Enslaved (Prince of the Doomed City #4)

by Sylvia Mercedes

To honor her trollness, even as I myself have failed to.” Only now does he turn to me, his eyes bright in the crystal-glow. Bright and strangely soft. A look I don’t recall seeing before on his proud, sarcastic face. “She too has shamed me. And I am grateful for that shame.”

Gritting my teeth, I turn from the window, face back into my shadowed chamber. I must be careful. I must ever be on my guard. Because it doesn’t matter what I feel for her. There’s no room in her heart for me. Not crammed as it is with those children, or that wretched brother, or her thrice-damnable Doctor Gale. What am I compared to any of these? Less than nothing in her estimation. While she? She is everything.

“To your health,” he says, and downs the drink in a single draught. I can almost hear the silent addition of: May it deteriorate rapidly.

I want to tell him he’s won. I want to beg him to take me home to Vespre. I want to give it all up—the bargains, the bloodgem, all of it.

I wish you would. The Prince is the sweetest. He has started to take responsibilty for the kids, loves Clara, and is a good leader.

I’d not thought him capable of inventing such loveliness. I suppose not all of us are born with darkness in our souls. Some have more to offer the world than monsters.