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Thankfully, the journey back to the castle is not as long since we can take a much more direct route. We reach the castle just before nightfall and I immediately dispatch Kes to fetch Myreena, while Barra, Aaran and I bring the prince to his chamber.

He was silent for most of the ride back and has only eaten a small amount of food. He looks pale and exhausted. I order dinner from the castle kitchen and invite Barra and Aaran to join me and the prince, but they decline and insist on returning to the Khaleeni camp.

They seem as happy as I am to have the prince back and I don't know how to reconcile this against what happened last night between the three of us. I wish to talk to them about it, but it’s a conversation I don't know how to start.

Also, my priority right now is the prince, and as much as I'd like to follow up with Barra and Aaran I need to focus on him right now. I follow them as they walk to the door, and as inexplicable as it is, a part of me doesn’t want them to leave.

I already feel a peculiar sense of loneliness at the prospect of being without them.

The door opens. They turn to look at me and I can feel the uncertainty between us.

“Good night, Queen Elinor,” they say in unison, their rich voices vibrating through me.

Barra smiles. “Sleep well, my Queen.”

Aaran simply stares at me, letting his unearthly eyes do the talking, and they speak of barely repressed desire.

Then they turn to leave and the sight of their muscular forms walking away from me spurs me on to try and say something. “Wait,” I call after them as I step into the corridor. They turn and take a few steps back towards me.

Barra looks concerned. “Is everything all right?”

I nod.

“Yes. No. I mean, I don’t know,” I say in a jumble of confusion. “Last night...what happened…” My voice fades away as words fail me. What words do I use to describe last night?

Barra smiles. “What happened last night was very special,” he says in a low voice, “and it’s entirely up to you if you wish for something like that to happen again.

Fear not, Queen Elinor, it in no way affects our relationship with our prince.

We would gladly lay down our lives for him, and for you too. ”

I look at Aaran. He is sporting a half smile and his crystalline eyes glisten in the shadows of the corridor.

He moves closer to me and I feel his breath upon my cheek as he speaks.

“We desire you and you desire us, Queen Elinor, it’s that simple.

Try not to overthink it. We are Ellerban and the wonderful event that took place between us last night is not so unusual in our world.

I’d be willing to wager the prince won’t have a problem with it either.

” With that, he places a kiss upon my neck once again.

“Sleep well,” he whispers before he walks away.

My hand reaches for where my flesh burns from the imprint of his kiss. Barra smiles and leans in and places a tender kiss on my lips. “Tonight you must take care of the prince, my Queen, but if you need anything just send for us.” Then he turns and follows Aaran down the corridor.

I go back through the door and my heart falls to the floor at the sad sight of the prince looking forlornly into the fire.

***

By the time Myreena arrives the prince has already bathed and eaten.

She examines him, but before she prescribes an elixir she asks me what it is that ails him.

I explain he had been in the grip of a night terror when he fled the castle, but that I also believe he suffered a great trauma in the past which has caused him much emotional pain.

She nods sagely as she produces a number of vials from her bag.

She mixes a few drops of each into some wine.

“Here, make sure he drinks all of this,” she says.

“He must rest and not be subject to any stress or emotional upset in the next few days.”

She packs up her things and heads towards the door but before she reaches it she turns and looks at the prince who is again sitting by the fire, staring into the flames.

She shakes her head. “I dare not imagine what happened to break a man as strong as him,” she says and her eyes are two pools of pity.

She leaves, and I close the door after her and turn to face the prince.

It’s been an arduous few days and I feel weary, but the broken man before me needs me.

I pick up the goblet of wine and bring it to him.

I gently place my hand on his shoulder. “Here, Prince Ronan, Myreena insists you drink this.”

He takes it from me and drinks heartily. Then he stops, closes his eyes and releases a long breath. “I’m sorry, Elinor,” he says in a fractured voice. “I am truly, so very sorry.”

I start to reply, but the words get lost in my throat as I look at his beautiful face and see tears falling from his closed eyes and streaming down his face.

I’m by his side in an instant and take him into my arms. “Ronan, please, there’s no need to be sorry on my behalf, if anything it should be I apologising to you for dragging you to Ardvalla. ”

He opens his eyes and with a watery half-smile says, “Never be sorry for that.”

I give a slight smile in return. “Fine,” I whisper, as I wipe the tears from his face.

“If you wish to call off our arrangement then I understand,” he says in a low voice and I stiffen with shock.

“Call off our wedding?” I ask.

He nods. “Yes. I know it solves your problem in relation to Greythorne, but now you know the extent to which I am damaged, please don’t feel obliged to go ahead with it.

Perhaps you would rather try and find a way with him than live with the risk of great personal embarrassment having me as your king. ”

I’m so shocked by his words, I stare into his eyes in disbelief. He drains the last of the wine from the goblet and suddenly he looks exhausted, as if it’s a strain for him to remain sitting upright.

“Come,” I say, as I lead him to the bed, “you must rest. Let us lie together.”

I help him disrobe and quickly strip down to my undergarments. He gets into the bed and I sit on the edge, as I need him to see my expression for what I have to say next.

“Ronan, please listen carefully, because I’m only going to say this once.

I am going to marry you. I am going to make you my king.

Whatever it is that ails you doesn’t take away from the fact you’re a far better man than Greythorne could ever hope to be.

There is only one thing I ask, and that is that you share with me what affects you so.

If I know what broke you, perhaps I can help fix you. ”

He takes hold of my hand and places a sweet kiss on the back of it.

“Your request is a fair one, Elinor. The least I can do after causing you such embarrassment is tell you my story and of the event that broke me. Please, lie with me. I should like to have you close as I recall my tale for, in truth, I find strength in your presence.”

I slide under the blankets beside him and he takes me into his arms. He is silent for a few moments and I get the sense he is trying to gather himself, piecing his broken parts together, so that he may share all of his story with me and not flounder.

“There is a province to the far north of Ellerban that has always been somewhat troublesome. Rachlainn is a tough land, surrounded mostly by sea and only joined to Ellerban by a tiny strip of land. Its people are wild and independent, so much so that they don’t really see themselves as Ellerban.

This situation has been exacerbated in recent years by their new chief, who stopped paying taxes to my father and started referring to himself as the King of Rachlainn.

There was increasing tension between him and my father, so my father sent me and a small delegation on a peace mission to see if we could work something out.

“On arriving there we discovered two other delegations. One from the Northlands and another from Grunland. It seems the “King of Rachlain” had been busy forging alliances with other realms and was preparing for battle with Ellerban.”

He stops talking and I look at him to see if he’s all right.

His eyes are unfocused and I can see he is far away, lost in the past. He smiles.

“His plan to fortify these alliances was to marry his daughter off to whoever offered him the best terms. His daughter wasn’t interested in being her father’s bargaining chip, and once I arrived she hatched a plan of her own.

The second night of my stay in her father’s castle she came to my chamber and seduced me.

” His smile widens at the memory and I feel a slight stab of jealousy towards this woman who had been so sure of herself as to seduce a prince. My prince.

“She said if she were to be married off to a shriveled up old prune then she at least wished for one night with a proper man.” He stops speaking and laughs and it’s obvious he is completely immersed in the past. “Of course, one night led to two and two led to more until I was completely in love with her. I made a proposal to her father that if he awarded his daughter’s hand in marriage to me, I would speak on his behalf to my father and I would guarantee Ellerban would not invade Rachlainn.

He hadn’t considered we would bring the might of the Ellerban army down to bear on him and hadn’t thought that an Ellerban prince would ever consider marriage to his daughter.

He was so pleased with his newly elevated status that his daughter would one day be queen of Ellerban, he agreed.

” He pauses and I sense there is a but coming.

“However, there was only one problem. My father had been in negotiations with a number of other royal houses regarding a fitting bride for me. The daughter of a Rachlainn chief certainly wasn’t what he had in mind.”

“Oh,” I softly exclaim into his chest, “what did you do?”