Page 38 of Promise of Darkness
He mounts up. “You’re the one who was listening to my private conversation the other day. You tell me where we’re going.”
I think about everything the Unseelie said, and the breath rushes out of me. “You’re going toMistmere?”
The ruined keep was once the capital city of Mistmere Kingdom, which borders Thiago’s territories. During the wars, the castle was ruined and the lands blighted by the backlash of magic. Most of the territories were divided by the Seelie Alliance—including the disputed borders between my mother’s kingdom and the prince’s—but the north was never claimed. It holds direct passage to the northern half of the continent where the Unseelie kingdoms reside, and anyone who claimed it would need to be able to protect it.
“I need to know what Angharad is up to. Cian claims she’s poking about the ruins. I want to know why.”
I glance behind him. “I’m fairly certain you intended to go alone. It’s almost as though you want the witch queen to capture you.”
He snorts. “Get your ass on your horse if you’re going to come.”
“This is foolish. You need an army to confront her.” I’m rethinking my decision to join him.
“Iaman army,” he replies softly, “Anyone else is only a weak flank I would need to protect. And I don’t intend to confront her. If she sees me, then I deserve to lose my crown. Perhaps you can learn to be a little quieter this time, Princess? You blunder through the woods like a troll.”
A little quieter?“You had no idea I was in the trees above you.”
“I didn’t need to know. The only road through those trees was the one I’d followed, so I knew where you’d return to. Strategy, Princess. By the time I found your horse, I could hear you floundering through the snow like a crippled bane.”
I swear to the Old Ones, I ought to kick him off a cliff.
“Fine.” I swing into the saddle. “Let’s see what Angharad is doing at Mistmere. Lead the way, oh, dangerous one. I promise I’ll shed a tear if a troll eats you.”
“If a troll eats anyone, it’s going to be you,” he says as I ride out of the stables ahead of him. “All those soft delicious curves and tender flesh. Why would he want to pick over my rangy bones and sinew when he has you to salivate over?”
I shoot him a baleful glare. “You’d best be talking about the troll.”
There’s a smile on the prince’s face. “Of course I am, Princess. Because if I were to get my hands on you, it wouldn’t be your flesh I’d devour. Nor would I use my teeth. Unless you wanted me to.”
Mother of Night. Heat blooms in my cheeks. The Prince of Evernight is dangerous in more ways than one.
“Then it’s a good thing you’re never going to get your hands on me.”
“We’ll see. After all, it’s going to be cold out there, Princess.”
10
“Why Mistmere? I thought there was nothing here but ruins after the Great Wars,” I say as we use the Valerian Hallow to transport ourselves to the Hallow in the mountains above Mistmere.
We had to leave the horses—they don’t like portals very much—which means we’re on foot. In snow up to my knees. I’m trying very hard to remind myself why I volunteered for this mission.
The prince’s dark eyes hood as he glances my way, and I know instinctively he’s fighting to form the right words—to tell me just enough truth without giving away his secrets.
“Don’t bother finding a means to skirt a lie. It’s not as though I can report directly to my mother. Not until spring breaks, anyway.”
I stalk past him, but I’ve only taken two steps when he catches my arm. I look down at the firm fingers locked around my wrist, and then up into those mercurial eyes. Sometimes I forget how tall he is, how powerful. And its not until he touches me that I feel the skim of tension light over my arms.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you,” he says.
“And yet you refuse to tell me a wretched thing. I’ve seen you all watching me, whispering behind my back. I know you’re keeping secrets. Well, I don’t care. I have nearly six weeks remaining of this sentence, and then I’m free of your company and you of mine.”
His thumb strokes over the inside of my wrist, over my pulse. “Are you certain you’ll be free of me?”
I tear my arm free. “Quite.”
The faintest of smiles touches his mouth. Thiago leans closer. “And yet, you kissed me last night.”
“I seem to recall it being the other way around.”
