Page 44 of Wicked Prince of Shadows (Wicked Princes #2)

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Iwoke with a sharp inhale, my head pounding and my chest aching.

Cold stone pressed into my back, unyielding and jagged.

My shoulder throbbed where it had twisted against an uneven edge.

The scent of dust and minerals filled my lungs—raw earth, old blood, and something like lightning beneath.

The hairs on my arms lifted as tingling energy raced along the front of my body.

What had happened?

My fingers scraped against rock as I struggled to open my eyes.

I tried to sit up, but metal clinked sharply—a short, brutal sound that echoed in the dark like a sentence. My right arm jerked to a halt, tethered by something cold and metal.

I forced my eyes open, and my breath caught.

He’d chained me! I was chained to a hunk of marble. But I wasn’t—I wasn’t on the pedestal out in the chasm where the sacrifice was to take place. I was in a pit. A prison maybe until it was time?

I twisted around and scrambled to my knees. My free hand flew to the iron cuff, fingers scraping at it, trying to find a latch or seam.

“Vetle?” My voice cracked like dry wood. “Vetle!”

And there he was.

Kneeling at the edge of the pit, quiet, solemn.

His head was bowed, black hair falling loose around his face from beneath his crown.

The tips of his folded wings curled down like he’d drawn into himself.

His hands moved with careful precision as he fastened the final clasp of the chain—locking it into place on a spike fastened on top of the chunk of marble.

Dull red light highlighted his face, making him seem both terrifying and devastated.

I stared at him, ice settling in my chest. “Vetle?” I’d been willing to sacrifice myself. But for him to trap me here and not even talk to me about it? For him to drug me? I couldn’t even put it into words.

He set his hand against the stone, not looking at me.

“I had hoped you wouldn’t wake. That we wouldn’t have to have this conversation,” he said quietly.

“But…the thought of doing this without speaking to you is its own curse, so perhaps this is for the best. There’s only a short time before it must begin, but it will take hours to conclude because it will focus on only one.

I am truly sorry. The portal will finish charging, and when it does, this boulder will fall through, and it will pull you along with it back into the Waking Lands. ”

My eyes widened. He—he wasn’t sacrificing me. He was saving me? I suddenly realized where I was. This was the pit with the portal on the other side of the chasm. He must have cleared it out. “Vetle, you can’t let everyone—”

“I’m not.” His eyes met mine then, and I saw it. All of it. The grief. The resolve. The unbearable love behind the choice he’d made. It all burned fierce in his amber eyes.

He pushed off the edge of the pit and landed on the sloped black stone.

His boots scraped against the coarse rock.

“You were right that the tablets did hold more information. A fair bit more. Based on the additional context, Maltric discovered that we had misinterpreted a few words. For instance, the word ‘innocent’ is actually far broader than what we thought. Yes, you could sacrifice yourself, and it might work. But there is another who is better and who is almost assuredly enough.” He cupped his clawed fingers along my cheek and then under my jaw, tilting my chin up.

Realization dawned over me. I stared at him, my pulse thundering in my ears as his words sank in. "What are you saying?"

“I am the reason that my people were brought here, Sabine. I am the reason so many have died. I cannot allow both the living and the dead to be obliterated and their names wiped out from all of existence, and above all, I cannot let that happen to you.” He pressed his thumb to the seam of my lips, his eyes shuttering.

“No,” I whispered. My voice trembled. “No, Vetle, there has to be another way. I would have said yes. I—”

“No.” He took my left hand in his and kissed it tenderly, his breath cool against my heated skin.

“Tanith taunted me that I would one day make the same choice as her. Whether for one or thousands, choosing to sacrifice an innocent when I could pay that price myself is wrong. And I…I cannot do that. Especially when that innocent is you.”

I yanked against the chain, panic surging through me. "You can't do this! You can't just—Vetle, please!"

"I'm sorry." He pressed his forehead to mine, his eyes closing as if memorizing this moment as he caressed my cheek and breathed me in. "I'm so sorry, my sweet thorn. I know this will hurt. But this is the only way I can protect you. The only way I can ensure you have a future."

"I don't want a future without you!" The words tore from my throat, raw and desperate. Tears burned hot trails down my cheeks. "Did the tablets say that the wedding requires royals for both parties? Did it actually say that? You were wrong about the meaning of innocent. What if you’re wrong about that?”

“We can’t know for certain, and there’s no more time. That part wasn’t made more clear, but if we are wrong, you would die with me. Both our souls would be obliterated.”

“Then I will die with you!” The chain links clinked against one another as I pressed my hands against his chest, my fingers tangling in his open robe and tunic.

“I would risk it for you! Show me what the tablets said. Show me everything. I can find another way to make it work. I know I can! I always find solutions. It’s what I do! ”

“No.” He kissed my cheek and held me closer, his arms wrapping tight around me.

Kissing away the tears, he nuzzled me, his voice deep and rasping.

“There isn’t time. But you did help. Far more than you know.

You don’t have to be afraid. You’ll be safe here so long as you stay near the portal.

The creatures won’t attack. Our people are safe until the portal opens or everything fails.

The Witheringlands listens. But I can’t risk you being destroyed. ”

As if it heard him, the wind above us howled and whistled across the chasm.

I trembled. “Vetle, please. I can’t lose you. I would risk it with you—”

“No, my love. I know this is hard, but you must be strong for me. I will lay down my life, and the Witheringlands will take me to end this curse. The portal will then open, and everyone will come through. When Maltric brings them into the Peace Garden, help them. And take care of Osric for me. He says you’re his mahlda.

He never bonded with any of the others the way he has with you.

” A soft smile tugged at his mouth. “He needs someone to look after him.”

I couldn't respond. My throat closed up, words dying before they could form.

He tilted my face up to his, and then his mouth claimed mine.

The kiss was desperate, consuming—full of everything he couldn't say and everything we'd never have.

His lips moved against mine with a hunger that bordered on violent, as if he could somehow brand himself into my soul through this one final touch.

His tongue swept into my mouth, tasting, claiming, memorizing.

One hand tangled in my hair while the other pressed flat against my lower back, crushing me against him until there was no space between us.

I kissed him back with everything I had, pouring all my love, my rage, my desperation into it. My fingers clawed at his shoulders, trying to pull him closer even though we were already pressed together so tightly I could feel his heartbeat against my chest. Tears streamed down my face.

When he finally pulled back, we were both breathing hard. His thumb traced my bottom lip, his eyes drinking me in as if trying to memorize every detail.

"I love you," he whispered. "And I need you to know this: I would endure the decades of isolation, torment, and loss all over again if only to hold you and hear your voice for just one moment. To know you and love you, even if only for a short time, is worth all the suffering and darkness I have ever endured.” He then spread his wings and leaped up into the air.

“Vetle,” I called after him, tears streaming down my cheeks. “Vetle!”

“Stay in the pit, Sabine. I put wards and markers around it to protect you in case the Witheringlands grows hostile again.” He looked down at me once more, his lips curling up slightly.

“I’m glad to have known you. In my final moments, you will be what I see, and my heart and love will always be yours. ”

“Vetle!” I screamed after him, then dropped to my knees and ripped at the chain.

The metal links rattled uselessly. I yanked harder, bracing both feet against the sloped stone, throwing all my weight into it.

The cuff slid slightly, tugging against my skin—just enough to give me hope.

But when it reached the base of my thumb, it caught hard. Bone refused to yield.

Pain bloomed as the edge dug in. Blood welled hot beneath the metal, trickling down my palm, but the cuff wouldn’t budge. It was loose enough to rattle around my wrist—but not enough to slip free.

"No, no, no!" I yanked again, the metal cuff grinding against my thumb and wrist. Pain shot up my arm, but I didn't stop. I couldn't stop.

This wasn’t going to be how it ended.

I screamed with frustration and dropped to my hands and knees, my free hand scrambling across the pit floor.

There had to be something—anything I could use.

My fingers found loose stones, pebbles, fragments of broken rock.

Nothing substantial. The biggest was small enough to wrap in my fist, but it had to do.

I grabbed the coarse white rock and brought it down hard against one of the chain links.

The impact jarred up through my arm, but the chain didn't even dent.