Page 74 of Prince of Never

‘Probably?’I didn’t like the uncertainty in everything he said.Did Haddock actually know what he was doing?Because I sure as shit didn’t.If I followed that thing and it did lead me to some kind of danger, there was no Tarian to help me out of it this time.

‘It will almost definitely not kill us.Maybe.’

I was starting to wish Tarian had picked someone else for this task, but it was too late now.I took a deep breath and moved towards the wisp.It swayed happily at my approach, humming softly.Another appeared a few feet away, and another a few feet after that.I paused.‘Haddock, if you’re wrong about this...’I trailed off, my teeth worrying at my bottom lip.

‘Oh not to worry, mistress!I’m a professional.’

‘Why doesn’t that fill me with confidence?’I muttered as I pressed on.But when I neared the next wisp, it winked out of sight.‘Wait!’I called as the one ahead disappeared, too.Shit.I moved faster, running after them as the feeling that I had to chase them nipped at my feet, driving away my caution.But they taunted me, humming out of existence faster and faster, making me run harder to keep up.

‘Imogen!’Haddock called in a panic and I spun around, frustrated to know that I was going to lose the trail now but knowing that I couldn’t get back without him.

‘Haddock?’I spun around again, scanning my surroundings, peering through the mist, but Haddock was nowhere to be seen.Fuck!‘Haddock?!’I shouted, but only the echoes of my own voice answered me.No, no, no!Was I stuck in this place now?Panic began to rise in me, churning my stomach and stealing my breath.

‘There there, little faeling.No need for all that,’ a soothing male voice said.I turned to see a beautiful man with white hair and blue eyes looking at me sympathetically.‘You’ll have to forgive us, but the satyr couldn’t be here for this.’

‘How he managed to get her here at all is beyond me,’ a woman said, her tone as dark as her hair.The same blue eyes stared out of her face, assessing me closely, though whether that assessment was good or bad, I couldn’t tell.Their facial features were strikingly similar and they were both lean and effortlessly graceful.They looked like twins.Perhaps they were, but the biggest question still needed to be asked.

‘Sorry, who are you?’

The man flashed me a smile, as if he found my ignorance charming.The woman tossed her hair and huffed in irritation.‘Honestly, we should just leave her here,’ she said.

‘Come now, sister, don’t be so hard on her.She’s spent her whole life in the human realm.At least she performed the ritual.’

‘Hardly.Was that asaucepanI saw you drinking from?’the woman scoffed.

‘I’m sorry, I really don’t know what’s going on,’ I said.

‘Come,’ the man said, holding out his hand to me.I hesitated for a moment before taking it.As soon as his skin touched mine, the mist cleared.There before us was that same lake I’d walked into with Haddock.‘You know you’re not human, yes?’

‘What?Iamhuman.If I wasn’t human, I’d know, wouldn’t I?’I said, the words tumbling from my lips in a torrent I couldn’t stop.Something about what he said resonated with me, and that scared me more than I’d ever expected.I came to this place to find out why I didn’t fit, why I was different, why I felt so out of place in my life, but part of me hoped it was all in my head, that I wasn’t an imposter.Deep down, I’d hoped that life was mine.He didn’t answer, just continued to watch me, his head cocked slightly to the side.‘I’m a changeling, aren’t I?’I said despondently.

The man nodded solemnly.‘Yes.’

‘But I look human.I don’t have pointed ears or that beauty you all have.’

‘Pfft.She thinksweare fae,’ the woman said, rolling her eyes.‘The audacity of these creatures.’

‘Never mind her, faeling.She’s always cranky when she loses a bet.You have been spelled.A powerful glamour binds you, dampening everything fae in you.Your appearance, your magic, even your mate bond.’He turned my hand over and tapped a finger against the mark on my wrist.‘Won me quite the prize, by the way.’I glanced over at the woman who was glaring at me with seething hatred.I flinched under that glare, but the man only patted my hand.

‘Why?’The single word dropped from my lips, barely a whisper.I couldn’t seem to find the words to voice my thoughts.A changeling?Why did my parents never come back for me?Didn’t they want me?Didn’t they care who raised me or what sort of life I would have?Why did they turn me into something I was never supposed to be?

‘Don’t you dare, Tamesis,’ the woman said, her voice almost a growl.‘You know the rules.’

He rolled his eyes.‘Fine, fine,’ he said, waving her away with his hand.He slotted my hand into the crook of his elbow and steered me to the water, stopping by the edge, where the bank turned muddy.‘Our time is coming to an end, faeling.Your oracle is grasping onto strands so desperately trying to find you.’

‘But I still don’t know my fiorainm.’

He pressed a kiss to my forehead, then leaned forward, bringing his lips to my ear.‘Be well, Aurelia.’

‘Enough of this,’ the woman snapped.She yanked me away from Tamesis and shoved me into the lake.All I managed was a short, sharp squeal before my head was submerged in icy water and everything went dark.

Chapter 32

Tarian

I’dhaddoubtsaboutmy decision to substitute Dhrigada for Haddock when he’d produced the saucepan, and those doubts only grew stronger the longer he and Imogen floated immobile in the shallows of the lake.I was trying to remember what my own fiorainm ceremony had entailed, but I could only recall what happened afterwards, when Dhrigada had announced what she’d read in the stars.I did have a sense that it had been a far cry from sitting in the mud with a degenerate satyr, though.But what was starting to gnaw at me was how long they’d been there for.

‘Can I get you some tea, your lordship?’Haddock’s wife asked, her tone far more timid than it had been when she’d been ordering her mate around.

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