Our jewelers decorated warships with fearsome splendor while common folk wore rags. Our fishermen hunted whales for lamp oil when they could have been diving for pearls to trade for the moonstones that lit these streets with gentle radiance.
I was no statesman, no diplomat trained in the subtle arts of commerce and governance. Perhaps my betters saw wisdom in our current course that escaped my simple soldier's understanding. But it felt wrong, this endless cycle of taking rather than making, of destroying beauty in other lands rather than creating it in our own.
We could make good things. Instead, we made weapons to steal good things from others. Where was the sense in that?
The thought brought me back to Serin, and with it came a wave of emotion so intense it nearly drove me to my knees on the salt-stained planks. Through the connection that hummed between us like a plucked harp string, I felt his despair as if itwere my own. The anguish threatened to drown me, to pull me under waves of grief and self-recrimination that had nothing to do with my own feelings.
He was suffering. Alone somewhere in this paradise we had briefly shared, he was drowning in pain that I had caused with my clumsy handling of impossible duties. The knowledge that he hurt because of my actions was worse than any physical wound I had ever endured.
I had to find him. Had to explain why I had done what duty demanded, had to make him understand that my betrayal came not from lack of love but from too much of it. If I was to drag him back to the Three Isles, if I was to watch the crown destroy everything bright within him, at least I could ensure our final hours together weren't poisoned by misunderstanding.
The captain had said dawn. That gave me the night to locate Serin, to secure his agreement to our departure, to somehow bridge the chasm my necessary deception had opened between us. It seemed an impossible task, but then again, so had winning his love in the first place.
I shouldered my pack and turned away from the harbor, retracing my steps up the winding paths toward the palace that crowned Eletheria like a jeweled diadem. But first, I had one more stop to make, an errand that duty demanded even as myheart pulled me toward the man whose pain echoed in my chest like a second heartbeat.
Tomorrow we would sail for home, leaving paradise behind for a world that had forgotten how to value anything but strength.
But tonight... tonight I would do everything in my power to ensure we faced that bleak future together rather than apart. Whatever bridges my deception had burned, I would find a way to rebuild them before dawn painted the eastern sky.
Even if it cost me everything I had left to give.
Chapter
Fourteen
SERIN
The palace gardens held a different kind of beauty in moonlight, silver radiance transforming familiar paths into something from the realm of dreams. I sat beside a fountain carved from rose-veined marble, watching small golden fish dart through water that caught starlight like scattered diamonds. Their movements were hypnotic, purposeful yet graceful, and I found myself envying their simple existence - no crowns to bear, no kingdoms to rule, no impossible choices between love and duty.
I tried not to think about what awaited me across dark waters. The iron circlet that would soon rest upon my brow. The lords who would bow and scrape while plotting my destruction. The wife I would be expected to take, the heirs I would be forced to sire. Better to focus on the presentmoment, on the gentle sound of water flowing over stone, on the jasmine-scented breeze that carried away some small measure of my fears.
Regret sat heavy in my chest like a stone cast into still water, ripples of guilt spreading through every thought. I had been so cold to Rhazir earlier, so quick to assume the worst of his motives. Eight years of faithful service, and I had repaid him with accusations and dismissal. The memory of his stricken face when I called him "shadow" would haunt me for whatever time remained to us.
A familiar warmth touched the edge of my awareness, that strange connection humming to life with sudden intensity. I felt him approaching before I heard the soft crunch of boots on gravel, before his shadow fell across the moonlit stones.
"You have found me again," I said without turning, though my heart leaped at his presence.
"Forgive the intrusion," Rhazir replied, his voice carefully formal despite the intimacy we had shared.
"Not at all." I turned to look at him over my shoulder, drinking in the sight of his beloved face. He wore a fresh uniform, his pack secured to his shoulders, and the canvas bag hung at his hip like a promise of endings. "I was hoping you would find me here."
"I followed a feeling," he said, and something in his tone made my pulse quicken with recognition.
I was silent for a long moment, studying his expression in the silver light. "You feel it, too."
"I believe I've felt it since we first met. It led me to the ship that took you away from home. I've always felt you near me, Serin," he admitted, his formal mask slipping to reveal the vulnerability beneath. "Only never this strongly."
"This island," I replied, rising to face him properly. "It has opened my heart to it." Laughter escaped me despite everything, bright and wondering. "Until now, I wasn't so certain I had a heart to begin with. It is as though the Three Isles take it from you at birth."
"Nothing could take your heart away, Serin," he said with such fierce certainty that my chest tightened with emotion. "It's far too big and wonderful."
Tears welled in my eyes, threatening to spill over despite my efforts at royal composure. "Forgive me for today, Rhazir. I spoke too harshly."
"There is nothing to forgive," he said gently. "I know the burdens you bear."
"I am not the only prince in the history of princes who needed to carry the burden of history. I should not have lashed out. You are my most loyal companion, Rhazir, and so much more."
"And I wish to help you, Serin," he replied, stepping closer until I could see the flecks of amber in his dark eyes. "I wish to share the burden with you, as others have done for their princes."
