Page 142 of Somber Prince

My chest filled with worry. I wanted her to understand how much she’d missed by casting Rha out of her life, but I was afraid to push too hard or I’d spoil it all. I feared I might’ve spoiled it already.

“Insolence is ugly, child,” the queen snapped. “It’s extremely unbecoming in a Joy Vessel.”

This was my one and only chance to save Rha, and I saw it slip through my fingers as the queen withdrew. She wasn’t interested in hearing about Rha. She didn’t even care about my eyewitness account about Alzali’s death. She hadn’t brought it up at all. She seemed done with this conversation and was about to call the guards in.

“Please, Your Majesty. If only you knew Rha better… If only you saw the man he truly is,” I rambled, words tripping over each other. Desperate, I followed the queen and grabbed her hands. “If only you could see him the way I do.”

The queen shrank away from me but didn’t reclaim her hands, staring at my arms instead.

Thin filaments of black smoke drifted from the leilatha openings of my harness. I froze, watching in shock as they stretched down my arms. The smoky strands grew thicker, curling and braiding into a thicker one—a tendril.

Real shadow fae tendrils appeared from my arms. They grew. Their wispy ends slipped under the queen’s veil.

“It can’t be…” she muttered, looking just as shocked as I was.

Her own tendrils were moving under her veils. And somehow, the ends of hers found the ends of mine. Or maybe it was mine that trapped hers. I wasn’t sure how it happened exactly. I had no physical awareness of my tendrils. They weren’t like my limbs that I could move at will. They seemed to be the embodiment of my wish to connect with the queen on some level.

And now, our connection was deeper than I could ever imagine having with a stranger. Her emotions slammed into me like a freight train, sending a shudder through my body.

Queen Abeille’s inner world lay open to me like a map. And it was a dark journey. Grief saturated her very being, practically becoming her. It was blended with hatred so thick, I feared nothing could ever penetrate it.

I couldn’t read her thoughts, but if her grief was for her husband and the hatred was for her son, then I’d already lost. Anything I could possibly say would be insignificant. Words were useless.

A thin white streak of pity unexpectedly struck across the darkness. It fluttered like a white rose petal, tossed into the wind.

I snapped my gaze to hers, finding the pity reflecting in her eyes directed at me.

“You truly love him,” she said.

While I’d studied her emotions, she clearly had sifted through mine.

“I do.”

“Hm.” She nodded. “I hoped, for your sake, that it was just some light infatuation, but it looks real. Your love is new, but it proved strong enough to form a bond. Humans have the ability to bond with us through their love, I’ve heard. And now I see that it’s true.” She tipped her chin at my tendrils. “That is my son’s magic you’re using now.”

I couldn’t even begin to wrap my mind around the magical aspect of it. But one word from what she was saying stuck with me—real.

“Of course it’s real, Your Majesty. What Rha and I share is very real. He isn’t dying out there because of your orders. I gave him a chance to run, but he refused to put my life in danger. He’d rather die than put me at risk. Do you know how it feels?”

“Yes.” She freed her hands from mine and retrieved her tendrils, breaking every connection between us. “I know exactly how it feels, child. And I pity you.”

She raised her hand and pulled a thick chain by the door. A bell rang out there somewhere. Then the guards entered the room.

“Your Majesty, please…” I lurched her way, realizing the guards were here to take me away. “Please have mercy on your son.”

Deep inside, I knew my meeting with the queen was over. I failed to save the man I loved. Anguish tore through me. But the queen remained unmoved.

“Sweet child, you have nothing but grief and misery ahead of you,” she said as the guards dragged me out the door. “As a human bonded with a fae, you won’t survive him for long. You’ll die mourning him, but your sorrow will be short. That is the blessing I never had.”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

DAWN

I sat on the floor with my back against the door. I didn’t remember how I got here or where exactly in Kalmena this room was.

Ever since the guards shoved me in here and locked me in, I’d been yelling for them to let me out while thrashing against the door with the fury of a caged animal. Every second I spent here, Rha was being tortured by the burning sun.

The urgency shook me. I had to do something. Except that yelling and thrashing got me nowhere. All I had to show for it were a hoarse voice and bruised knuckles. The door remained closed, and no one came to even check on me.