Page 141 of The Night Prince

“How are you feeling?” he says, finally.

“I... I’m well. Thank you. And you?”

He releases a soft laugh and shakes his head. “I’m fine, little rabbit.”

He sighs, and my muscles tighten. I’m sure—drenched and shivering as I am—he’s going to tell me to go back inside, that I need to be resting. I don’t want to go back to bed, not yet. Idon’t want to be alone with my thoughts. I don’t want to risk the nightmares that I’m sure will come.

He strolls over to a boulder on the edge of the cliff and sits down so he’s facing the ocean. I release a soft breath. I walk toward another rock a few feet away from him and sit down. My legs dangle over the side of the cliff.

In the distance, the amphitheater is almost completely consumed by black smoke. “James said you insisted it was burned,” I say. “Why?”

“It was the bodies I wanted burned. The acolytes bore Night’s mark, which means they’ve offered their souls to Night. I’ve heard stories that some of his prisoners are strong enough to possess the dead. It got me thinking about Kai, back at Madadh-allaidh, and the way his eyes changed.”

“Do you think he was possessed?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. But they know the truth about you. I didn’t want to risk it.” He turns his head to look at me. “What you did in there... you were magnificent.”

“Hm.” My blood cools.

A crease forms between Blake’s eyebrows. “What’s wrong?”

“I felt... powerful for a moment. But then”—I shake my head—“I wanted to escape my fate. I wanted to feel like more than someone else’s puppet. I didn’t want to be an object anymore. Wars will be fought over me, won’t they? People will try to kill me. Not because of who I am, but what I am and how people can use me. I’m a weapon.”

“Darling, no.” His voice, silk-soft, cuts through the roar of the wind. “You’re not a weapon. You’re a fucking tornado.”

There is something so intense in his eyes I have to drag my gaze to the roiling waves.

“Alexander called you his brother,” I say.

“We’re not related, but we are brothers, in a way. Just as Jack and Arran are my brothers, too. Some bonds are forged by blood. Some by light and love and hope. Others... others are forged in the darkness.”

“Where are Jack and Arran?”

“Arran went to check on Lowfell. Jack is making sure the Grey Keep is secure. They’ll be back.”

I suck in a deep breath of algae-scented air. “I’m ready to talk about it.”

A long silence stretches between us. He clasps his hands between his thighs. “Okay. What do you want to know?”

“The truth. When... when did you know about... this?” I touch my chest, not wanting to say it aloud.

“I’m not sure. I thought I just wanted to play with you, at first. But the longer you were around... I told you before, I thought you seemed familiar when I first met you, even though we’d never met. Arran was kept prisoner with me, beneath the palace. So was his mate.”

“Fara,” I say softly.

He nods. “Our captor experimented on them and recorded it in the pages of the book you took from my chambers. I learned more about the mate bond than I ever wanted to know during those dark days. It’s why I first took the book from my old room, not long after you arrived in the Northlands. I’d started to suspect something. I didn’t know for sure, though. Not until I had you in the dungeons, with your legs wrapped around my waist.”

I recall that moment—how he looked like he was going to kiss me, and seemed disgusted with himself for it.

He sighs. “So, later that night, when you were dying, I knew I could share my life force with you, because Arran and Fara had done it, time and time again.” He shakes his head. “You think I tricked you. In truth, I did not. I did it because I didn’t want you to die.” The words sound raw against his throat, and I can find none to fill the heavy silence that stretches between us.

He shrugs. “I suppose the full truth of it is, I was arrogant enough to think I could pull away at the last minute—that I could grab you, like you did to me earlier, when I was in the well, and then let go without there being any consequence. But you gripped so tight. Honestly, Aurora, I did not mean for this to happen. Make no mistake, I had designs on the throne—I still do. Your part in my plan was over. I was going to blackmail Callum once we had taken Madadh-allaidh from James. I did not plan for... this. It complicates things for me.”

“You hid it from me. You had no right to do that.”

He releases a dark laugh. “What was I supposed to do? You were with Callum. I knew he wouldn’t be able to handle it. The truth would have destroyed you both.”

“And your plan, too, in the process.”

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