Arenn must’ve picked up on this because he tilted his head to the side, studying me. “I fear you do not trust me… How can I fix that? I can assure you I have shared nothing but the truth from the moment we met.”
A twinge of guilt tugged at my heart. Perhaps he was right. Maybe I was letting my past knowledge of faeries sway my thoughts. After all, I came here to help my kingdom, and so far, everything on that front seemed promising.
“I think I just need to know more about you,” I answered after a moment of pondering.
“And what would you like to know?” The prince grinned. “For you, I am an open book.”
What did I want to know? Other than the fact that he was a prince, I hadn’t really learnt anything about him.
“How old are you?” I decided to ask first.
“I was born in 1327, which would make me about twenty in human years.”
“Human years?” I repeated. “Do faeries age differently then?”
Arenn’s eyes sparkled. “You may have noticed that my mother and father look remarkably young despite having held the throne for over thirty years. Faeries age like humans do until twenty-five, and then, after that, we age very slowly. It’s the magic that keeps us looking youthful.”
“Right… So if we married, I would eventually be old and wrinkled while you’d remain young until you died?”
The prince chuckled, causing small waves to form in the pool. “There are rituals that can be performed to slow a human’s ageing. You wouldn’t need to worry about wrinkles while I’m around.”
Faery magic was truly amazing. Of course science was wonderful too, but I’d never heard of a herb or powdered mineral that could slow ageing. My breath caught as Lukas’stheory crept back into my mind. If faeries could slow ageing, could they also speed it up? Were they responsible for causing an otherwise healthy, middle-aged king’s body to waste away with sudden ageing? My chest tightened, and I knew I probably shouldn’t ask him this here. If it went badly, we were dangerously close to the deeper water, and I wasn’t lying when I said I couldn’t swim.
“You have another question for me?” Arenn mused as I felt his fingers stroke my waist.
I took a deep breath before speaking. “You said that there are rituals that can be done to slow someone’s ageing… What about a ritual that does the opposite?”
The prince raised an eyebrow. “And what good would a ritual like that be?”
“Well, I…” I chewed my lip, puzzling how best to ask this. “A friend told me that someone they know has started growing old out of nowhere. One morning they were fine, and now they’re like an old man.”
“Are you sure they’re not just ageing naturally? People always say it creeps up on us,” Arenn replied casually, with no obvious sign of any hidden knowledge.
“There’s nothing natural about this.”
The prince shrugged. “There are many sources of magic in this world – and then there are the merfolk and the goblins, too. But if this person is in Drothmore, then it definitely wasn’t from us. Not unless someone managed to sneak out past the guards. You can’t project a ritual onto someone that isn’t here, and you’re the first human who’s visited in decades.” He brought up a hand and lazily threaded one of my curls through his fingers. “Now, do you have any other questions for me? Perhaps something a little more… interesting?” He smiled darkly.
So it wasn’t the fae… I wanted to sigh in relief, but that would’ve drawn too much attention to the question, so instead, Iasked the first ‘interesting’ thing that popped into my head.
“What’s your favourite colour?”
The prince laughed. “Why, the perfect ocean blue of your eyes, of course, Princess.” My ‘perfect ocean blue’ eyes wanted to roll back into my skull. He was absolutely shameless.
“What’s your real favourite colour?” I insisted with a smile. No matter how much I thought I hated his constant flirting, I couldn’t deny how much my body lapped it up.
He winked, leaning closer. “Like I said, I’ve never lied to you.”
We spoke for another hour or so, until I began to shiver – the warm water no longer feeling so warm against my skin. Arenn took my hand as he led me out of the pool. With every step, my soaked dress dripped puddles onto the stone floor. Twisting the fabric in my hands, I attempted to wring out some of the dampness from the skirt, but it didn’t do much.
“Need some help with that?” the prince asked tauntingly. Before I could respond, a gust of hot air swept up from the ground, catching my skirt. I could’ve sworn I heard Arenn huff as I slapped my hands down against it, stopping it just moments before it lifted and put my undergarments on show. “Nearly,” he grinned wolfishly.
“If Theo were here, you’d be bleeding out on the floor,” I joked as I ran my hands along the now very warm and dry fabric of my dress. “But thank you for fixing my gown.”
“You’re so welcome,” Arenn said graciously before casting another wave of hot air to dry himself.
While he reached for his shirt hanging from one of the rocks, I reluctantly tore my gaze away from his perfect chest to explore the walls of the cavern. The countless multicoloured crystalsalmost seemed to sing with life as I stepped closer, letting my fingertips brush their smooth surfaces.
“This place is so beautiful,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.
