Page 89 of The Shadow Prince's Ruin
“There should be… Aha! Hawk, you need to see this!”
Just as I walk up to him, he lowers the torch, and a massive firepit lights up with green flames, revealing what’s at the very end of this dungeon.
A mosaic covers a whole wall, depicting men and wolves. Some chained, some cowering under waterfalls. In the center of the image is a large pipe in the shape of a dragon’s head.
“And down here,” Sylvan says, leading me to a part of the floor covered with a round slab of metal roughly the size of a small car. “Is where they brought feral werewolves. Help me open it.”
Unlike the vault door to the prison, this covering isn’t that hard to lift, and what’s revealed is a three foot-deep, rounded hole. The mosaic here is colorful, and not stained by years of dust the way the walls are. If this small pool wasn’t located in a dungeon, it would fit right in at a luxury spa in my world. At least that’s how those places look in the movies. The closest to a spa I’ve ever been to was the gay sauna in Boston, and that had… a bit of a different atmosphere.
I exhale and stare at the metal covering. “Do you… want to lock me in here?”
He frowns, as if I hurt him by even voicing my question. “No. First, we will turn on the water to cool you down,” he says and puts the back of his hand against my arm. “Then—”
I meet his gaze. “Then, you must leave. I’m not joking, Sylvan. If I hurt you, I will never forgive myself.”
He’s silent for a while, so beautiful with the green light dancing on his skin. “Iwillleave. I will lock the vault door behind me. T-to not starve, you will need to turn into the Sunwolf,” he mutters.
My lips quirk into a smile despite the hole inside my chest. I know this will be for the best, even if spending an unpredictable amount of time on my own, underground, sounds like torture. But if my mind gives in to the creature I’ve invited inside me, it won’t matter any longer.
I’ve had a pretty good run after all.
“Yes. Thank you, babe. For… everything,” I add softly, despite the fire inside me climbing my throat.
Sylvan gets to his toes and cups my cheeks. Maybe I’ve only had so little time with him, but it was worth everything I’m going through now. He’s my perfect prince. Beautiful, with the heart of a lion.
“Don’t give up hope, Hawk.”
He believes it. Even now, he believes there’s a future for us. So I will entertain that too. For him.
My gaze seeks a way to fill the pool, and when I notice a valve on the nearby wall, I head toward it and give it a little nudge. Like the cover, it’s not nearly as stuck as the door lock has been, and moments later, a gurgle echoes in the walls around us. Then, the pipe at the very bottom of the pool spits out water.
“It comes from a nearby stream, so it’s clean, and not salty like the ocean,” Sylvan says, but I’m already taking off my pants because I’m dying to cool my skin.
The pool is filled halfway when I slide in naked and scoot down to sink in at least to the neck. The relief is instant, and I let my head fall back onto the edge before glancing up at my sweet boy.
We didn’t get nearly enough time together, but for him I am ready to be martyred. “This is… so good.”
Sylvan’s expression is pensive when he kneels by the pool and dips his hand in. “You’re so hot it’s warming up the water.”
I lick my lips, drawn to his soft scent. I know this is the moment I ought to make him leave, but thinking about a forever without him makes my heart so heavy I end up squeezing his wrist. “Stay for a bit longer. Be with me.”
My lovely elven prince swallows, knowing exactly what I’m asking for and after a moment’s hesitation, sheds his coat.
My heart leaps with joy, and I brush the back of my hand over the tip of his boot. He is the most charming man I’ve ever met, and the purest soul. I might have not led the best of lives, but one thing Idon’tregret? Meeting him.
I wouldn’t turn back time to avoid ever putting on the Sunwolf Crown either, because we’d both be dead if I hadn’t. This way, at least, he has a fighting chance in this strange world of merhorses, werewolves, and elves. Our time together was short, but I have never known the kind of happiness I feel when he smiles at me, approving of some small thing or another. I imagine that setting him free was my purpose from the very beginning, that I was born for it, and that our meeting at Best Burger Bonanza was far from accidental. Maybe that’s why I survived all my brushes with death? After all, Sylvan seems to believe in destiny.
“I love you,” I whisper, as he sheds his clothes, revealing his lithe form.
My romantic feelings for him are tender and mushy, but when I see his naked body, there’s no denying I alsocravehis flesh. I still don’t understand why someone like him would ever be self-conscious, because he has the glow of moonlight and all the stars put together. An ethereal beauty with eyes like precious sapphires, dainty feet, soft hair, and a delicious cock I itch to feel against my skin.
“I love you too,” he says, dipping his bare toe into the water. From down here, he is a god I want to worship, so I grab him by the hips and pull him into the warmed-up water, determined to make this ancient dungeon our personal paradise. Even if just for a little while.
Our bodies coming together is bliss. “Thank you. For everything,” I say and enfold him in my arms, lowering myself to one of the steps making up the edges of the pool.
He straddles my lap, and the initial tenderness soon transforms into a more visceral need for him. I run my hands up his spine with a low groan.
“Did you just… get even hotter? Maybe I should leave after all.” The little smile on his lips tells me he doesn’t mean it, but I still pull him closer, until he crosses his ankles behind me and his soft hair tickles my neck. This will be the last time I hold him, and I want to remember every detail.
