Page 96 of In The Dark

“We have no choice! We need to bring him back to the castle.”

“Well, we need to come up with a different plan because the boy stays.”

My eyes shift between Rydian, Orin, and Ren as they argue over the large oak table in the loft—papers are scattered, showing how much Rydian’s been working. I rub my forehead with both hands at the raging headache that’s formed between my eyes.

We’ve been discussing what to do with Theo, who sleeps downstairs in the spare room. I’m shocked he hasn’t woken from the amount of yelling we’ve done over the last day, leading us nowhere. We arrived a day early, pushing the horses to their limits in order to give us extra time to figure out a plan before heading back to the castle.

And we’re running out of time.

Ivy offered to take Theo back to the loft through the Veil to make our trip easier, while Ren and I pushed our horses to get here in time. Rydian tagged along, of course, still not completelytrusting Ren with me after our argument in the clearing, but we managed to make it in one piece.

“If we don’t deliver that boy, we’re dead,” Ren grinds out.

“I’m the king. The decision is made.”

“You arenotmy king.”

The air turns cold, and just as Rydian’s lip curls into a snarl, Ivy interrupts, breaking the tension.

“We don’t even know why King Elion wants him. We need to figure out why first before we just drop him off,” she says, hands resting on the hilts of her swords.

A thought crosses my mind, and I lean forward, releasing a loud exhale that causes each male to swivel their head toward me in confusion.

“If we can wake him up, maybe you could use your only Vision Walker in the room to get information?” I ask.

Silence follows. Rydian doesn’t bother to hide his smirk, dipping his head toward the map on the table when a chuckle breaks free. It should have been obvious, but of course they’d rather argue than notice what’s right in front of them.

“Couldn’t have said something sooner, Princess?” Orin chuckles, and I internally cringe at the nickname.

“I’ll go ask Bess if she has anything to wake the boy,” Ivy says, her boots hitting the steps a moment later.

Orin and Ren are quick to follow, though my gaze remains locked on Rydian with my elbows resting on the table. He runs his hand over the short stubble on his face, exhaustion from travel settling in. That makes both of us.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

“No, if I’m answering honestly,” I mutter. “Unfortunately, I agree with Ren.”

Rydian slowly tilts his head, studying me as if I’ve grown a second pair of eyes.

I sigh. “If we don’t deliver Theo, the king will come looking for us. If we want to successfully find my mother, we have todeliver him to the king—we have no choice. Let’s find out what King Elion wants with him first. I’m sure Ren could find a way to keep tabs on him since he’s captain. But we need to find her, Rydian.”

“I know, but I don’t like it,” he says.

“Me either, but we have someone close to the king offering to help us. Let’s use him to help us search the castle.” A grin tugs at my lips.

He walks around the edge of the table, pulling me to my feet to tilt my chin up. He grins and silently pulls at the end of my braid, freeing my hair.

“Okay,” he says under his breath. “If you think that’s what we should do, then I agree.”

I groan. “Gods, it was that easy the whole time? I should have said something sooner.”

“Yes, because I care for you,” he says with conviction, and then his tone goes so low it’s almost a whisper as he studies me. “Ask me to burn the world for you. Ask me to shatter the realms, and I would. You know, I don’t think you understand how insane you make me—you quite literally set my world on fire.”

His words have my breath stalling, unable to form a simple reply—not even a retort to diffuse the rising emotions in my chest as I hold his gaze.

His eyes soften. “I would happily destroy the realms if you asked, and I would do it without a second thought. The grip you have on me…” His hand gently pushes my hair aside, a thousand words playing on his face. “I wouldn’t be able to let you go, even if I wanted to.”

His eyes dart across my face as if he has something more to add, but he chooses to stay silent. I nervously swallow because I know he means it. And I begin to wonder at what point I became something more precious to him because that’s what it feels like—something more.