The Returned Prince Preview

This is the UNEDITED DRAFT of Chapter One of The Returned Prince and is subject to change until publication

Silas

Home— what I’ve long been searching for found, the second I laid my eyes on her. She’s the world and I, her moon, lucky to be caught in her gravitational pull. Each fleeting second spent together increases the grasp she has on my heart. Every breath I take, my lungs fill with her vanilla and honey scent. The warmth she radiates through every aspect of her being brings me incomparable comfort.

Before meeting her I could’ve died happy never knowing this feeling, it wouldn’t have made any difference. Now the thought of not spending every day in this euphoria of magical rightness seems sacrilegious. I’ll spend each moment she’s away awaiting her return. She’s given me a reason to live. To think I’ve already almost lost her more than once is enough for me to never let her out of my sight again. I want to lock the memories of the past four days up in a cupboard deep in my mind and never visit them again.

Goosebumps rise along her neck as my lips brush against her rain dampened skin. “Daphne, look at me,” I whisper. Her body stiffens beneath my arms. I tighten my hold around her, making sure she doesn’t lose her balance in Lucy’s saddle. My heart races to catch up to the speed of her now racing pulse. The leisurely speed at which she turns to face me is unbearable. Is she intending to torture me? 

Our eyes lock, thick lashes fluttering over her big warm brown eyes. The sun hits them just right, making them glow like pools of honey. Over the past two weeks I’ve discovered that in all of Threa, there’s no sight more beautiful. I’ve explored every landscape and natural wonder this world has to offer and not one of them comes close to comparing to what I see when I look into her eyes. It’s like peering into the windows of the other half of my soul. 

Perfect lips curve in a wicked smile that tells me she knows the words about to come from me.

She has to know. 

She has to feel this, too.

Since the moment we found her, shaking in a dragon’s den defending herself with nothing but a rock, I’ve wanted to tell her. I’ve lost track of the amount of times I almost lost control, almost let the pull win, almost allowing the words to slip from my lips. When we gazed at the stars, after the ball when I told her the legend of our moons, when she made me try that godforsaken coffee drink, the second she woke up in Ailse’s cabin. A shudder runs through me at the memory. I will not lose her. She’s safe in my arms.

If she doesn’t return from her Earth, will it have been worth it to keep it from her? Each time I fight off the urge, it takes all of my strength. I thought it’s for the best. If she accepts it before going home, I don’t know if she’d be able to leave. She knows now that I love her. Maybe that’s enough until she returns. 

Tell her now- before it’s too late.

Daphne deserves to know the truth. The whole truth. She’s strong and capable of making her own decisions. My voice does not tremble when I speak, “Do you understand what I am saying? What I have known since the moment I found you in that cave Novalora sent me to.” 

Her lips part slightly, then her eyes shift over my shoulder, widening with pure terror. She screams, “Silas!”

“Daphne? What is it?” I shift my head over my shoulder, following her gaze. Looking at me through slits in a black mask are a pair of eyes so hauntingly green I’d never forget them. “Oh gods. Ajax!” 

His scent drifts over with the wind. My instincts know immediately, without any doubt the male riding Ayldire is Awyatheon. The Returned Prince. Where’s he been hiding all of this time? How’s it possible he’s been hiding for nearly two centuries? If that male is truly him, the others have to be Prince Sterling, Cordelia, and Arne. 

Our situation is trending from bad to worse.

Lucy cries out as they approach us rapidly on the backs of their dragons. What does he want? The primal instinct to protect Daphne from the threat at any cost roars in my chest. However, what remains of my magic only sputters in response. 

I’m too weak. 

I’m going to fail her, again. Before we’ve even gotten a chance at a life together. Before she even knows.

“The shields are up, I don't know how they can see us!” Ajax calls, pulling his bow from his shoulder, reaching for a golden arrow from the quiver on his back. With this much rain and wind, even someone with Ajax’s skill will have a hard time landing a shot. If this storm is being controlled by Awyatheon that means his water magic won’t be of use.

“Fuck. Fuck,” I mutter reaching into my mind feeling for any singular bit of magic that may remain. If I manage to form a tornado in this storm, we may stand a chance. I grasp and grasp at the thread of magic that barely glimmers at my reach. The response is dismal. The last few days have left me too strained. I drop the air shield and Lucy’s reins to unsheath my sword. If I can’t use magic, I’ll give all of myself to save her. She’s all that matters. She needs to make it home to her children.

Sharp cold water pelts my skin. The heat of the bond’s magic ripples in waves through me. I can’t fail her again. 

I should’ve said no. I should’ve old her we couldn’t out fly the storm. 

His storm. 

He’s the one causing this. He’s responsible for all the unusual weather.

How does he keep finding me?

Ajax reads the concern growing across my face as he readies an arrow. We’ve trained for this exact situation for decades. Yet now, it doesn’t feel real. Ajax knows what he has to do. In the slight downturn of his mouth, I see his heart breaking all over again. With a solemn nod he pulls his arm back, firing the golden arrow. It flies with unmatched speed and precision, hitting Arne’s dragon right on the side of her neck. A sickening cry bellows through the air with a crack of thunder. The sky illuminates with lightning as they fall from the sky. 

“Will that kill her?” Daphne screams. The concern is so genuine, so endearing, my growing love for her nearly makes me forget the imminent danger we’re in. 

“The dragon? No.” There’s no need to tell her the rider almost certainly will be meeting his death. You can't cheat it from the same male twice. Ajax’s face is hardened into steely determination, focusing on keeping us alive. Decades of living with turmoil has trained him to mask any sign of the pain I know he must be enduring. 

The storm intensifies with Awyatheon’s growing temper. What does he want? If it’s me he’s after, I’ll give myself over without hesitation if he lets Daphne and Ajax go. At least Daphne. Lucy knows the way back to Dorolan. 

Ajax readies another bow as Cordelia’s dragon sweeps in, hitting Knox’s pegasus with her tail causing the Traveler’s mirror to fall out of the sky. A heartbroken scream escapes Daphne as she watches the mirror rapidly descend from the sky. 

That’s her only chance.

Ajax’s eyes meet mine, as my second he knows me better than I know myself. Following my train of thought, he knows my command before I even say it. “Ajax, Go,” I order.

He’s just as aware there’s no time for an argument he won’t win. The scrunch of his brow is the only protest of disapproval he gives before pressing his body flat against his pegasus and diving.

Awyatheon closes in on us. I have to make a choice, fast. Anything for her. Even if the sacrifice is myself. It’s better Ajax isn’t here for this. There’s no world he’d allow me to go through with what I’m about to do. It’s the only way I see Daphne getting out of this.

“Silas. I’m so sorry,” Daphne shouts over the rain and wind as Awyatheon and Sterling close in on us.

“It’s okay, we’ll be fine.” I reassure her, holding her tightly for the last time. Awyatheon may be ruthless, but there’s nothing he could want from her. 

Apolynea, protect us. Protect her. Keep your granddaughter safe. Guilt gnaws at my stomach for asking two favors of the goddess in such a short time frame. 

“Silas, I-” She whispers. 

Awyatheon walks the wing of his silver dragon towards us. Parting the rain with his magic like a curtain as he takes each daunting step closer. Horrible menace burns behind his eyes. The look of someone about to claim vengeance. Does he blame me for the war our fathers started when we were children? There’s no way a male with a shred of intelligence would believe that. That would be insane. Does he think he’ll be able to get to my father through me? Are my siblings his next targets? 

Unbearable heat pierces through my shoulder. My magic fades away with a single heartbeat. Poison courses through me, warming my body. I turn my head, finding a silver arrow sticking out of my back. I’d been so focused on the threat in front of me, I forgot about the danger that’s the older Silver brother. 

The brother left behind. 

Quinn convinced my father he wasn’t a big enough threat to take care of. He must’ve been blinded by the remnants of childhood friendship.

 Tightening the grasp I hold on Daphne, I take one last breath of her. Another heartbeat and my body numbs with sudden emptiness. 

My power. The bond. Everything. 

Gone.