“You don’t even want to know how many times I’ve asked myself that very same question.”
She shook her head. “What’s gotten into you? Have they influenced you? Poisoned you? Blessed Mother, have they cast a love potion on you?”
“A love potion?” I snorted. “Are you serious? I don’t love him. I’m just saying he’s not as horrible as we thought.” I waved my hand at the Exorbiant Chamber. “He’s not keeping me in the dungeons, is he? And he let me write to you. Don’t you see what I’m saying? He’s not purely evil.”
She crossed her arms, then arched an eyebrow. “He murdered our parents, Lara. He murdered Tormesh. Why do I need to remind you of that?” Disgust rolled across her features, and for the first time in our lives, something else did too. Disappointment.
Burning shame swept through me like crashing waves on the Tala Sea. I lowered my gaze to my toes. “I know. Honestly, I know. Don’t worry. I would never forget that.”
“You better not.”
My stomach clenched. “Anyway, I need to get going. The prince and I have been working on a field in Harrivee Territory. He’s taking me there again today.”
“Can I come with you?”
She asked the question too quickly, and the look in her eyes told me why she really wanted to join us.
She didn’t trust me.
My sister truly felt I was falling under some ridiculous spell the prince was weaving over me, and she probably saw it as her duty to free me from it.
“I’ll be fine, Cailis.”
Her lips pursed, reminding me of Daiseeum, my lady’s servant. “See to it that you are, Ilara Seary.”
Her meaning smacked me in the face. She’d just addressed me as our mother had when we roamed too late in the fields or were getting into mischief with Birnee and Finley.
Keep your distance from the prince. Don’t fall any further for him. Don’t betray me.
Her unspoken words made an ache form in my gut, but Cailis was right. Even if I had reluctant feelings for the prince, I wouldn’t act on them.
I slipped my hands into my gloves, my thoughts finally aligning with hers. “You need to stop worrying. I won’t do anything stupid with the prince, and you’re right about what you said earlier. We should find a way to escape. But we have to be smart about it. We’ll have to plan wisely.”
“Do you mean that?” A look of such intense relief washed over her features that guilt again burned in me. My sister was what mattered. Not the prince. Not the court.
But then my thoughts flew to the Solis continent and the millions of fae who called our frozen land home. To the bargain I’d made with the prince to restore our continent’s orem. If Cailis and I left, they would all starve.
The headache I’d been battling when Sir Featherton had been prattling on threatened to rise again.
“I’ll see you when I get back.” I kissed Cailis on the cheek, then strode from the room and out into the hall where the prince waited.
I tried to ignore the knowing smirk Sandus wore. I figured the guard was aware of the prince and my proclivities last night. Either that or he’d heard our heated arguing in the bathing chamber.
But seeing Sandus’s amusement together with the disgust from my sister reaffirmed how easily I’d fallen under the prince’s charm. I couldn’t allow it to continue.
Cailis. Cailis. Cailis.
My sister was what mattered the most now.
It was best that I remembered that.
The prince mistphased us to just outside of Barvilum, the small seaside town on the southern edge of Harrivee Territory.
Waves crashed against the shore, and the sun shone brightly when the realm formed again after we’d been ripped through mist and shadows, air and wind.
Familiar ground covered in snow appeared beneath my feet, and the faint call of birds cawed in the sky.
Nothing but the sea, sun, and snow surrounded us. Farther out in the ocean, the Glassen Barrier Islands were visible, along with huge icebergs floating in the waves.
Prince Norivun stood just behind me, and his aura—while not quite as pounding as it’d been when he’d spoken of Vorl—was still strong.
I tried to stop the shiver that danced down my spine. Once again, his nearness reminded me of the kiss we’d shared last night. It felt as if he’d touched my soul in that kiss, which was crazy.
It was just a kiss, Ilara.
“Well?” I said, putting more distance between us. “What did you want to show me?”
He cocked an eyebrow up. “You better tame that sharp tongue of yours lest I find something more useful for it to do.”
My cheeks reddened. “And you best tame that perverted mind of yours lest you find my fist connected with your face.”
He laughed. “Have you developed a new violent side?”
“Perhaps you’re rubbing off on me.”
He waggled his eyebrows. “Oooh, I might like that.”
A thrill ran through me, but I schooled my expression. Cailis. Cailis. Cailis. I forced an annoyed tone. “Again, what did you want to show me?”
His eyes narrowed. “Come. It’s over here.”
He trudged across the snow, his wings lifting so they wouldn’t drag through the white powder. To this day, he had the tallest wings I’d ever seen, yet he walked around with them as though they weighed nothing.
When he reached the middle of the field, he crouched down and parted the snow. “Look here.”
I peered over his shoulder and gasped at the buds of wheat rising from the black soil. Vivid colors of gold, magenta, and emerald green shone from the small shoots. My heart suddenly felt like the surf pounding against the shore, and I dropped to my knees and laid my palm against the ground in the same breath.
An immediate faint hum of orem pulsed against my skin. My jaw dropped. “But . . . how? This wasn’t here two days ago.”
The prince gave a triumphant smile. “I told you that you could do it.”
“When did this happen?” All week I’d been trying to restore life to this field, doing what I always did when I worked crops. I had thought it wasn’t working since nothing had come of it. Until now.
“The life must have been forming since you started, and the plants have only just appeared now.”
“Does anyone else know?”
“At the moment, no, just you and me. But in a few weeks, when these stalks appear above the snow, the entire town will be aware. There’ll be much rejoicing here.”
I sat back on my haunches. “Rejoicing? From a few plants?” When his smile grew, my eyes widened. “Are there more?”
He moved several feet away and pushed a pile of snow from the ground. Tiny wheat stalks appeared beneath, plants in the beginning stages of growth.
The prince stood, then grabbed my hand and pulled me up with him.
My insides clenched when his tantalizing scent of cedar and snow surrounded me. And his broad chest was only inches from my face. Every line of his was hard, unyielding. The male truly was a work of art.
My gaze fell to our joined hands. His palm was so warm. So large. It swallowed mine.
Pulse quickening, I ripped my hand free and smoothed my hair.