Enslaved (Prince of the Doomed City #4)

by Sylvia Mercedes

“Sometimes, Darling, your courage looks rather too much like lunacy to the rest of us.”

I meet his gaze hard. “I’m not abandoning you.” At this, his mouth breaks in a devastating smile. “That might be the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“You must know why I wished to speak to you.” His lips quirk slightly. “I have any number of suspicions.” To my utmost horror his gaze drops pointedly to my mouth. “And hopes.”

“The knowledge that you were there in Aurelis—breathing the air of Eledria—was torture. During those five years you spent in Estrilde’s thrall, not a day went by that I did not think of you.”

“No, stay with me! Don’t go away. I need you with me. I need you here. I need you. I need you, do you hear me?”

“To really love someone is to be willing to give them up. To know they are free to make their own choices, for better or for worse. To allow them that freedom. To let go . . . even if it means watching them fall.”

But if she knew who I really am—if she knew what I’ve done and what I’ve kept from her all this time—her hatred would be unending.

“I will come to you.” His mouth rests just against my ear, his voice low and deep: “Should you need me. For any reason. Not for Obligation, only for need.”

“Call my name,” he whispers. “I will come to you. From anywhere in all the worlds, I will come. Just call my name.” “Castien.” My throat vibrates against his fingertips. “No.” He leans in closer, his nose against my temple. His lips just brush my skin. Not a kiss, a mere stroke of contact. “Not that.” Then he speaks a single word, softly. Breathes it into my ear. The next moment he is gone.

“You spoke my true name. Only one woman in all the worlds may do that. For her I would give my life. I would give a thousand lives—to see you safe and whole and happy.” One day, I’ll offer that name as a gift to she who will be my wife. If she accepts me, she will speak it back.