Raewyn turned and started walking.
The second her back was turned, my shaky control on my tear ducts failed. Tears streamed down my face as I watched her walk away.
After only a few steps, Raewyn stopped and twisted to look at me.
“Pharis,” was all she said.
Gritting my teeth and balling my hands into tight fists, I hardened my voice.
“Why are you stopping? I told you to walk,” I barked harshly. “Go. And don’t come back. Ever. Don’t seek me out. You won’t be welcome anymore at my doorstep.”
There was a momentary flash of pain on her face, but she nodded and turned back around, resuming her walk toward the palace and my brother.
Feeling all the strength drain from my body, I collapsed to my knees and watched her go, not taking my eyes from her retreating form until she disappeared inside the walls of Seaspire.
Gods, what have I done?
I wrapped my arms around my head and rocked, overcome by a tunneling agony that felt like it would hollow me out entirely.
A moment later, I was grabbed from behind and quickly surrounded by the King’s soldiers.
“Prince Pharis?” one of them said when he got a look at my face. “We thought you were dead.”
I will be if Raewyn tells my brother where she’s been.
“What should we do, Captain?” he asked the man behind me, the one holding my arms in such a painful position.
“Take him to the King,” a gruff voice said beside my ear. “His Majesty will either be happy to see his brother… or he won’t.”
The numerous guards were joined shortly thereafter by many others, and they shackled me in iron, used for Fae prisoners because the material weakened and sickened our kind.
I probably still could have overpowered them and escaped. At the moment though, I couldn’t muster the ability to care.
Raewyn was gone.
The idea of going back to my castle without her held no appeal for me. Neither did going anywhere else.
I could travel to the ends of the earth and not find a place where her memory wouldn’t haunt me.
Might as well allow them to escort me inside my ancestral home and take me before the new King.
My brother.
My soon-to-be mortal enemy.
Chapter 20
Forget About Him
Stellon
A young page ran into the throne room, red-faced and winded.
He bowed, and I waved my hand, indicating he had my permission to speak.
“Your brother is here, Your Majesty,” the boy said between pants. “Prince Pharis is alive. He’s being brought inside the gates as we speak.”
I bolted to my feet, the breath shocked out of me.
