Page 124 of The Nymph Prince

“And mine are not?”

“No,” he answered, holding on tighter.

Malik chuckled, and Troy’s weight lifted from my back. I turned and saw he had grabbed my friend and was carrying him against his chest. Troy’s arms were around Malik’s neck, his legs around his waist, and his head on his shoulder.

“You spoil him,” I said, arching a brow.

“I do not,” Malik disagreed. “I am simply assisting your closest friend, my prince.”

“So if I ask you to carry me tomorrow, you will?” I was only teasing him.

It was amusing how he blushed when challenged about his affection for Troy.

“No, my prince,” he answered with a smirk, holding Troy more snug against his chest. “It would make you seem like a child if I carried you, and I distinctly remember you ordering me not to treat you like a child.”

Troy giggled at that and pressed his face in the crease of Malik’s neck.

Our warriors were preparing for sleep when we entered the camp. We were leaving at first light. Malik lowered Troy to the ground, and I didn’t miss the soft pressing of his lips into Troy’s hair before he released him.

Troy lingered against the guard a short moment before stepping away.

“Is there something between you and Malik?” I asked him once we lay down to sleep.

“No.” The dying fire created shadows on his face. “I am but a child to him. Nothing more.”

“That bothers you?”

Troy’s violet eyes brightened in the dark before lessening in vibrancy. “I don’t know. We should sleep.”

He turned away from me, and I stared at the back of his head.

In all the years I’d known Troy, he’d never taken interest in anyone—male or female. Sex was such a huge part of our life, and as far as I knew, he’d never sought out a lover. The incident from when he was a child was probably the reason behind that, although he’d never admitted it.

I closed my eyes and searched for Alek. I felt his heartbeat. The relief loosened the tightness in my shoulders way more than the wine I’d had in the king’s tent earlier ever could.

I love you, my heart,I silently told him, wishing more than anything that he could be in my arms that night.

30

Alek

Black Hallows was just as I remembered—crumbling buildings, vacant streets, and a gray overcast sky. It hadn’t always been that way. Before it’d been destroyed, it’d been beautiful and full of life.

I had run through the marketplace with my older sister, rolled down the hill on the other side of town, and had swam in the sea on the warmer days. There’d been laughter and sunlight. And then it’d all come crashing down on that fateful day.

Smoke, instead of the sun, had covered the town. People had screamed as they were murdered. Children had screamed. The ones who weren’t killed had fled. I’d only been spared because I’d hid during the slaughter. As the days passed after the attack, there were no more screams. Only silence.

That’s what I remembered most.

However, though it was the same as the last time I’d been there, it was also different. Evil hung in the air. I felt it trying to seep into my bones. Clutching my throat with phantom fingers.

“Where do you think they are?” I asked Reif.

We were in the woods just outside of town, scouting the area. No one was in sight. Surely, they would’ve gathered by now. The ritual would take place later that evening and it was still a ghost town.

“They’re here,” Reif answered, moving his dark-eyed gaze amongst the buildings. He was trained to see what the ordinary eye tended to overlook. “See there?” He pointed to what used to be the Inn. “Shapes move in the windows.”

I saw nothing at first. Only busted windows and others with boards over them. But then, a faint shadow moved, followed by a second.