Page 44 of Winds of Darkness

She turned just as a water portal appeared, and the Water Prince stepped onto the beach. Wearing only loose linen pants, the moonlight reflected off his dark skin, and his white hair appeared nearly as silver as her own beneath the stars. He went still when he spotted her, as if he hadn’t expected her to be there. But that couldn’t be right. Why else would he suddenly come to the beach at this exact place and moment in time? She’d assumed he’d felt her cross into his Court. All the Court Royals could feel when great power entered their territory. Most of their Inner Courts could feel it too.

“Princess Ashtine,” he greeted, stopping several feet away from her.

“Prince Drayce,” she returned in kind.

His icy gaze swept over her. “Are you well?”

Her smile was forced as she turned to face the waters once more. “Do you ever attempt to outrun the waves?”

“No. They call to me, and my soul answers,” he replied, moving to stand beside her before facing the sea as well. “But the waves are not as capricious as the winds.”

Ashtine glanced at him side-long, finding him with his hands clasped behind his back and eyes closed. Only the sounds of the waters stirred the night. Even the winds had gone still.

“I used to feel such things about the winds until days of late,” she said softly.

Briar turned, and she felt his gaze on her. “How else can I be of aid, Ashtine?”

Ashtine.

Her name from his lips brought her the grounded feeling she’d been seeking by coming here. It had not been the beach or the waves, and something uneasy crept up her spine at the idea of that.

It was dangerous to seek such respite in another, and it was foolish to find it in a prince from a rival court.

“I should not have come here uninvited,” she said suddenly, taking a step back from him.

“Did I not do the same to you mere weeks ago?” he countered.

“Yes, but you had a purpose.”

“You do not strike me as someone who takes aimless actions.”

She wasn’t someone who did that.

And she had come here with a purpose. She just hadn’t expected him to be the one to fulfill what she was seeking.

“The winds are not as volatile when I am around you,” she said suddenly. “I do not understand why. Even now, they do not speak when they have tormented me all night. All day. Too many days and nights.”

His brow furrowed. “Ashtine, when was the last time you truly slept?”

“It was so long ago, I cannot recall,” she whispered. Before he could say something further, she asked, “Why are you on the shore at this hour?”

“I also find sleep evading me as of late,” he sighed. “I was hoping Abrax would be waiting for me as he often is, but I was gifted your presence instead.”

“Abrax finds you often?” she asked, speaking of the water horse that was the spirit animal of Anahita, goddess of the seas and water. Abrax was bonded to Briar in the same way Nasima was bonded to her.

“He does,” Briar answered. “Others simply do not see it as he cannot perch on my shoulder.”

A breath of laughter escaped her. “You jest.”

He glanced over at her and smiled. “I do.”

Her head tilted. “You do so often?”

His small smile faded. “Not as often as I once did.”

“What changed?”

“The world is ever-changing,” he answered. “Do not let me keep you,” he added as he lowered to the sand.