Before I Let Go (Skyland #1)(16)

“And Thalia?” My jealousy bled out even though I tried to force it down. “What about her?”

“What about Thalia?” He asked the question through clenched teeth.

“Is she simply your lover, or do you drink from her to take her power? You told me that you had never fed from another Starblessed before, but I guess everything between us was a lie.”

He was a prince split between two kingdoms. Of course, he lied.

A dark shadow passed over his face, and I could see the error of my words staring back at me. “Thalia has been with me since Gavril decided he was through with her. He took every bit of power he thought he could get from her, then he washed his hands. I brought her here without his knowledge.”

His words, that truth, it knocked the breath from my lungs. “She was his Starblessed?”

“She was his toy while he waited for you to come of age.”

Guilt slashed through me and ate at my gut. This woman, Thalia, she had been used in ways that I couldn’t even begin to imagine. Gavril had taken from me once, but the scars on Thalia’s arms…

“You saved her?”

“Thalia saved herself. She fought Gavril every step of the way, and I was just her way out.” He spoke in a low voice as his jaw clenched. “You could learn a lot from her. She has mastered the power that runs through her so she will never allow another to use her weakness against her again. I think Thalia could help you a lot while I’m away.”

I stared at him as I considered his words. Was that really what he wanted for me? For me to become unusable in a way that even he couldn’t force my hand? For me to become a weapon only I could wield?

“Thalia is one of my dearest friends. I would like for the two of you to become the same. Train with her.”

“No.” I shook my head. It didn’t matter what he said. It didn’t matter that he pointed out the similarities between us. She was a part of this court, and that meant I couldn’t trust her.

“Then marry me.”

I jolted back so harshly that I almost dropped my towel. Evren eyes tracked my movements with the precision of a hunter.

“What?” I shook my head as I tried to clear it. “I will never marry you, Evren.”

Thoughts of what might have been flooded me, but he wasn’t the man I once thought him to be. He was the blood prince, the sole heir to this kingdom that I still feared.

He grinned, but it didn’t meet his hollow eyes. “I’m not asking for you to love me, princess. I don’t even need you to accept that we are mates. But our marriage will protect our world.”

I didn’t believe a word that passed his lips. It was another manipulation, another play in his game.

“How? How is me marrying you anything more than your revenge?”

“A prince born of blood,” he began, and my gaze snapped to meet his.

“Another of power. One will defeat. One will cower. The rage of the stars burned in her skin. Without her fate his rule can’t begin.”

I stared at him wordlessly as I played those words echoed in my head. But I couldn’t make sense of them.

“That prophecy has been burned in my brain since I was a child. If Gavril is to marry you, the cruelty of my father’s rule will look like child’s play.”

Fear like I had never known before crept up my spine and took root. “And what if the prophecy is referring to you? What if you are the one I should be wary of?”

“We both know that it isn’t.”

“I don’t know anything.” I spat as I watched him carefully. “Other than the fact that I can’t trust either of you.”

“How do we know the prophecy is about me? There are dozens of other Starblessed in this world. Thalia is in this palace right now.” I pointed toward the door. “Marry her.”

My chest tightened as I said the words. I didn’t want to be used as a pawn in their game. A game among kingdoms was dangerous, and I was simply being dangled between the two princes who were both as lethal as they were powerful.

“It’s you, princess.” He stared up at me, and the marks on my skin came to life with his conviction. “You are the reason my father and Queen Kaida have tried to keep the prophecy hidden. I knew it the moment I met you that it was you who the prophecy spoke of. It is you who will change our world.”

“I don’t want to change your world.” I shook my head and my wet hair slid over my shoulders. Evren tracked the movement before standing and running his hands along the front of his trousers. I didn’t know what I wanted, but it wasn’t this. Thoughts of Evren and I running away, of us being alone with no politics of this world to determine our future, flooded my mind. But that was a fool’s dream.

I was nothing more than a girl with marred skin, and he was born to rule.

“We don’t get to choose our destiny, Adara, but we do get to decide what role we’ll play in it. You are inevitably linked to my family, and you have the choice between him and me. You can take my hand willingly, or my brother will force yours.” His words were scathing, and his jaw clenched as he watched me.

“I don’t want to choose either.” Both choices invoked a fear I couldn’t ignore.

His dark gaze narrowed, and I looked away from him as I said the next words. “I just want to leave.”