Page 9

A rap at the front door shattered the moment, a moment that started to brew with intensity over the course of seconds.

Caspian stood up and brushed his wet hands on his pants. He didn’t spare her a glance before leaving the room to answer the door. With her throat tight and her mind turbulent, she shed the cloak and stepped into the tub. The temperature stung her sensitive skin as she sank into the water, soaking in the sweet-smelling oils and herbs that danced over the surface. Tiny buds, leafy stems, and petals of flowers she didn’t recognize. Nothing from the sea.

When she lowered her shackled wrist into the water, her skin prickled and burned with a revived burst of pain.

A muffled shriek squeezed through her lips. She scrambled to climb out of the tub.

A strong hand pushed down on her shoulder, keeping her in the water.

“It’ll pass. Her magic doesn’t like mine, but it’s also draining you of more life each day. Deal with the pain until my spells counter hers.”

Caspian’s soothing assurance helped her settle deeper into the water as she breathed through the scalding pain that radiated up her arm. His fingers loosened on her shoulder before releasing her completely. Instinctively, she curled her legs up and hugged her arms over her breasts, pointedly aware of her human nakedness in Caspian’s presence.

“I might be a bastard, princess, but I’m not a pervert. Your body is safe from my eyes.”

His steady footsteps receded from the room, his words stinging her just as potently as the cursed bracelet. She didn’t understand why because the reasons thatdidcome to mind were absurd.

Maybe they aren’t. Maybe they’re the most logical reasons.

As the water soaked into her skin and the pain began to subside, she closed her eyes and settled her head against the edge of the tub. For a long while, she listened to Caspian move about the small house and imagined what he was doing. Cleaning? Arranging sleep areas? How many beds were in this abode? It was small, far smaller than she expected to house the Forgotten Prince. She’d expected a lavish place full of priceless decor that spoke of the money and reputation he was said to have amassed in Alamari. Lavish would have fit this new personality of his, too.

Instead, his humble living quarters matched the tastes of the humble merman she’d considered her best friend once upon a time. A prince hiding as a simpleton of the sea whose heart beat with empathy.

She often wondered how he would have been as a true prince. A king.

Whatever spells Caspian had spun into the water worked on the bracelet, and her body.

For the first time since her return to this hellish place, she closed her eyes and let dreams sweep her away.