I turned to face him better and tucked my legs beneath me. He didn’t begin eating until I grabbed my fork. “Then you’ll know that Lady Furyful’s viewpoint on males and females doesn’t align with traditional Solis beliefs either.”
Haxil took a huge bite of his duck and nodded. “Lady Furyful is very convincing in her beliefs about equality amongst fae.”
I popped a fig pastry into my mouth. “Do you disagree with that?”
He finished chewing and forked a bite of pasta. “It’s not that I disagree. Females can be just as powerful as males in their magic, and just because you’re generally of slighter build doesn’t mean you’re in any way weak.”
A smile spread across my face. “I knew I liked you for a reason. So what was your favorite scene in the book? Mine was when she led the battle against the Borggish in the end, putting an end to their advancement into our realm. When she confronted their leader near the portal and sliced his head clean off . . .” I leaned back and closed my eyes briefly before sitting back upright and picking up my bun again. “Her bravery took my breath away.”
Haxil laughed. “How very noble of a scene you chose. My favorite was when Lady Furyful shaved Sir Risserton’s balls off. It was wonderfully gruesome.”
I laughed, and Haxil joined in.
The meal passed quickly as we ate while volleying our opinions about Of Fae and Might back and forth, before launching into other books we’d read. I was delighted to find that the guard was extremely well educated, putting my poor learnings to shame, although I was valiantly trying to correct that by reading everything I could get my hands on.
I told him of my latest book while sipping wine from my goblet. I had no idea how much I’d consumed, but the warm fire and the feeling sweeping through me could have been from the alcohol, or perhaps it was from the stimulating conversation. I’d never had a male friend who’d also liked to read. Both Tormesh and Finnley hadn’t found much enjoyment in it, both preferring to spend their free time outside versus sitting in a chair with a book.
“And then, just when she was about to—” Intent on re-enacting a battle scene from a history book I’d read about a female general, I leaned over Haxil but lost my footing and fell face-first onto him instead.
His arm whipped around me automatically to break my fall, but I’d put too much momentum into the scene, so he couldn’t stop me completely.
A rush of air whooshed past my face, and then I was on the floor, right between the couch and table with the guard on top of me.
For a moment, we both stared at one another, and then I burst out laughing.
Haxil did the same. “Ock, that was quite the warrior move,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.
I laughed again as hair fluttered in front of my face. “Apologies for being so clumsy.”
He grinned and was about to lift himself off me when a knock came on my door.
“Ilara?” The door to my chambers opened as the crown prince let himself in. “Can we talk? I know you’re avoiding me again, but—”
He took one step into my room before his gaze cut to me, as though his heightened magic told him exactly where I lay. The second he beheld me on the floor with Haxil on top of me, a storm unleased upon Prince Norivun’s face. A split second later, a tsunami of power barreled out of him, the force of it nearly whipping the curtains off the windows.
“Nori . . .” Haxil’s powerful frame bolted off me while I lay on the floor rosy-cheeked from the wine.
Scorching rage filled Prince Norivun’s expression as something infinitely darker lit his eyes.
“Nori . . .” Haxil said again, his tone growing warier as he backed up.
Rage rippled across the prince’s face, and he crossed the distance between us in blurred speed, a terrifying snarl ripping from his throat.
“Nori!” Haxil yelled, moving faster than the wind as he retreated. “Rein it in. I didn’t touch her.”
But the crown prince lunged for his guard, wrath written upon his features.
“I didn’t touch her!” Haxil roared once more.
I shot to standing and darted to the couch, hoping to place myself between the two males, but one glance at the prince’s face pierced fear into my heart and made any doubt that he wasn’t my mate vanish like the setting sun.
Terrifying fury rippled across the prince’s features, and with a sickening sense of dread, I realized what was happening.
The mate bond had once again gained control of him, just like it had after Lord Waterline’s attack.
All Prince Norivun had seen was another male trying to lay claim to me, and his instincts had taken over.
Which meant that he was going to kill Haxil if I didn’t stop him.
CHAPTER 17
“Nori! Stop!” Haxil yelled again, then again.
“Prince Norivun, please calm down!” I screamed.
It was no use.
Horror descended upon me when I felt his affinity rise. It rushed from the prince, spearing right for Haxil despite the guard being his servant, his friend, who the crown prince cared for like a brother.
“No!” I screamed and launched myself in front of Haxil. I plastered myself to the guard. Fear twisted my features as I desperately tried to shield him with everything I had.
But the prince’s affinity barreled right around me, piercing Haxil from the side, and with a sickening sense of dread, I knew that I couldn’t stop it. The prince latched onto his soul, his horrible death affinity pulling that wispy essence from his guard.
“My prince, no! He’s your friend!” I shot my own affinity out of my body toward the prince’s magic, grabbing a hold of the shimmering lifeform that was Haxil’s inner soul being sliced away from his form.
The second my affinity made contact with Norivun’s, the energy in the room changed. The seismic pulsing from the crown prince ground to a stop, as though water doused a fire, and for the first time, recognition of where we were, who lay before him, and what he was doing barreled over Norivun’s features.
“Please stop,” I pleaded.
The prince stumbled back. Terror glazed his eyes as his affinity sucked back into him so quickly his magic rushed over my skin.
“Thank the Mother,” I whispered when Haxil’s soul returned to him.
The guard slumped, falling to the floor. The prince moved faster than lightning and broke Haxil’s fall before the guard’s head could crash into the table.
“Haxil,” the prince said urgently as he peered down at his friend. Guilt coiled Norivun’s features. He pounded his fist on the floor. “Fuck, no, what have I done? Haxil!”
The guard blinked, then opened his eyes.
“Thank the gods,” Norivun said, slumping forward and cradling the guard to him.
Groaning, Haxil frowned. “Is that the thanks I get for keeping your—” The guard cleared his throat, then rubbed his side. He massaged the area that the prince’s magic had speared. “For keeping your ward safe?”
I stiffened. Ward? No, something told me he’d been about to say mate, which meant the prince’s guards also knew what I was.
The blood drained from my face as any lingering doubt over what the prince and I truly were vanished from my thoughts. I knew. Prince Norivun was my mate, and there was no running from that even if he’d killed my family.