Page 37 of Thorns of Frost

“Our date continues?” I joked awkwardly.

“Until you tell me it’s over.”

My breath stuttered. I knew this was my one and only date with the prince. Since the Trial demanded weekly dates over the course of three months, it only left enough time for one private date with each male. One date in which each female was given the chance to learn what she could of the male. One night in which secrets could be laid bare and personality traits learned.

Just one.

I gulped when that realization hit me. Instead of using our one night to keep me to himself, the prince had instead given me a gift. He’d given me a chance to return home. He’d chosen something that would makemehappy, not him.

I stopped in my tracks and faced him. “Thank you for letting me go home.”

His eyes softened. “You seemed to enjoy it.”

“I did. Immensely.”

He gestured toward a bench near a frozen pond. “Shall we sit?”

Heart pounding, I wrapped my cape around me and sat on the frozen slats. Within seconds, shivers were striking me.

“Allow me.” A whisper of the prince’s magic misted around us, and then one of his encapsulating domes from his air affinity created a Shield. The air warmed. The frosty puffs from our breath disappeared. Yet the sky still twinkled above us. His magic was so powerful, able to create so much destruction but controlled enough to do something this gentle.

“You have a nice home,” he said, breaking the quiet and pulling my thoughts from his power.

I arched an eyebrow. “That’s polite of you to say.”

“I’m not being polite. I mean it.”

I angled to face him more. “My entire home can fit within the Exorbiant Chamber.”

His lips curved, and my attention snagged to how perfectly they were shaped. “It’s not the size I’m referring to. It’s thefeelof your home. Your friends. Your sister. It’s obvious you all care for each other, that you’d all do anything for one another.”

A small smile parted my lips. “We would.”

“You’re lucky to have that.”

I frowned at the slight catch in his tone. “But what about you? You have this—” I waved toward the castle. “And your family. You all have power and rulibs. You have everything you could ever ask for, and if there’s something you want that you don’t have, you can just demand it.”

He gave a rueful shrug. “It does appear that way, doesn’t it?”

I frowned. “Are you saying it isn’t?”

He sighed, and his wings draped more when he leaned into the bench’s slats. “Appearances can be deceiving. Yes, I live in a castle. Yes, I have a family. Yes, I have rulibs and power.”

“But...” I raised my eyebrows.

“But we don’t have what you have. We don’t have the freedom of anonymity. We don’t have the luxury of nobody watching us. We don’t have the easy warmth that so effortlessly flows through your family’s home. We have—” He cut himself off and shook his head.

“What? Tell me?”

“Nothing. I’m speaking too freely.”

“You’re not. I want to know.”

He turned to face me again, his gaze penetrating in the moonlight. “My family might have rulibs, power, and endless food, but we don’t have the love that your family does, and I don’t have the luxury of doing whatever I want, despite what some think.”

I paused, not sure where to begin after hearing that. I started with, “But what about Nuwin? You love him, don’t you?”

He chuckled. “Yes, I suppose I do, even though he enjoys driving me mad.”

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