Rowan's POV:

My father and I stand at the gate, both of us armed and I am fully prepared to murder the man who ruined Ciaran's life.

"You are not going to be killing him," father scolds, seeing the look on my face. "He could be a source of information and help us get rid of our enemies."

I keep my mouth shut, because nothing I say will be helpful. A big part of me would prefer to go back to Ciaran, to make sure he is alright and has everything he needs, especially with the injuries he endured.

Patrick and Jameson ride through the gates with a man tied at the arms and forced to walk between them. I am pleased to see he is bleeding a bit, though it is not as bad as I wish.

This idiot man has the audacity to smile when he sees me.

"Guards, go to the village and escort everyone in here. Make sure everyone is unarmed and is actually a villager and not one of our enemies in disguise. Understood?" my father asks, and a group of twelve guards with lanterns ride toward the village.

I glare at the horrid man, and my father places his hand on my shoulder to help me relax.

"Jameson, Patrick, go with Rowan to bring this man to the dungeons. We will have the night guards keep watch of him," father says, and I know he put this on me because he trusts me to do it right and knows I won't kill this man unless he attacks me first.

We bring him to the dungeons and I leave the ropes on him as I shove him into the cell, because I don't believe he needs to have full mobility if he is in a cell.

"I should have know you are prince," the man says as I turn to leave the cell. "Prince of Vayl is not as strong, but I should have know."

That grabs my attention.

The prince is alive?!

I turn and face the evil man, trying to stay relaxed and keep my angry expression, even though I am more intrigued than upset when he says that.

"Where is the prince?!" I snap at him, and he seems to find what I say hilarious. "Do not laugh at me! Where is he?"

He laughs again, his facial expression angering me. "He is in castle, I assume. You meet him already."

"What does that mean?" I ask, my blood running cold when he says that. "He has infiltrated the castle?!"

"No," he says, shaking his head. "You invite him."

Gods, why am I talking to this insane man? What does he mean, telling me that I've invited the evil prince into my palace?! How could I invite someone that I didn't even know exists?

"Where is he?" I demand, the curiosity and fear of not knowing creating a fit of rage inside of me. "Where is he?!"

The man laughs. "He is your bed warmer, now. In the past he belong to me, but you steal him away."

"Ciaran?" I ask, more to myself than to this man, but he nods anyway.

"He was prince, in his past. Pathetic boy."

I can't stand it; I leave the cell, slamming and locking the door behind me. I give the key to Patrick before I head to the doctor where Ciaran should be.

He has answers to my questions, I am sure of it.

When I enter the doctor's treatment space, I see him finish wrapping up the deeper cut on Ciaran's forearm, and once he does I order the doctor to leave.

"Is something wrong?" Ciaran asks me, and he has genuine confusion on his face. "Rowan?"

I sit down on the chair and take a deep breath before I face him with my questions. "The prisoner, your old master, as you call him... he said something about you that had piqued my interest," I say, trying to stay calm.

Ciaran looks as confused as I feel. "What did he say?" he asks me, and there is no fear; only puzzlement.

"He said you were a prince."

"Oh..."

I raise an eyebrow; if he wasn't a prince, he would have denied it. Gods, how is this possible?!

"Is it true?" I ask, my heart pounding. "Ciaran, have you lied about why you are here? Is this some way to try to destroy Arlian from the inside?!"

It would be horrifying to find out that the truth of Ciaran's being here was to infiltrate my kingdom. Even worse than that, I fear his care for me was all fake. It would be an evil plan, to fake being a slave so that he could be "saved" by me and then lead his people in here.

This could mean there's already Vayl guards already within our walls!

"No, no!" Ciaran exclaims, grabbing my arm, but I slap his hand away. "Rowan, listen to me!"

I glare at him. "Are your guards inside these walls?! Tell me!"

"They aren't my guards! I am not a prince there!" he exclaims, and I can see tears pricking at the edges of his eyes. "Please, listen!"

I don't want to, because if he is lying, I don't know if I will be capable of killing him or having him killed. It would be easier to throw him in a cell, to just get him away from me.

"Rowan!" he begs, starting to cry. "I am not with them! Please, listen!"

"Why wouldn't you tell me?!"

"It wasn't important!"

I want to hit something, so I settle on the wall and slam my fist into it, feeling it ache as the wooden wall comes away with no injuries.

"How can you say that?" I yell, and I almost feel bad when I watch Ciaran flinch, but my anger overpowers it. "Your parents started a war on my people! They killed my father! And you are saying it isn't of any importance?!"

Ciaran stops crying and seems extremely confused. "Wait, my parents?!" he asks, and now he is radiating anger. "Vladimir and Daliah are not my parents! They took over my kingdom when I was fifteen and made me into a slave and killed my parents! I may have been a prince in the past, but I am not anymore!"

I am so lost, and I am still livid. "How old are you?" I ask Ciaran, to confirm the fear I have.

"Twenty two."

Oh, gods.

"Seven years ago..." I trail off, looking at Ciaran as he glowers. "They stole your kingdom from you and killed the king and queen... right under everyone's noses."

Ciaran nods, and he is very bitter. "Yes. They killed my parents and made me a slave, and then forced my people to learn a different language. Anyone who tried to run to get to a new home was murdered on the spot. We had no chance or way to ask for help."

"I..." I don't even know what to say to him, because I shouldn't have snapped at him without knowing anything about him... gods, he could have hurt me any chance he wanted to, but he never did.

Ciaran gets up from the table, wiping his eyes. "You think that if I was faking and trying to infiltrate your palace that I would be this injured? That I would tell you that the man who made me a sex slave was outside your kingdom?!" He gets up and pushes past me, but he doesn't give me chance to speak. "Do not talk to me, Rowan. You didn't listen to me, why should I listen to you?"

I don't try to stop him.

•••

Ciaran's POV:

I have not felt anger in a long time; the only feeling I have is mainly a sense of depression and fear. However, now, I am livid. Every part of me wishes to run and never return.

However, the reasonable part of me knows I cannot force myself to, because I know that my enemies, the people that Rowan thinks I am somehow working with, could be outside these kingdom walls, and I'm so afraid that someone is waiting to take me.

I want to be comforted, I want Rowan to comfort me, but I am livid with him.

There are double the guards in the palace, and as I'm walking down a corridor, I find Patrick and Jameson both talking in hushed voices, so I walk up to join them.

"Hello, Ciaran," one of the twins says, and when he stretches his arms above his head, I can see it is Patrick because of the tattoo. "Are you alright?"

I nod. "A couple of injuries but I'll be fine," I say, ignoring the pains all over my body. "May I ask a favor?"

Jameson smiles at me. "Yes, of course."

"Uh... I do not know where you two live, but may I stay with you tonight? If you have a spare room?"

Patrick seems confused. "No offense, Ciaran, but we really would prefer not to get murdered by Rowan," he says, looking around. "Shouldn't you be with him?"

"I'm upset with him," I say in a plain, bitter voice. "I need space."

"He will kill us, Ciaran. The prince is very overprotective of you."

Irritated, I turn away and stomp toward the spare room that I used, because I am so angry and upset.

"Where are you going?" one of the twins calls.

I ignore his questions.

Gods, how can I go from adoring Rowan and wanting to give every part of me to him to being so angry and upset with him?

He probably feels the same about me, now. The fool thinks I am a traitor who wants to infiltrate his palace... has he not realized that I put my own safety in Vayl to the side to protect him? To save him? Even though I had no guarantee he'd take me with him?

I want to cry, hit something, or just die.

Once I'm in the spare room, I lock the door after laying a sheet of writing parchment on the ground outside the door, a sign telling anyone who passes that I am in here and leaving a note for Rowan not to come in.

I lay on the bed, and for the second time, I am crying into the pillow in this room. Why can't I just be perfect?! I am a mess and I hate my life! Gods, why couldn't I just have been stronger and have found a way to fight back against Daliah and Vladimir and taken back my kingdom?

Failure, that is what I have always been.

I wish I could disappear.