Where the hell could my father have taken us? Where would he be hiding?
My brows crease. I just don’t know.
His fingers tangle through mine, pulling my gaze back to him.
“I have to go.” His eyes close slowly. His jaw tightens as if pain is searing him from the inside out.
He has never left me like this before.
“Are you all right?” I take a step closer to him. The anguish on his face makes my heart stumble.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll figure this out. I’ll be back.” He says it so promisingly, I almost believe him.
But something twisting low in my stomach tells me otherwise.
“I’ll be right back, Vi.” His image becomes fainter, lighter, and less intense.
My heart thunders in my ears. I feel fucking helpless. I hate it. I hate not being able to control anything around me.
I hate being alone.
My fingers clutch onto his hand, pulling him closer to me, but his fingers drift through my touch. He’s barely a breeze before me.
At the last minute, I slam my lips against his. It’s an eager and pathetic attempt at keeping him here. His palms ghost over my flesh along my jaw, and before my eyes can even slip closed, before I can even find comfort in his kiss...
He’s gone.
Chapter Eighteen
Merrick
Today has been one hell of a high and one fucking mess of a low. My careful steps through the halls of the Tempest Palace resound around me, likely carried much farther with the help of the never-ending breeze that flows here. My palms are sweaty, a feeling I know to ignore.
When I reach the large, open dining area, Prince Dalziel is still there. His feet are still up on the table—something that if my father ever caught might cause his shadows to emerge—and he has a new glass of wine swirling in his hand. Prince Dalziel doesn’t turn to face me, though I have little doubt that he doesn’t know that I’m here. Staring off into the horizon, he sips the drink.
“Princess Violence has returned,” I start. The end of my sentence accompanied by the tap of his glass set on the table. “I must apologize for the sudden and unexpected,” I let my own frustration seep into the word, “disappearance. As it would seem my father has yet to release her from her duties with the Wild Hunt.”
Though without it, how quickly would we have received news of the Court of Light moving into our lands?
“Come sit with me.” Prince Dalziel inclines his head toward an empty chair.
Holding in a sigh, I saunter to the seat. The wood is cold under me, but the wind that passes through and ruffles my hair is warm enough.
Dalziel’s face is set with a frown, his hands folded and resting against his torso. When he finally looks in my direction, he attempts a smile. “You know, Prince Merrick, I’d like to think that you and I are friends.”
My father will be so thrilled to hear that.
“It would be a great honor to call you my friend.”
“If we’re being honest,friend, I do not have many people to confide in or many who enjoy my presence.” He turns back to look out the window. “My tutor suggested once that perhaps I don’t think the same way as others. As though my mind is poisoned because people do one thing and I interpret it as another. Mother fired him the next day, but his words have stuck with me long since.”
I can only muse at the reasons his tutor might have suggested that. His solitary life without siblings has likely not helped.
“So,” he continues, “I appreciate the great attempts you’ve made to garner this friendship. Truly, I do. As son of a king, I’m sure you can sympathize with the great deal of pressure I am under from my parents.” Muscles cord along his jaw.
“Being a prince is not nearly as easy as many believe it is. We are as bound to laws and duty as a commoner, given great responsibilities from our fathers, and more or less caged by the need to keep up our appearance and reputation. Our crowns are balanced on the people’s opinions, no matter the bloodline we’ve been born into.”
This time, when he looks at me, there is a sadness in his gaze, some sort of deep loneliness and pain that we give in exchange for our lavish lives. I’m sure I have not been alone in wondering if it would be better to be poor and struggling, if only to finally have true happiness.
