“Why would you choose to tie yourself to him?”
Araya stiffened at his question, her jaw tightening as she looked away. “I told you—I made the choices I had to make to survive.” She stretched out her hand, letting the curious shadows twine around her fingers as something dark and ancient purred in delight.
“Survive?” The word was bitter on his tongue, poisoned by the weight of his own guilt. Loren swallowed, his ribs aching—not from his injuries, but from the weight of what he was about to do.
He almost stopped himself. He wanted to warn her—beg her to listen. But even that would be too dangerous. So he hardened his heart and turned the words into something else. Something that would hurt.
“And what are you surviving for, Araya? To be his pet? His whore?”
Her head snapped up, her breath hitching. For a heartbeat, shejust stared at him, silver eyes wide—not with fury, but with something worse. Hurt.
“I know enough.” His chest tightened—guilt clawing at him—but he forced himself to hold her gaze. Forced himself to stay cold. Distant. Hating him would keep her safe. “I know you chose him over your own people. Over yourself. You gave up.”
She’d been a child. What else could he have expected her to do?
Araya recoiled as if he’d struck her, her expression hardening. “I’m not the one rotting in a cell,” she said quietly, her voice trembling at the edges as she stood, brushing the dirt from her skirts. “Maybe you’re the one who gave up—Your Highness.”
She didn’t look back as she walked to the door, knocking twice. The aetherlamp extinguished as it swung shut behind her, plunging him back into darkness.
But Loren wasn’t alone, and this time, the shadows didn’t wait. They surged from the corners of the cell, curling tight around his limbs and banding around his chest. Their whispers joined together, rising from a murmur to a deafening cacophony.
Coward, they hissed.You drove her away.
Loren’s head thudded back against the wall. “We were never meant to be,” he told them. “Not like this. Not as these broken things the humans made of us. I can’t be what she needs—and she would never choose me, anyway.”
She. Is. Yours.The shadows snarled, their voices joining together until they were almost screaming at him.And you let her go. Youhurther.
“Because she’s safer if she hates me,” Loren growled. “She would be better off if she never saw me—either of us—ever again.”
Liar.The word slithered through the darkness, sharper than any blade.You’re afraid, Shadow Prince. Afraid of her. Afraid of yourself. And afraid of us.
Loren didn’t argue.
The shadows had known him his whole life—had chosen him as his father’s heir when he was only a child, no older than Araya waswhen she gave up her name. They knew him better than he knew himself.
He sagged against the wall, groaning as his ribs protested the movement. The countless cuts Jaxon had left on him throbbed, the pain a dull constant. But it was nothing compared to the ache of the bond in his chest, a phantom wound that would never heal.
It tied them together, whether they wanted it or not—and that was the cruelest punishment of all.
Chapter
Sixteen
Araya shovedpast the guard without a word, fleeing down the corridor as tears blurred her vision. The shadows between the lamps twisted and writhed as the world swam in front of her, morphing into shapes that clawed at the edges of her vision.
Pet, they hissed as she raced past them.Whore.
Araya stumbled, her shoulder slamming into the wall. Pain radiated through her arm, but she pushed forward, clutching her side as if that could hold her together.
You chose him over your people. Over yourself.
She shoved open the door to the workshop, iron stinging her palm as the cloying scent of copper and burnt aether flooded her nose. Jaxon had begun distilling the first vial of Loren’s blood—it swirled gently in the central flask, runes glowing faintly with power.
He looked up, his eyes widening as he took in her disheveled state. “Starling, what?—”
“He’s awake.” Araya wiped her face with the heel of her hand, smearing wetness across her cheeks before wrapping her arms around herself, trying to stop the trembling.
“Isn’t that good?” Jaxon frowned, his brow furrowing as he stared at her. “Did he hurt you, Starling?”
