Page 43 of The Nymph Prince

And with that, I laughed. As strange as it all was, I felt like I’d made a new friend. It was nice.

Lorcan wasn’t at the field when we arrived. We stood on grass, and I bent to touch it. It was some type of moss. The majority of the field was made of dirt, and six well-used targets were on one end. They were in the shape of people and made of cloth.

I snorted when I saw one target had orange pebbles for eyes. That had Lorcan’s twisted sense of humor written all over it.

“Malik didn’t find it nearly as funny as Lor,” Troy said, cracking a smile of his own.

Reif stood to my right, one hand on his sword and the other dangling at his side. He’d been so quiet that I’d forgotten he was with us until I saw him from the corner of my eye.

“Lorcan wouldn’t be Lorcan if he wasn’t grating on someone’s nerves,” I responded, amused at the fact.

“Does he grate on yours?” Troy asked.

“Maybe a little. Though, I quite enjoy it.”

At one end of the field was a wooden shed of sorts and Troy walked toward it. After disappearing inside for a minute or so, he returned with a bow and a quiver of arrows. A satchel was slung around his left shoulder, and once he was back in front of me, I saw it was filled with small daggers.

“Lor has a talent for knife throwing,” Troy explained, dropping the satchel to the mossy grass. “But don’t tell him I said that. If his head gets any bigger his crown won’t fit.”

“I doubt it fits now.”

Troy giggled before readying his bow. “I like you, Alek. I’m glad the tension between us is no more.”

“As am I.”

He shot off an arrow, sending it whizzing through the air and lodging into the chest of a target dummy. With speed and precision, he sent another hurling toward the other target, hitting a spot in its neck, before he snatched a third arrow and hit the next one between the eyes.

“Show off.”

Lorcan’s silky voice never failed to make my heart beat faster.

“Is that jealousy I hear, dear friend?” Troy retorted, giving a side-eyed look to the nymph before releasing his final arrow.

“Put a knife in your hand and let’s see how confident you are.” Lorcan came to stand at my side, smirking at his friend.

A red shirt made of very fine material covered most of his torso, but the opening in the front gave a mouth-watering view of his chest. He was very much a prince in that moment, not only in attire but in behavior. His back was straight, his head was high, and he was poised.

Troy grinned. “Let’s put a bow in yours and see the same.”

Lorcan mirrored his friend’s smile, and my heart leapt at the sight.

Had it only been hours since I’d last seen him? His sparkling green eyes were brighter and his skin looked softer.

My jaw tightened as I squeezed my hands into fists. The urge to touch him was strong, but I fought it. Surrendering to that tender behavior wouldn’t do either of us any favors. Not when I was so against the idea of loving him.

Love?

No, I couldn’t love him. The unseen tether that connected us was strange, but that could mean anything. Perhaps we were destined to go on a grand adventure together. Or maybe our fates were connected in another way.

But if that was true, and we weren’t meant to be together, why did my heart reach out for him in that moment?

Troy and Lorcan held competitive natures, and as I watched them attempt to out-perform the other, I got the feeling they did so quite often. It was a game of theirs, and I stood back and let them go at it.

Troy released two arrows at once, both finding their targets, but before he could boast about it, Lorcan sent three daggers hurdling toward the dummies. He flicked his wrist so fast that it was hard to follow his movements. But sure enough, each blade lodged itself in the chest of the targets.

Lorcan gave a smug smile to his friend.

Malik and Reif stood behind us, silent and alert. They were approximately the same height, as big as mountains and with the muscle power of ten men. Having a shadow such as them might’ve been irritating, but it had a way of making me feel a little safer. After all, who would ever be so foolish to challenge either of them?