Page 8 of Slaying the Shifter Prince
I was supposed to die bathed in blood and victory, smiling viciously as his guards rushed in and cut me down. Although I was no fighter, I’d take as many as I could with me—I had my silks and speed. They would be enough to let me take down at least one. I’d do so knowing that in the next place I’d see my sister again, knowing I’d be able to tell her how I’d made him pay.
But this?
I twisted against my bindings, but a large hand closed over my shoulder, claws pricking my collarbone.
“I told you.” His voice was a low purr of warning that made goosebumps rise on my arms.
I’d failed.
“What are you going to do with me?”
“Patience. You’ll soon discover the price for your assassination attempt. I must say I’m surprised. I always expected it to come eventually, but I never thought they’d send ahuman.”
Before I could work out what he meant, the door opened again, and the world tilted.
“Eric?” He was no friend of the prince’s. They must’ve brought the wrong person. They must’ve misunderstood his instruction. Or else he’d come to beg for leniency. I glanced over my shoulder at the prince.
He bent close, took a handful of my hair, and angled my head so he could murmur in my ear. “Your uncertainty is delicious. Keep it up, treacherous little creature.”
Straightening, he gestured towards me and smiled at Eric. “You were right. She did attack me.”
My heart ticked slower and slower, each beat deafening. I’d misheard. Eric couldn’t have—
“And with an iron dagger.” The prince held the blade between finger and thumb like it was something scraped off the sole of his shoe.
“Eric?” I couldn’t blink, but no matter how much I stared, he refused to so much as look at me.
He’d been there for it all. From the day Zinnia and I had joined the Gilded Suns, fleeing my arcane accident, through her murder, my training and planning, all the way to this now.
This betrayal.
The word was a fishbone in my throat. A spear in my chest. It mingled with the fear, cutting me open in a way I hadn’t felt since finding my sister’s lifeless body.
The prince gestured for Eric to approach. “I’ll let you two enjoy a few final words.”
With a ghoulish grin, he skulked off to my silks, which now hung empty. He gave a thoughtful frown, fingers running along their lengths.
The claws that had been retracted now lengthened. With slow purpose, he tore them down the fabric.
Eyes on the prince, Eric edged close as though he didn’t want “a few final words.” He paused before me, staring somewhere over my head.
I managed to choke out, “Why?”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, words covered by the sound of ripping silk. He shook his head, lips pressed together until they went almost as pale as the rest of his face. “I had to think of the troupe. I couldn’t let your vengeance destroy us all.”
“It wouldn’t have. It was mine—minealone.”
“No.” His nostrils flared as the word echoed through the room, and his gaze snapped to mine. “It was never just yours. It would’ve got us all killed. You couldn’t even see it.” He huffed, shaking his head. “Your sister is gone. And it’s awful and tragic, but you’re still here—I’mstill here. Yet all I ever got of you were pieces and moments… and I don’t think you were even there for most of them.”
Jealous. He was jealous of my sister and my planning—my need for revenge. That was why he’d stopped me.
I opened my mouth to tell him what a fool he was when the prince yawned.
Yawned.
I gritted my teeth as something hot rolled through me, like fire consuming spilt liquor.
“Yes, yes.” He turned from the tattered silks and approached. “Allveryfascinating. But we have a punishment to be getting on with.” He waved at Eric dismissively and nodded at his guards. “Pay the man.”
