Page 71 of The Nymph Prince

“Difficult,” I answered. My energy was still down from our session that morning. “Though strict, she also knows my limits. I feel better connected to my powers now, as though they’re part of me and not just some foreign thing that hides within my body.”

Since she’d begun training me, I’d done things I never thought I could do. Once I became a master at levitating pebbles—a mere warmup exercise—she’d shown me that I could send out powerful blasts of energy that would disorient—and even kill—my enemy. There were several types of blasts, and she’d been going through each of them with me. All except for the killing one, which was understandable.

“Show me something.” Troy pulled his legs up and wrapped his arms around them. Eagerness shone in his violet eyes.

I reached into my pocket for the blue stone and glided the pad of my thumb over the white symbol. Inhale. Exhale. I focused on Troy’s hand. More specifically, the ring on that hand. It had a gold band and a purple stone in the center. Another inhale and a slower exhale.

Know what you want and will it to happen.

I raised my other hand, and in a matter of seconds, the ring flew into my palm.

Troy’s eyes widened and he looked at his hand before lifting his gaze back to me. “Impressive. Now return it to me.”

Unease trickled through his tone. Whatever the ring was, it meant a lot to him. I tossed it back to him, and he caught it before sliding it back on his finger.

“This belonged to my father,” he said, studying the ring with a forlorn expression. “It’s all I have left of him. He and my mother were taken from this world long ago.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“And I yours,” he responded. “I know what became of your family.”

“Cherish that ring,” I said, standing from the mossy grass. “I have not a thing from my own father. Other than the blood in my veins that I do not wish to have.”

It wasn’t my father’s fault that we shared a bloodline with the most powerful mage to have ever lived. A bloodline that put an even bigger target on my back. The humans wanted to kill me, and the dark mages wanted to use me.

The merfolk had yet to reveal whattheywanted of me.

What if they didn’t want anything?

Now, there’s a thought.

“Do you miss it? The surface world?” Troy asked, sitting in a crisscross. “Lor does. I can see it in his eyes when he looks at the water above us. That longing for something more.” He tucked strands of his light-brown hair behind his ears before moving it back the way it was and ruffling it. I noticed he got fidgety when he was thinking about something. “Avalontis is his home. I wish he could see that.”

“Maybe it’s in his blood,” I suggested, walking closer to the path and watching the soldiers move through the water. “King Triton doesn’t stay in one place for long. A wanderer who refuses to settle. Lorcan is the same, I feel. He seeks adventure. And that is a thing he can’t have here.”

“I’m afraid of losing him, Alek.”

I turned back to Troy. The sadness in his voice reflected in his gaze. He stood and joined me at the edge of the field.

“I’ve tried holding onto him,” he continued with a faraway look in his eyes. He dropped his gaze to his hand. “But he seems to be slipping through my fingers.”

He closed his hand into a fist and dropped it back to his side.

“Are you in love with him?”

Troy looked at me. “Not in a romantic way, no. He is like my brother, only closer. The words fail me of how to describe it. Lor was there for me when my parents were killed by humans. He and I never left each other’s sides. Where he went, I followed, yet I cannot follow him where he wishes to go now.”

“Why did you want me to walk with you today?” I asked.

“So that I might ask you something.” Troy faced me. “When he journeys to the surface again, will you watch over him for me?”

“Why not come with us?”

“I cannot.” He shook his head. “Just promise me, mage.”

“Aye, you have my word.”

Our conversation played through my head as we returned to the palace. I swore to keep Lorcan safe…but what if I was the one who would hurt him? Troy sensed a change was among us. I felt it, too. Everyone in Avalontis seemed to sense it.