29. A Complicated Truth

Chapter 29

A Complicated Truth

We separated a short time later, and everyone stumbled to their bedrooms.

Well, I almost made it to my bedroom, but a hand grabbed mine at the last second and Nylian "dragged" me into his bedroom. We shared a quiet, simple meal together, and we brainstormed a few ideas about how best to handle tomorrow's inevitable shit storm. While we'd sneaked into the city, it was only a matter of time before word leaked to the rest of his siblings and the consorts in the palace. Right now, I was hoping we could get in a few hours of sleep prior to the guards and assassins showing up on his doorstep.

But sleep was scarce. My chances of sleep weren't made any better when I opened my eyes to find I was in the bed alone. My heart jolted as I leaped out of bed and pulled on clothes as quickly as I could manage. If that stubborn idiot had dared to go to the palace without me, I was going to wring his neck.

A light breeze ruffled a set of floor-length curtains, halting my mental march to the castle. I peeked outside to find the elf strolling through a small garden, lost in thought. I wasn't the only one struggling with sleep.

Still barefoot, I slipped outside and came up behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist. "You scared me to death," I murmured against his shoulder blade.

"Sorry. I didn't want to wake you with my restlessness," he replied, turning in my arms to hug me.

"Whose house is this?" I inquired. There was nothing to be gained by talking about the worries that were clogging both of our minds. It was better to talk about something completely different, to shed some of the stress for a while.

Nylian grinned so very wide at me. "Mine."

"Really?"

" Mn . My private residence." He stepped out of my embrace and threaded our fingers together, leading me in a slow walk through the flower garden. "I live mostly in the palace with the rest of the royal family, but this is my secret place.…Though I'm sure my father and most people of the court know about it."

"A place for secret assignations?" I whispered in a playful tone.

"Used to be. Mostly, it was a place I used when I wanted to get away from my life and the royal court. Orian has one in another part of town. So does Lorsan. Saida spends most of her time with her healing master. I don't think she lives in the palace much anymore."

"When life returns to normal, are you going to move me into this house? Lock me away as your kept man?" I said, trying to keep up the playful teasing.

"Absolutely not." Nylian stopped and moved to stand in front of me. With his free hand, he brushed some hair away from my eyes. "You are not some shameful secret to be hidden. You will not be another consort. I plan to marry only once, and it will be to you. There will be no harem of consorts. Just you."

He completely stole all my words away. My brain locked up and I could only blink at him. "But…but…what if your father picks you to be his heir? You'll be expected to have a harem and sire children to carry on your family line."

"I plan to renounce all claim to the throne. My hope is that Orian is healed and he will be named heir. I'm happy to support him, but regardless of who my father chooses, I won't ever sit on that throne." He paused and cocked his head to the side. "I hope you're not too disappointed that I won't ever be king."

An angry noise exploded from my lips, and I shoved him away from me. "Fuck off. You know I don't care about that. You're the one who pointed out that if I wanted that life, I could so easily return to Gushan and continue Prince Victor's old life, and yet here I am with you, about to go into battle with God only knows how many power-hungry people."

I attempted to march to the bedroom, but Nylian caught me and wrapped me tightly in his arms, his head resting against mine. "Nope. You're staying with me. After Orian is saved and life returns to normal, we'll leave West Vale."

"You want to leave?" I pulled free so I could look into his eyes. "You don't want to stay in your home?"

He shook his head, his smile so bright it almost blinded me. "No, I want to travel with you. Being on the road with you, seeing places like Riverhold, and even Misty Pass felt new and exciting because you made each place interesting. I want to show you so much more of Wolfrest. Or we can explore Edros. Or travel south to Kodra. I've never seen the deserts. The world is too big to spend it sitting on a throne. Before, travel sounded intriguing. Now that I have you at my side, I want to see it all with you."

I wanted to match his grin with one of my own, but I couldn't quite manage it. My heart longed to do all these things with him. Yet, I couldn't bring myself to lie to him or myself another second longer. I wouldn't give him promises I wasn't sure that I could keep.

"What? You…you don't want to travel?" Nylian asked, his grin wilting under the weight of fresh worries. "We can stay in West Vale, if that's what you want. Or?—"

"No! I want to travel with you," I quickly countered. "Everything you listed earlier, I want that. So much." My voice broke on those two words, and I swallowed to keep back even more emotions trying to break free.

"What? Whatever it is, we can figure it out."

It wouldn't be that easy.

I glanced around the garden, but there wasn't a bench or a ledge nearby to sit on. Just a stretch of soft green grass. That would have to do. I led Nylian over and plopped down. "This is going to be another one of those ‘I'm not sure you're going to believe me' moments," I said, gazing up at him.

My wonderful Nylian beamed at me and stretched out on the grass. "You know I love your crazy stories. I believed the one where you told me that you were from another world."

Yeah, let's see how much he believes this insanity.

"Okay, so I told you I found this magic coin, and it zapped me from my world to this one," I started and Nylian nodded, looking at me like I was telling him a goddamn fairy tale. "But this isn't some random world. I…created…this world."

"Huh?"

I sucked in a deep breath and dove in. "I'm a writer. An author. I write fantasy novels about elves and dragons and fantastical worlds with magic and all these adventures. Right before I found the coin, I was working on this book called Betrayal of the Elf Prince , and I was having lots of problems figuring out the plot. I'd only written as far as you getting kicked out of Wolfrest and going to Gushan to investigate Prince Victor. Where I left off in my notes, you would leave Gushan and go to Riverhold to look into the royals of Galinaes." I glared hard at him. "You and your harem ."

"My harem?"

"Yes, Betrayal of the Elf Prince was an epic fantasy adventure, plus you were supposed to have this ultra sexy harem of women who loved you, fought at your side, and took care of you during your travels."

Nylian flopped onto the grass next to me and laughed until there were tears coming out of the corners of his eyes. "That…that…" he gasped, trying to speak between chuckles. "That explains why you kept trying to fix me up with so many women along the way."

"Yes!" I hissed, shaking my fists at the black sky above us.

When his laughter died away, Nylian rolled onto his side to face me and propped himself up on one elbow. "Are you disappointed that I don't have a harem? That all my attention is devoted to you alone?"

"No," I replied petulantly. "I dare you to create a harem now. There's no fucking sharing."

Snickering softly, Nylian leaned closed and pressed a kiss to my forehead. "No sharing."

"Does this mean you believe me?"

To his credit, he only shrugged a shoulder. "It's an interesting story. It would explain why there are some things you seem to know when you shouldn't. Does this mean you know who put the poison on my sword?"

"No." I pouted even harder. "I had all these complicated notes and theories. It was down to three people: Prince Victor Montcroix, Queen Sumina of Galinaes, or one of your siblings, but I never figured out which of your siblings. I was having trouble deciding whether Victor actually plotted it or if he was just an asshole. That's why I was meeting my friends for lunch. Georgie is a brilliant writer, and she was going to help me brainstorm."

"But you found the coin first," Nylian filled in.

"Yes."

"Okay, but I don't understand your earlier distress."

I pushed up, so I was sitting, glaring at the grass in front of me because I couldn't bear to meet his eyes. "Because the book is almost over. Once you save your brother and unmask the killer, there's really nothing left to the story. What if that's why I was brought here? To finish the story. If I finish it, doesn't that mean…I'll get sent home?"

A whisper of cloth was my only warning before powerful arms closed around me, but that made the lump in my throat grow bigger. How was I supposed to live without these arms holding me?

"We'll have the royal wizards look at that coin. They will find a way to keep you here. Nothing could make me let go of you. I will always fight to keep you with me."

I believed him. Nylian would always fight for me.

But first, we had to save his brother and his kingdom. The coin would have to wait, and there was always a danger that it would be too late.

"Maybe we'll skip the wizards and take the coin to a blacksmith. Have him melt the fucker down to nothing."

Nylian nuzzled the side of my face, pressing a kiss to the corner of my mouth. "Or take it to a jeweler. Have it melted and made into wedding rings," he murmured in my ear.

My heart skipped with joy at the idea, but I was already shaking my head. "No way. I don't want that magic anywhere near you or me. I'll go mine the gold myself for our rings. Or maybe carve them both from wood. But we're getting rid of that coin."

"Agreed," Nylian said with a laugh. "We'll destroy the coin, and you'll marry me. This is a wonderful plan."

It was.

I just had to find a way to make it happen before it was too late.