RUAROK

I don’t let it show, but I’m relieved to have found them. I lost the riding party a couple of times and was concerned I’d end up out here alone overnight. I didn’t much like my chances if that happened.

Balthorne steps in. “The princess instructed you to turn back.”

“Who do you think you’re talking to?” I bristle.

Fucking Balthorne, with his perfect fucking hair, and his broad shoulders and goddamned wings. Screw him.

“I’m merely passing on the princess’s instructions.”

“I can hear her perfectly well. I am Prince Ruarok, son of King Themaris, first king of his name and ruler of the lands of Askos, and I don’t need anyone else to tell me what to do.”

“The princess?—”

I lift a hand to cut him off. He’s lucky it isn’t my fist. “Until the princess is crowned, she and I are equals. Do you understand?”

He shoots her a look, but I take quick step forward, closing the gap so there is only a sliver of air between us. He might be bigger and taller, but there is a danger about me that doesn’t exist within him. I have the capacity to cheat and be cruel, but he doesn’t have that quality.

“Don’t look at her,” I growl. “You reply to me. Understand?”

He gives the slightest of nods. “Yes, Prince Ruarok.”

I half-expect Taelyn to step in, but she doesn’t. She understands that on this, at least, I am right.

She lets out a sigh. “It’s getting late, and I’m tired. I am going to retire to my tent to get some sleep. I suggest everyone else does the same.”

“I’ll stand guard over you, Princess,” Balthorne says to her. “You can sleep in peace.”

“There’s no need,” I reply. “I will watch over her.”

He puts his shoulders back. “I am head of the guard. It’s my job.”

She steps in. “You can both watch over me. Balthorne, take the first four hours, and Ruarok, take the four hours until morning. That way you will both have the chance to rest.”

I begrudgingly agree. I left the castle long before dawn and have been riding ever since. I’m dog-tired, and I would have struggled to stay awake to protect the princess.

I’m also keen to get close to the fire, to warm my hands, and eat something hot. The cold of these wildlands has worked its way down to my bones, and it feels as though I’ll never warm up.

I find a place around the fire and jerk my head in greeting at those guards still seated. I wonder what they think of me—the prince whose own father locked him away all these years. It angers me that they might consider me less than a man.

Is that why Balthorne is so protective of Taelyn?

Does he believe the stories that were told about me, and so he thinks I might try my hand at killing her again?

Not that I even tried to kill her in the first place.

Perhaps the thought had crossed my mind, but that had been before I’d known who she was.

Now I look around, I think Taelyn doesn’t need my help getting herself killed. She seems almost intent on doing so herself.

I spread my fingers and hold my palms out to the fire.

A moment later, water splashes onto the flames, and the wet wood hisses and spits, sending thick, white smoke up into the air.

“What the fuck?” I protest.

“We can’t keep the fire going,” Balthorne says. “It’ll attract unwanted attention. I suggest you try to get some sleep while you can.”

I scowl in his direction. The man really does wind me up the wrong way.

Glancing over at Taelyn’s tent, I see she has already retired for the night. It’s a disappointment. I’d been hoping to at least sit and talk with her a while.

I shake the thought from my head and remind myself why I’ve come.

If the princess doesn’t return to the city, but I am able to go back with the answer to saving the kingdom, there will be no doubt as to who will end up on the throne.