For a moment, Loren met her gaze—truly looking at her. His lips parted, something raw flickering in his eyes—a glimpse of what he wasn’t saying. But then his expression shuttered, that wall going up again between them.
“I’m sure,” he said, his voice cold. “And this time—lock the door.”
Chapter
Thirty
The jagged cliffsof Eluneth loomed above them, rising from the mist like the spine of some long-dead beast. Sunlight barely pierced the dense fog, the few rays that struggled through revealing only deadened rock and brittle, colorless vegetation.
Loren couldn’t even see the castle. He wouldn’t have believed this was the same place he’d grown up visiting if not for the stone steps that zigzagged up the cliff face.
The last time he’d climbed them had been with his father—just before he left for Aetheris. The sun had blazed overhead, and the shadows had curled around them to shield them from the heat. They’d brushed through Loren’s hair and wrapped around his arms in greeting, familiar and warm.
They recognize the heir, his father had said, smiling at him.
If he’d lived, how heartbroken would he be to see those same shadows reject his son now? To see Eluneth rotting—strangled by the very power the Goddess had given them to protect it—while Loren stood by, unable to stop it.
“Are you trying to make her hate you?”
Thorne stalked across the deck, stepping up beside him. “You can’t just lock her up, Loren. She’s your mate, not your prisoner.”
Loren said nothing, his jaw tightening as he stared fixedly at the shrouded cliffs.
“You’re going to lose her,” Thorne snapped. “And it won’t be because of Jaxon Shaw. It’ll be because you pushed her too far—and she doesn’t want to come back.”
“Maybe that would be for the best.” Loren stared down at his hands, white-knuckled on the rail. “She could leave—build something real. Something better.”
The wood groaned, splinters biting into his palms, but he welcomed the pain. If he could just feel enough of it, maybe it would drown out the things he didn’t want to think about. “Goddess knows, she doesn’t deserve to be shackled to me. I’m not the male I was supposed to be.”
“Loren…” Thorne didn’t sound angry now. He just sounded tired. “You’re not fixing anything by hating yourself. You don’t deserve to be punished.”
Except he did deserve it.
Jaxon Shaw’s face flashed unbidden in his mind. The Shaws had taken everything from her—her choices, her name, her magic, her freedom—and now Loren had done the same. He’d used their connection to escape, compelled her with her true name, drugged her, torn her away from the only world she knew…
And then he’d locked her up.
It didn’t matter that he’d done it all to keep her safe. His intentions didn’t erase the hurt he’d caused her. They didn’t make him any better for her than Jaxon Shaw.
Guilt twisted in his chest, self-loathing bitter on his tongue.
He was free. After twenty-five years in iron—huddled in the dark and forgotten by the world—he could finally feel the wind on his face. He stood just steps away from a place where the New Dominion held no power. A place where he was still a prince, not a prisoner.
But none of it mattered.
His mate hated him. The magic that should have answered him—the legacy he’d been born to—had recoiled from him in disgust. The land he was meant to rule lay crumbling and abandoned, soaked in shadow and rot. The Goddess’s gift, squandered. His birthright, denied.
And his parents were gone.
His father, who had stood by with pride in his eyes as the shadows claimed him heir. His mother, who had kissed his forehead the day he left for Aetheris like he was still a boy. His sister, forced to take his place when she was only a child—another person he had failed to protect.
Maybe the shadows were right to reject him.
“We should get up to the castle,” Thorne said after a long moment. “Eloria moved the seat of governance to Lumaria years ago, but she kept the whisperstone maintained so anyone who needs shelter can contact the remnant government from Ithralis?—”
“I guess we qualify,” Loren said bitterly. “Some prince I make.”
“She never stopped believing you were alive, you know,” Thorne said quietly, giving Loren a long look. “Your people—they’re going to be overjoyed to see you returned. You still have people who love you, Loren. Even if you can’t see that right now. Don’t you think it’s worth showing Araya that version of you?”
