense: how he’d first addressed me and his snide comments about me being born with a silver spoon in my mouth. “I take it you’ve never actually seen Prince Sawyer?”
“I…” Rowan’s gaze locked on mine, and his face lost a bit of color. “What the hell are you implying?”
“As flattering as it is that you mistook me for Sawyer, I’m not the prince. My name is Evan.”
His eyes blew wide. It was the first time I’d seen him look so rattled. He’d been nothing but cocky since I’d met him. “Stop lying. You’re trying to trick me, and it won’t work.”
“Do I look like I’m lying?” I asked.
“Golden hair. Green eyes. A demi-human for a companion. You were at the beach with the cat, the same section of beach the prince is known to visit.”
Another laugh spilled from me. I also kind of felt like crying for some reason. “Kuya is my best friend. Prince Sawyer is my friend too. But I don’t have a royal bone in my body. I’m just a nerdy, coffee-obsessed bookworm who owns a café. I’m not a prince.”
Rowan stared at me in disbelief before, finally, realization seemed to sink in. He plopped down on a tree stump and scrubbed his hands over his face. And then, he started to laugh too. It was brittle. “I’m such a fool.”
“Eh, don’t be too hard on yourself.” I walked over to sit beside him. His remark about the hungry demon stalking us was partly to do with that. “If you’d never seen Prince Sawyer before—who is way more handsome than me, I promise—it might be possible to mix us up. We do have the same hair and similar eyes, but it’s just a coincidence. No relation whatsoever.”
He breathed out a dry laugh.
I offered him the rest of my half-eaten apple. “Want some? I heard it’s supposed to keep the demons away.”
Hand trembling, he accepted the apple and took a bite. He looked up at the tree tops, his gaze distant. “This was supposed to change my life. I was finally going to…” He swallowed hard. “It doesn’t matter now.”
A ray of sunshine came through the branches, the light chasing away the shadows. At least in that spot. “Never thought I’d say it, but it’s sort of pretty here. Well, if you forget about all the things that want to eat us for lunch.”
“How can you be so calm about this?” Rowan asked, his eyes meeting mine. “You should be screaming at me. Hitting me. Something. Not sitting here giving me your apple and trying to make me feel better.”
I shrugged. “You’re beating yourself up enough for the both of us. Screaming at you won’t solve or change anything.” I focused on the sunbeams. “I’m not as calm as I seem though. I’m glad I finally have answers, but I’m also worried for Sawyer. If what you say is true, the hired mercenaries are still after him.”
“I reckon he’ll be heavily guarded soon,” Rowan said. “A bandit was captured and questioned. One who knew the truth of it all. He alerted the knights to the real target, which is why I made my move when I did. To get ahead of them.”
“How do you know he told them?”
A trace of a smile showed on his lips. “My shadow magic. I used it to listen in on the interrogation.”
“Shadow magic? You can use shadows to eavesdrop?”
“Eavesdrop… among other things.” He ate more of the apple.“So, your name is Evan?”
“Yep. I also go by Muffin Lord and Thorn Prince. But Evan will suffice.” I peeked at him from the corner of my eye and felt a victorious jolt in my belly when I caught him smiling. Well, kind of. It was super faint. “I have another question.”
He dropped his gaze to the apple, that faint smile on his lips growing bigger. “Of course you do.”
“Haran hired bandits to create a diversion, so all eyes would be on them while mercenaries or whoever snuck in to capture Prince Sawyer, right?”
“Yes.”
“And you heard about the plan and decided to capture him yourself,” I said, and he nodded. “Then why are we here in the dark wood on our way to see the demon lord instead of on the road to Haran?”
“It would be a ship, not a road,” he responded. “Haran is across the sea, a good two week’s journey. And that’s only if you have a fast ship. You really don’t know a thing about this land, do you?” Unlike other times when he’d said it, warmth filled his voice.
