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I left him in the garden and somehow backtracked to my room without becoming lost. I scrubbed my face in the pristine bathroom sink and stared into the mirror, repeatedly asking myself, and Fate, what I was doing there. Why wasn’t he moving this along so I could return home?

Fate remained still, which was alarming since I could always feel him. Since I’d been chosen, he’d always hidden himself inside me. So, I wasn’t sure why he wouldn’t answer now. A simple, Because it’s not time would have sufficed. At least it would leave me the satisfaction of knowing that the time to act was approaching.

Pushing away from the sink, I peeled the t-shirt and skin-tight jeans from me like a snake shedding skin, and slipped on a short, black silk nightgown Mira had laid out on the bed for me.

I slipped inside the plush, black sheets and pulled the soft blankets over me like a caress. For a moment, I even managed to close my eyes… only for them to pop open again to admire the room he’d appointed for me.

I chastised myself for going to the garden in the first place. I’d thought he was in danger, or maybe that he wanted to know what his father talked to me about. It never crossed my mind that he would say such things, and yet they were true. I felt an intense connection to him as well, before I even knew he was the Prince.

But a relationship between us, let alone marriage, was out of the question. I had to get to the bottom of this issue, find the would-be killer, and leave before my heart was shattered. The King was worried for his son, but no one would worry about me.

Restless, I flipped and flopped, tangling in the nightgown a few times before I finally drifted off to sleep.

I dreamed I was back in my House, staring at the mirror, dressed and ready to get in the carriage again. But this time, my reflection did move. It reached out to me and said… “The one who lies.”

The one who lies? I panted as I woke, clutching my side. It was still dark. I panted through the pain. Fate whispered to me, Go to him .

I threw the covers back and ran out into the hallway. “Take me to him,” I pleaded. My breath turned to mist and flowed in a dark ribbon that I followed down the corridor as I limped up another flight of stairs and took the hallway that bent to the right. At the end of the hallway was a door. His room – if this was it – was directly over the one in which I was staying.

The smoky ribbon drifted to the floor and slipped beneath the door.

I knocked, my hands still shaking with fear. The pain in my side sharpened. I gasped, holding tight just below the ribs on my right side. “Please be okay,” I panted.

Tauren pulled the door open, blinking to clear his eyes. “Sable?”

I shoved my way around him, a cold sweat breaking out over my forehead. “Call for guards!” I shouted.

“Why? What’s happening?”

Fate sent another sharp slice of pain through my side. “Tauren,” I gasped, gripping my side. “Call for your guards.”

He hit a red button on the wall just inside his door. “They’ll be here in a moment. What’s wrong with your side?”

“In a moment,” I raged, tearing through his room, crying out as I bent to look under the bed, threw open the closet doors, and peeked behind every jacket and pair of slacks. I searched the washroom, under cabinets, outside each window. “Someone was about to stab you, and your guards will be here in a moment. Wonderful.” I spun in a circle in the center of the room, looking for anywhere else they might be hiding. The curtains… His drapes were heavy and… I threw them back. There was no one lurking behind them.

A wave of pain rolled through me. I cried out and fell to my knees .

“What’s happening?” he shouted, running toward me. He dropped to his knees, his eyes going to my side. “Sable, you’re bleeding.”

I brought my hand away and sure enough, my fingers were coated with sticky, warm blood.

“It’ll go away. It’s just a warning from Fate,” I gritted.

He looked outraged. “I’d prefer him warn you without harming you, Sable.” He put his hand over mine. “I’m calling for a medic.”

A flash of a scene entered my mind. A dark figure, sliding through the shadows, around the room’s perimeter. Footsteps from outside. A tendril of smoke curled under the door before someone knocked at the door… me.

“Someone was in here, before I knocked and woke you.” I whispered to Fate, “Show me.”

“Sable,” Tauren rasped. “Look.”

I opened my eyes to find a set of glittering, golden footprints shimmering across the floor. The steps crept close to the walls. Concealed by shadow…

Tauren’s mouth hung open. “I don’t believe this…”

He stood as six large men barged into the room. “Highness?” they questioned, weapons pointed at me. Their stunners could take down men twice their size or larger. I raised my hands so they didn’t shoot, wincing through the pain. The men were taken aback by the blood all over my hands and the floor.

Tauren put himself between them and me. “Someone was in my room. Sable had a vision and came to help me. Those are the culprit’s footprints,” he told them, gesturing to the glittering patterns on the floor. The guards lowered their stunners .

“They wore boots,” one of the guards said, crouching down to study the print. “Large ones.”

The guard looked at my bare feet. “It wasn’t me,” I growled.

“Page the medic,” Tauren ordered.

“That’s not necessary,” I argued, but Tauren insisted his physician look at me.

“Can you tell anything from the prints?” he asked his men.

“No, Sire. Did you see anyone? Could you tell if it was a man or woman?” one asked.

Tauren looked to me. I shook my head.

“I have no further information,” he relayed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Look, could you wait outside the door, please?”

His men complied reluctantly. Two went to search the perimeter and alert others about the intruder so heavier measures could be taken, while two remained outside the door, including the red headed fellow that was with Tauren the evening of the Equinox. He kept Tauren in sight, refusing to shut the door, and me inside alone with him. When Tauren barked at him, the guard barked back. I decided I liked him. He cared about Tauren’s wellbeing, even if he was distrustful of me.

Tauren carefully picked me up and carried me to the bed. I hurt bad enough that I let him.

As I relaxed, the pain began to ebb. “I don’t need a doctor. By the time he or she gets here, there will be no trace of blood or even a wound.”

He knelt beside me. “I don’t understand.”

“It’s real, but it’s also not real.” I shook my head, knowing my explanation left much to be desired. “How do I explain this? It’s like Fate paints what he wants over reality so that it looks and feels like it’s happening, but it isn’t. Knowing that’s what it is, keeps me from panicking.”

“It doesn’t help me at all,” he said wearily. “I hate seeing you in pain. And the blood…”

I removed my hand from my side. It came away dry. My nightgown wasn’t wet, and the fabric was intact.

“The threat is gone for now,” I explained.

“What about next time?”

“Fate will warn me again. I’ll get to you faster. I promise.” I swung my feet over the side of the bed and Tauren’s eyes caught on my bare legs. He swallowed thickly, keeping his hands on his thighs. I became aware of how close we were. How he was shirtless, his skin flawless, yet kissed by the sun, and of every muscle beneath that held him still as death.

It would be so easy for him to run his hand up my calf, then higher still. I pushed the thought away and refocused.

“You should keep your guards close at all times, even at night.”

He nodded.

I wanted to rake a hand through his unruly hair, pull his face toward mine, and gaze into his golden eyes… and more. But I couldn’t. “I should go back to my room.”

His hand flinched toward me, but he schooled his features as the door opened, revealing the waddling form of a short, white-haired man.

“You called for me, Prince?” The man stared between us. “Is someone injured? ”

“She had a pain in her side, but it’s gone away now,” he answered for me.

“May I check, dear?” the medic asked, pushing small spectacles up onto his nose.

“Please allow it,” Tauren breathed.

At my nod, the doctor asked, “Could you give us a moment, Prince?”

Tauren stood, his eyes meeting mine. “I’ll be just outside.”

He would be safer in here. I opened my mouth to tell him so when he left me, striding across the room and ducking outside the door, pulling it closed.

The doctor opened a small bag and pulled out some sort of tube, the shape eerily reminiscent of a wishbone on one end. He stuck those ends in his ears and took hold of a piece of metal at the other. “May I listen?”

“Listen to what?” I asked, easing away from him.

The doctor left, chuckling. “She’s never seen a stethoscope,” he told Tauren as he stepped outside, leaving the door wide open.

Glad to have provided his evening entertainment , I thought as I continued to eavesdrop.

“She’s fine, Sire. If she has any more pain, she knows to come and find me.”

“I need to give her the map she asked for so that she can find you.”

The old man laughed and waddled back down the hallway. Tauren ducked back inside and leaned against the door. I’m so glad you’re okay,” he said, relieved .

“I told you I was.”

“I know. I just… you scared me.”

“I panicked because I thought you were in danger. I apologize for scaring you.”

He shook his head. “You didn’t scare me because you came, it scared me to see you hurt and bleeding. I don’t want to see you suffer just for helping me, Sable.”

I wanted to tell him it would hurt more for me to leave.

He pushed off the door and closed the distance between us, cupping my elbows and placing a gentle kiss on my temple. “You were right. You should go back to your room.”

I nodded.

“May I see you in the morning?” he asked.

“That will depend on my schedule,” I told him honestly. Someone had taken the time to fill the Prince’s every waking hour with each of the invitees.

“What about checking my food at each meal? Is that still necessary?”

No bitter flavor slid over my tongue. “I’m not sure, but it would be wise. Brecan or Mira can also detect poisons, if my schedule is full.”

He laughed. “Brecan wouldn’t warn me if someone did attempt to poison me.”

“He would,” I defended. “He might feel threatened by you, but he wouldn’t allow anyone to harm you.”

Tauren sobered. “I’m sorry. He’s not the only one who feels threatened, I suppose.”

I didn’t answer him, just turned on my heel and walked out of the room. His guards didn’t budge when I walked past them, and that gave me some measure of peace. This wasn’t a game. Someone wanted Tauren dead. Someone wanted to plant a dagger in his belly, to watch him bleed out, writhing in pain.

The person had entered the bedroom of the crown Prince of Nautilus.

And I didn’t tell him, but I knew how they got away.