The Sun's Shadow

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Even now as he inhaled, searching for her mated scent, he only smelled her delicious blood that called for him- An alluring mix concocted of rose petals and the overpowering sun on a hot summer's day. He neared her, trying to find the stench of another male, and that's when the faint scent hit him.

Her skin still remained red from how vigorously she tried to wash it away. Now that he searched for the mark on her skin, he realized the unfading scar on her neck wasn't from the last time he fed from her.

His nostrils flared. "He marked you over my faint one. That fucking bastard-"

When she backed away in horror, he looked down at his arms that were beginning to show the first signs of shifting. He kept it in check for her sake.

'Your faint one?' Oh no. She caught that.

"I... I also tried to mark you without informing you first. A few weeks ago in the dining hall when my father stopped me. I guess a little bit of my venom seeped out in the process. I kept it to myself, knowing it'd disappear one day without you even noticing." He stated, ashamed of his own actions that mirrored that of his cousin, who only took it a step further.

Who knows what state she'd be in if he had gone through with it... She likely wouldn't even be standing here.

Something forbidden crossed his erratic mind, and he said it aloud without thinking twice.

"Ele, we can be together. Only one thing stands in our way... One person. And I know I can kill him. I know I can. You know it too, even he knows it. I can end his rule so long as you remain by my side."

'Please, just listen-' Ele attempted reason while he threatened sanity.

"No! You listen, this is the only way for us to be together. Don't you want to be together?" He eyed her where she stood, motionless, and a lustful look gleamed in his eyes. Those emerald eyes turned dark, and he switched from anger to desire in a millisecond.

She stumbled backwards to create space but seemed to get nowhere- His stride doubled hers.

"You think you're safe here? You're not safe anywhere..." Kaanan stalked menacingly, backing her into a corner both physically and mentally. He raised his hand and wasn't prepared for her to flinch. Those beautiful orbs tightened on him and his whole world came crashing down.

She thought...

It doesn't matter anymore what she thought of him.

He needed to keep her safe, even if it meant she'd despise him for a little while. She'd come around eventually and learn that he never meant harm towards her.

A gentle finger coaxed a slow trailing tear on her cheek back up to her eyelash, not allowing it to drip onto the floor. Then his thumb spread across her dry lips before he reached up to brush wet, curly strays out of her face.

Kaanan attempted to mimic the ways in which she once soothed him.

"And that's why I have to do this. Tonight. Oh, Ele... I wish I could explain everything in a way that wouldn't make you hate me but you'll just have to trust me until it's safe for you. I'm sorry... I'm so...." He dropped to his knees. Head bent as to hide his shame-filled face.

The unmistakable sound of sobs filled the room, and they didn't come from her.

She wanted to believe him in that moment. The authentic sight of him crying exposed that he could be truthful- That he really thought what he was doing would save her. Save them both. And possibly save the Kingdom from a barbaric leader.

The sight alone made her let her guard down.

Ele couldn't let it go on any longer. She kneeled down in front of him, placing a hand atop his for reassurance. He peered up at her with soaked lashes to see her gesture of forgiveness.

Then she made her stance very apparent as she solemnly signed, 'I hardly forgive you and maybe I never will. No matter how much you believe this to be the path to righteousness... I can't follow. Thank you for protecting me, but I need to take my own path now.'

At the end of her declaration, her hands fell limp in her lap. He stared at them, nostrils flaring.

"I understand Ele." He eventually stated. The tears had all left him and he looked at her with puffy eyes. "That's why I have to apologize again."

Perplexed by his words and already caught off guard by his raw display of emotions, she couldn't pull away fast enough from the handcuff that slammed upon her exposed wrist. After tightening it harshly, he cuffed the other link onto her bed frame and admired his work smugly.

If she expected the monster within him to surface, then that's just what he'd give her. For him to have the cuffs on hand signified his true reason for being here.

She needed her other hand to hold up the towel as it threatened to fall off, already inching down further than she felt comfortable with in a male's presence. He eyed her pathetic attempts at shielding her body from him, a body he deemed his the moment he set eyes on her.

"If Roman or even Charles come to your rescue, it will already be too late. Don't send them to save my father or else you'll doom them to a similar fate. Even my mother can't save him now." He stated all of this casually, as if discussing what he had for breakfast.

"All that I'm doing, all that needs to be rectified... I'm doing it for us."

She turned away from him, refusing to acknowledge that he did all of this for her and not for the throne that came along with it.

"Soon you'll understand. Soon." He whispered this while he left her there- Chained to the bed without word on when this rebellion would end.

Ele knew the game she submitted herself to the moment she stepped through the castle doors... She just wasn't playing it very well. Never did she imagine it to end in such miserable defeat and leave her party to a palace coo.

A coo... If only the history books would one day play it down as such. Murder. She was the Prince's reasoning behind murdering his father.

Mentally, she began to create a list of people in line to kill her if she even survived the day. Thinking such things without even giving escape a fair chance went against her faenix nature. Her ancestors never gave up without a fight and they watched over her to ensure she never did either.

She looked at the wood frame of her bed and tilted her head, imagining how perfect the dry wood would be for a bonfire. Wasting no more precious time, she coaxed her light to come to her aide once more. To fight for her and protect her.

Now she needed it to save a life. She channeled her fear for the King's well-being and moreover... Fear of the Prince himself and the stranger he'd become.

That provided her with enough fuel to shoot some light from her fingertips and direct it at the splintered wood. It sparked, and then a thicker piece caught aflame. Soon enough it'd burn and allow her to yank the handcuff from the weakened wood.

When the time came, however, she hesitated. If she did this... And ran to the aide of the King, what would come of her? Would they even do the same for her?

No, they wouldn't.

These creatures would let her die before putting themselves in harm's way and that's precisely why she had to do this- To prove she was nothing like them.

She tugged the handcuff off the thinned wood, which had burned down to mere embers now and posed no fiery threat. Without any means to free her hand of the cuff, she'd have to deal with it jangling with her every movement for now.

If she were to stop the dark Prince from unspeakable acts then she'd have to think like him, scheme as he would, and ultimately make the call on who needed her saving more... the Prince or the King?