I met his wide eyes. “I assure you, I am not.”
Another guard demanded, falling to his knee in front of me. “H-h-how is this possible?”
This was not the time to explain all the intricate details of my past. “It does not matter how it is possible, only that it is. Now let my companions go so that we can be on our way.”
Even on his knee in reverence, Haemon remained difficult. “I cannot, Your Highness. His father has demanded his return to court. It is by royal edict I have been charged to bring the crown prince home.”
His words bounced around my head as if they were a different language. Father? Court? Crown prince?
My frantic gaze sought Arrick’s, even while another guard nudged him with his foot. “No wonder you were so desperate to flee, huh, Your Majesty? I’d want time with my own lost bride as well.”
Whatever sense of purpose and power I’d felt from the crown drained out of me as quickly as it had filled me. My mind spun as realization dawned, as all those floating puzzle pieces I’d been wrestling with for weeks pieced together. “No,” I whispered. “It cannot be.”
I glared at Arrick as his features transformed before me. The dark hair. That jaw. That nose.Those eyes. Those stupid, bright blue eyes.
I was a fool for not figuring it out before now.
I had relied too heavily on my knowledge of the past, of the boy I thought I knew. I hadn’t considered the years that had refined him into a man, this man. I had leaned on experience, but I had none. I had clung to logic when this defied all rationale. I had seen it all along, but I hadn’t understood.
“Taelon,” Haemon urged. “We must be on our way. This crown, this princess, we must take her directly to your father.”
“Taelon.” I had to pry the name I hadn’t said aloud in eight year’s time from my lips.
His eyes fixed on mine. “Tessana, please understand. I did what I thought was best—”
My voice rose with my fury, “Tessana! You knew! You knew the entire time!”
He jumped to his feet. The guards surrounding him backed away. Of course they did. He was their crown prince after all. They wouldn’t actually hurt him.
The crown pressed against my temples and I realized all of this, all of my theatrics and secrecy and hidden identity, all of it was for nothing.
He had known me since the very beginning. My necklace. My bloody necklace! The one that he had given to me as a child.
I took a step forward. If the guards weren’t going to kill him, I was.
“You are holding secrets, Tess.”he had said. “Share them with me so that I can help you.”
My hands balled into fists at my side.
He answered, “Not theentiretime.” When my face heated with mottled rage, his voice became pacifying. “Tessana, please understand. I couldn’t tell you who I was because—” I punched his chest. “Oof.”
“Tessa, listen,” he panted. A guard reached for my arm to restrain me. I twirled out of the way and kicked out at Arrick’s, er,Taelon’sside. He crumpled back to one knee. “Tessa,” He growled with as much frustration and fury as I had pulsing through me.
I could not listen to him. I did not want to hear one word from this liar’s mouth. His hand shot out and wrapped around my ankle before I could react. With a jerk of his arm, he yanked me to the ground, flattening me on my back. The crown slid off my head and landed next to me.
I scrambled for it, but he was faster. Looming over me, he grabbed it with lightning speed. He pinned me in place in the next instant by resting both thighs against my sides and sitting over me. He dangled the crown just out of my reach.
“Now, listen,” he growled. “I couldn’t tell you who I was when my own men didn’t know.” I fought against him, rearing off the ground in an attempt to unseat him. He leaned forward, settling more weight on top of me. “And I didn’t think you would react well if I told you I knew who you were. So I left my camp instead in an effort to keep you safe.”
I fought harder and bit out a harsh laugh. “Is that what you were doing? Keeping me safe?”
He leaned in. “You wouldn’t have survived one day without me.”
“Let me go!” I screamed. “I order you to let me go!”
His smile was as menacing as it was promising. “You’re in my kingdom now, Princess. I suggest you show me some respect.” He sat up and looked to his men—his royal men, not the rebels that he’d ordered to flee. “She can ride in the wagon. Restrain her if you need to. Her monk is welcome to join her.”
He stood up and held out a hand. I lay on the ground deciding my next move. I wanted nothing more than to scream at the top of my lungs until I was red in the face.
