Page 111 of The Hunted

He’d wanted to be king, once upon a time.

Wanted the world for his mate.

Complacency would always be a death sentence for men like him.

While he waited for the Emerald prince to be brought to his chambers, Zale went back to pacing. The entire time, the brand on the back of his hand of the two arrows—the only thing other than the crown he wore and the throne he sat on that deemed him a Blu Sea royal—burned and itched.

He swore when it did that, it was telling him you don’t belong—you’re the false king.

Even his own heart knew the truth.

“If he’ll usurp you,” came a soft voice from behind, making Zale spin around to find his mate had come to stand in the shadows of the enclave leading to her rooms, “then at least allow me the freedom of escape before he does it, Zale. If you know you’ll die for what you’ve done to these people, let me take the baby and run. You can’t kill him, and if you do, it’ll be a season before his father’s army lands in our kingdom and burns it to the ground. Either way, you lose. Allow me to save the baby.”

He opened his mouth to respond, but she was quick to ask, “What happens, Zale, if they find Anthia alive somewhere on Atlas with the brand of her reign still on her throat? If you think what the Emerald prince or his father would do to you will be even a fraction of what these people will do to you … in the end, you will still lose.”

“Don’t say her name again, Rosel.”

She tipped her chin up, ever defiant. “You were wrong, Zale.”

“About what?”

“You are both stupid and foolish.”

She didn’t give him the chance to respond before spinning on her tail fin and heading back into the shadows of her rooms where she couldn’t be seen. Not that it mattered; he couldn’t focus on her for long, when the noise outside in the corridor signaled the Emerald prince had been found and would soon be delivered.

But what good would it do?

They were all right.

His advisors.

His wife, too.

No matter what Zale chose, he would eventually lose.

TWENTY-FIVE

Arelle

WHEN THE SEA threatened the House of Miller a short few days later, reaching so high that it began seeping into the house, Arelle found herself put in the back of a carriage without Eryx and returned to the stable estate where she was first delivered after being captured. A small break between storms allowed them the reprieve to travel, but with every gallop of the horses’ hooves against wet ground, her heart hurt a little more.

Eryx joined her soon after, with the rest of the small army of servants that seemed to follow him wherever he went.

She liked this house far less.

It was farther from the sea.

Her heart felt every single mile traveled away from it, and it was only made worse by the fact she had to travel alone, but for Mara, who sat across from her in the carriage. Not that she would consider herself friends with the servant Eryx preferred to look after her, but the woman never treated her as though she was just a slave for the prince to do with what he deemed fit.

That couldn’t be forgotten.

Despite her feelings about the stable estate, there was one single room in the house that she enjoyed. Well, it wasn’t so much a room that was a part of the house, as it was attached to the east wing. A small corridor led out from the house to the glass doors that allowed entrance into what a servant had explained to her that they called a solarium.

Filled with plants, trees and more from all the many realms, it smelled like the earth. Inside, the air was always hot and damp, no matter if it rained or the wind blew so hard the trees toppled over. From the walls to the ceiling, glass that was kept clean allowed them a beautiful view of the miles and miles of fields.

The few birds and butterflies that called the solarium home weren’t bothersome and tended to stay away when anyone was inside. Water continued to dribble from a stone fountain in the middle, which was fed from the water wheel outside that took from a creek that ran along the side of the house. It overflowed just enough to fill the cracks in the stone floor of the solarium that then led to the many beds of flowers and plants to feed the soil.

Currently, the entire space was filled with purple light from the sky above. A promise of peace.