Page 108 of The Night Prince

“Yes. That is one name for it.”

“What is the other?”

His eyes bore into mine, dark and intense. “You already know.”

I shake my head. “I do not.”

“You do. A part of you knows. A part of you has always known. Just like, deep down, Callum knows. Just like I have always known.”

My heartbeat thunders in my ears. “Tell me.”

He twists his hands together. His lips part. “You’ll have to figure it out for yourself, little rabbit. It looks like our time together is coming to an end.”

I turn, just as the door opens. Lochlan enters the room, flanked by four of his men. A half-laugh escapes Blake’s lips as he stands. “Really, Lochlan? You?”

“It’s nothing personal, Blake.” His kohl-lined eyes glint with violence, and belie his statement. I think he’s worried about what Blake might do to Kai. “I have orders from the king. You are sentenced to imprisonment for plotting against the throne. Are you going to come peacefully?”

A dimple punctures Blake’s cheek as he edges back a step. “I know Callum has told you I’m not to be harmed.”

“He thought you might say that,” says Lochlan. “He wants you to know that you’ve shown your hand. You’ve lost. We can hurt you, if we wish.”

Blake laughs. It’s a cold, contrived sound that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. A couple of the men share a look. He shrugs. “Very well. Let me grab my shirt.”

Lochlan inclines his head. Blake grabs his shirt from the armchair and slips it on. I step away from him, and my back hits the wall by the fireplace. I tense as I wait for him to grab a sword and start fighting, or grab me to use me as leverage to get out of the situation. He fastens his buttons, then slips on his boots.

Lochlan gestures at him, and two of the men grab Blake’s arms and pull them roughly behind his back. They slip shackles around his wrists, and the click resounds around his chambers. He doesn’t resist.

They walk him toward the door, and he stops in front of Lochlan. “Will you give Callum a message from me?” Lochlan nods, and Blake’s lips curve into a wicked smile. “He has not seen my hand yet. He doesn’t even know what game we’re playing. Come visit me when you’ve figured it out, little rabbit. I’ll wait for you.”

He’s hauled out of the room.

Lochlan inclines his head. “Good evening, Princess.”

He follows his men, and Blake, into the corridor.

I’m left dumbfounded, staring at the door.

Chapter Forty-Eight

Everything is still. Quiet.

It’s the moment after a storm, when the world has been overturned, yet everything is expected to go back to normal.

I stand by the fireplace in Blake’s chambers. If it weren’t for the crumpled bedsheets, the few bits of mud on the floorboards that were stomped in by Lochlan’s men, and the racing of my heart, I could be fooled that nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

Callum finally made his move against Blake. He decided to lock him up—even though he knows our lives are linked. He didn’t consider it an option before. We discussed it once, back at Lowfell, and decided Blake would starve himself, or hurt himself, to get to me.

Blake didn’t even resist.

Callum is out of his depth. Blake is up to something.

Anam-Cridech.The word for the bond echoes in my mind.

I was so close to getting an answer, and yet a part of me is relieved that Blake was taken before he could reveal it. His words have taken root within me and I fear them.

A part of you knows. A part of you has always known. Just like, deep down, Callum knows. Just like I have always known.

I walk toward his desk and slide open the second drawer.The Alpha’s Fateis tucked in the corner, nestled among the maps. I pick it up. Elsie gave me two of these books. She said they were enlightening. Blake took both of them off me. I thought nothing of it at the time, and yet...

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