The Shadow Prince’s Ruin (Dark Companions #2)

Chapter 12

Sylvan

I smell wood, stale fabric, and something sharp and biting… spirit? My limbs are heavy as bags full of gravel, and my head lolls from side to side in a world that seems filled with slime instead of air. The uncomfortable sensation on my tongue feels like the obvious consequence of whatever potion I’ve been given, but as I try to move it and swallow, it becomes clear there’s cloth in my mouth, and that it’s tied to my head.

Panic sets in as my eyes open to near-complete darkness, but when I try to move my hands to find out where I am by touch, I discover that my whole body is bound.

I’m trapped.

My wrists are fastened behind my back, my ankles are tied together, and I’m attached to the insides of this soft coffin by a belt strapped around my waist.

This can’t be happening. Could they know who I really am and seized me for the bounty on my head? If Lord Kyran installed spies around me at Best Burgers Bonanza, then I am already a known fugitive.

I attempt to make a sound, but the gag rests so deep in my mouth my whine comes out muffled. I would have tried knocking on the walls, but every surface around me, including the lid I just pressed my forehead to, is cushioned.

I’m frantic with worry, but will not let myself be overcome with it. I am a Goldweed and my life cannot be snuffed out like a candle.

Think. Think. Think.

It’s then that something crashes outside my prison, making me flinch with fear, but the sound of the familiar gravelly voice soothes the cramps inside my abdomen.

“I ask again, where the hell is Sylvan?”

I want to embrace Hawk’s words, let them wrap around me and know that everything will be all right from now on. I utter a whine, but as he keeps questioning his family, it becomes clear that the same thing that keeps their voices dull is muting mine.

“I told you, honey,” his mother says. “I couldn’t keep him here by force. He left as soon as he realized he had the chance. You’re delusional to think a boy like that would stay. He was probably too afraid to tell you, since he knows who you are.”

My heart sinks. They’re trying to get rid of me. Like I’m the problem. Like I could somehow hurt Hawk’s future prospects. Helpless anger fills me with fresh determination and I move my bound legs around to feel for anything that could help me escape. Elves have superior vision in the darkness, but even I can’t see anything in this coffin.

“He wanted to go with me,” Hawk insists.

“Oh, I’m sure he did want something, just like that last pretty face, who you chose to drop your whole future for,” Hawk’s father interjects.

There’s a moment of silence, and then Hawk speaks. “Why would you fucking say that? You forgot about me for five years, so you don’t get to judge me now!”

“Oh I will speak my mind, because you’re literally here to ask for my help.”

Hawk’s mother clears her throat. “At any rate, you need to go. Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be? You’ll have an easier time without him. Find yourself a nice boy with a clean slate. Someone who won’t know you’re wanted.”

I hear stomping nearby, so I shuffle around, but I’m barely making any sound, and humans’ hearing isn’t even as good as mine.

“For the right guy, I’m sure you’re a catch, son,” Hawk’s father says as if to soften the blow of his harsh words. “But you have to face the facts. Sylvan left. And Kevin testified against you. You need to make better choices, and that should start tonight. Focus on yourself and get across the border.”

It pains me to hear that they hound him like that. I don’t really know that much about Hawk, but the darkness of his shadow tells me he’s not had an easy life. He doesn’t deserve to be lied to about me when I most definitely want to go with him, and make him mine.

My foot hits something hard and my heart skips a beat. I tap it several times, but the noise isn’t loud enough because of the rubber soles of my shoes. Where are steel buckles when one needs them?

“Sylvan would not leave. So this is your chance to tell me the truth. What have you done with him?” Hawk growls, and I squirm at a series of noises that follow.

“Please, stop wrecking our home!” his mother shouts, with an edge of rage to her voice, but he doesn’t seem to listen, and the next thud sounds as if he were trying to break through.”

“I know he’s still in the house! I know you two !”

I stall, taking it in. He believes in me so much? Over his own blood? How foolish of him, yet how sweet.

I roll the mysterious item with my feet, from one corner of my trap to the other, and I’m pretty sure I hear some splashing, as if it’s a jar with liquid inside. For a moment, I consider whether I can smash the glass somehow, use it to cut the binds on my wrists, but then it hits another jar and my heart soars. High-pitched noises are easier to notice, so I put my hope in the clinking glass and grab the jar between my feet to repeatedly slam it against the other one.

The shooting pain of a cramp is replaced by an icy sensation, then a burn as the liquid spills over me. The tiny space I occupy fills with the absolute stench of potent alcohol. It’s so intense I could get drunk on the fumes alone, and having to inhale through my nose isn’t helping. I rattle the broken glass with my legs anyway, because I’m not giving up.

Not on myself, and not on Hawk!

The voices outside my prison go quiet, and then, the box containing me rattles, as if a huge bassal has captured it with its jaws in an attempt to reach my flesh.

“Wet… how do I fucking open it?” Hawk roars to an echoing silence.

“Just calm down!” his father yells, so I rattle the glass with even more fervor despite pain shooting up my leg.

I don’t like to admit to weakness, but I am frightened. If Hawk had left me, would they have disposed of me? At this point, I’m not sure what might be worse—being murdered or turned in to Lord Kyran as a proven fugitive. But I don’t get to entertain this empty worry for much longer, because something clicks, and then light hurts my eyes as the lid above me opens. Hawk is only a dark silhouette at first, but I recognize the width of his shoulders and take a deep breath of fresh air, released from the pungent trap.

I look up at him, unable to extend my arms, but he’s leaning down to unbuckle the belt tying me to the interior. Relief floods me from the tip of my head to my toes when our eyes meet. I’ve never felt this way before. Someone has my back just because they want to, not because I will be useful to their cause.

We’ve just met, and yet he believed my intentions over his family.

Despite what he’s been through with this Kevin , his heart is so open. It makes my own crack and let in his light.

His mother’s whisper is barely audible to me, but I still hear it as Hawk removes the wet gag from my lips. “He should have been knocked out until morning…”

Maybe I would have been. If I were human .

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Hawk snaps as his big, warm hands cradle my head and wipe away my sticky drool. He’s tense as a storm cloud ready to burst, but while he’s addressing his parents, his gaze remains focused on me when he pulls me up and against his chest. It is only then that I realize they’d locked me inside their sofa.

What kind of people have a trap like this in their living room?

“It was for your own good!” Hawk’s father yells, but doesn’t dare approach. “This boy will be your downfall! He will talk to the cops!”

“My hands are tied,” I whisper, curling against Hawk. I try to ignore the ache in my leg, where glass cut into it, but I’m still dripping blood.

He frees my hands, and when he starts rubbing the red marks around my wrists, where the string dug in a bit too tightly, I’m overwhelmed by this display of care. I’ve once again faced my own fragility tonight, but Hawk’s not only here to have my back but also won’t be swayed from believing in me.

I couldn’t have hoped for anyone worthier to have as my Dark Companion.

“Are you okay? How many fingers do you see?” he asks, showing me three.

“Three,” I whisper and as soon as my arms are free, I wrap them around his neck. I want to bask in the safety of his hold. I love feeling so small next to him. It’s as if he can hide me from the world and I won’t even feel shame over needing his protection.

“I’m talking to you, Hawk!” His father steps closer, looming over us like a malicious giant ready to take my savior away. But my promised pushes his arm under my knees and lifts me as if I were a cat, not a grown man.

“First aid kit. Now,” he demands, placing me on a large table.

His father raises his hands. “It’s barely a scratch. I wash my hands of this!”

But Hawk’s mother brings what he asked for without meeting his eyes. I bite my lip when I look at the gash above my ankle where glass slashed through my jeans. She stands aside and doesn’t say a word when Hawk cleans my wound. Even though it hurts so much and I’m bleeding, the wound is shallow enough to not need stitches.

I fight not to flinch when Hawk presses a bit of gauze to the cut, and wraps my leg with fresh dressing. I bite the inside of my mouth, but two fat, shameful tears still slide down my cheeks. Why am I a wimp who cannot control this physical reaction? My brother would have laughed in my face. No wonder even my own mother didn’t think I’d amount to anything.

I take a deep, shaky breath, avoiding Hawk’s gaze, but instead of rolling his eyes at me as anyone else would, he cups my cheeks and kisses the tears off my skin.

“It’s okay, the cut is shallow, and nothing will happen to you on my watch.”

I nod at him, unable to gather any sensible words to such a display of affection. I’m not used to it. I’m not used to relying on anyone else or them actually caring. I’m not even sure I deserve it until I prove myself worthy.

But this human I only met yesterday, a human who allegedly killed people in the past, is there for me, even at the cost of familial bonds.

“Look, we wanted to make this easy on you,” Hawk’s mother says, but he doesn’t acknowledge her in any way and carries me toward the open door. A moth flies in, as we exit, drawn to the very light we leave behind. I shut my eyes when I spot Wolf watching us from the balustrade he’s sitting on with the shotgun resting in his lap.

“Respond to your mother,” Hawk’s father demands, but his words are also left unanswered as my promised carries me away from the duplicitous people who tried to force us apart.

Too choked up to speak, I squeeze Hawk’s shoulder when he fastens my seat belt in the new car he swapped out for the stolen one.

He smiles and gives me a tender kiss on the lips.

“Where are you going?” his mother walks closer to the car and doesn’t even spare me a glance.

Hawk’s fingers twitch on my shoulder, and he snaps back, “To the fucking Nightmare Realm. The cops definitely won’t find me there. And you won’t either, so don’t even try,” he says and slams my door before walking around the car to slide into the driver’s seat.

Wolf shows him the middle finger from the porch, which I’ve learned is a very rude gesture in the human world. Hawk doesn’t waste a second to respond in kind. He starts the car with a rumble of the engine, and I can just about see the sky turning a bit orange above the trees.

“I’m so sorry, Hawk,” I whisper when he drives off fast enough for the dirt to rise behind us.

“No. I’m sorry. I swear I didn’t think they would do something like that,” Hawk says through clenched teeth as we dive between the trees.

I look down to the bandage around my leg, struck that I’d gladly be hurt again if it meant getting to feel Hawk’s caring arms around me and receiving tender kisses while he assures me I will be ‘okay’.

I slide my hand to his on the wheel. “But you were there for me. You believed I wouldn’t leave you.”

He glances my way for only a moment, switching on the headlights to illuminate an overgrown track with branchlets smacking the vehicle from both sides as we pass through. The golden glow only reveals what’s close, but I’m not scared of the shadows and brush my thumb across his palm.

Hawk clears his throat. “Of course not. You need me to get you to Boston.”

“No. I need you . For reasons both selfish and tender.” My heart beats a little faster at that confession. From the moment I met him, I’ve been thrown into deep and treacherous waters, but I’m learning to keep my head above the surface, and I haven’t drowned yet, so that has to count for something. And maybe… I’m actually enjoying this swim.

His mouth quirks, and he takes one hand off the steering wheel to place it on my shoulder. “You’re surprisingly forgiving. Most people in your situation would have asked me to leave them in the nearest town,” he says, but the sentence feels unfinished, almost as if he wants to ask, Do you want that?

“You might think a prince like me must be refined and sheltered, but I’m no stranger to violence. Do I tremble too much when I shouldn’t? Yes, but I know I need to be tough if I am to survive back at the Nocturne Court. You are my promised and I will see to it that you become my Dark Companion. I’m willing to forgive a lot, though I would appreciate you not taking advantage of that.”

“Only in the ways you’ll enjoy,” Hawk tells me with the flash of a smile. “Don’t worry, babe, I’ve got you.”

My insides flutter with glee, despite the pain in my leg and the stench of alcohol. I’m glad I’m not the driver, because I would have crashed the vehicle into a tree, too absorbed with the spark in his green eyes.

“Hawk? Would it be too much to ask for you to share more with me about this ‘Kevin’? Why were your parents so wary of me?”

The temperature in the vehicle drops, as if I’ve climbed into the massive freezer at the back of Best Burger Bonanza and laid down on a bed of beef patties. But if we are to be life partners and succeed at returning to the Nocturne Court, we need to trust one another, so I stay firm and keep looking at him.

He tries to wait me out, but when that doesn’t happen, air leaves his lungs in a loud puff. “I… didn’t really want to talk about it. You’ll think I’m a naive cock-whipped idiot.”

I don’t always understand all the wording humans use, but I get the gist of what he means. “Oh? I will not judge you.” When he gives me a skeptical glance, I decide I need to give as much as I intend to take. “When I was not even twenty, I was assigned a guard who made my heart race a little too much. I would often find excuses for outings just to spend more time with him. I thought I was finally doing something of my own, unbound by my family’s wishes. Maybe even going against them. I allowed him to lead the way to a tavern known for its disrepute, because I thought something might happen between us.

“When he led me to a private room, promising sweet little nothings, my mother was waiting for us. I was being tested and failed. She planned the whole thing just to show me I cannot trust men based on my heart’s fancy. I know what it’s like to be proven naive.” It’s been years, yet my cheeks burn when I recall this story.

“What the fuck?” Hawk growls, squeezing my shoulder. “Can’t believe I’m saying that after what just happened, but your family might be even more messed up than mine!”

I sigh. “That might be a fair assessment,” I say and focus my eyes on his face. I have humiliated myself in front of him. It is now his turn.

“Fine,” he mutters and stares ahead as we pass through the woodland, in the dark silence of the upcoming dawn. “So my parents were wary of you, because they know what kind of guy I like, and I’ve done some real stupid shit for boys much less pretty than you. Like Kevin,” he says and hits the brakes as we face a barrier of wood and steel, mostly overgrown by vines.

Hawk opens the door and leaves the vehicle without a word. I watch him open the obscured gate, then drive the car past it, and then close it again while I wait, stewing in never-ending anticipation. I hate Kevin already.

The sky’s pink now, and we both look at it as my promised joins me in the car. I worry I might have to force him to go back to the previous topic, but as we start rolling along a gravel-covered road, he speaks.

“You know I’m on the run, right? Well, I ended up in prison because Kevin kept telling me his father and uncle were treating him horribly and he had the bruises to prove it. Every time he’d come to me crying I felt this savage, unstoppable rage. I offered we could move in together, but nothing was ever good enough. He feared them and said he’d never feel safe until they were gone. So I… made them go away.”

I nod, despite having to fight my jealousy. “And you don’t wish to… reunite with him?” I make myself calm on the outside, but still start biting my nails.

Hawk laughs. “With the guy who called me a monster during the trial? He claimed I planned everything and that he had nothing to do with the deaths, as if he hadn’t pleaded for me to take care of things,” he says in a voice soaked with bitterness. “He just used me.”

I stroke his thigh, wishing I could climb into his lap and hug him. “I can see why someone could want a man as powerful as you on their side. It is his loss that he renounced you.”

“No shit,” Hawk mumbles with a scowl. “It’s embarrassing how I was ready to save him when he just collected evidence to give the police as soon as I was done. But I was serious. I just wanted to help him. To take care of him. I always…” I squeeze his thigh when he gives me an unsure look. “I might not look it, but I like cute things. I have a soft spot for pretty boys, and I always wanted to be a hero for the guy I was with. My family accepted it, begrudgingly, but they didn’t get it. I no longer fit in. I was a problem. A hindrance, always wanting things they didn’t see as important. My brothers were fine sharing the same space, I wanted a place of my own, just something of my own. So I built myself a little cabin when I was around thirteen, and then got this cute little kitten to keep me company. He wasn’t the family pet. He was mine and mine only. But then, a hawk stole him, and that was that,” he finishes in a grim voice. “Believe me, the irony is not lost on me.”

I see him in a new light, and the more I know, the more I realize how much about him is still hidden from me. I have so much to still learn about Hawk.

I realize I even stopped biting my nails, and instead I trace my fingers over his muscular thigh. “I can be yours, and yours only. If you killed for me, I would have helped you hide the bodies.”

He stares at me and chuckles. But before I can get upset over him not treating me seriously, he offers me his pinkie. “Promise?”

I’ve seen this kind of thing on the television so I hook my finger with his. He’s being playful, but I mean my words with all my heart. “Promise. And I will promise you so much more on the day we make our vows under the full moon. You will bind your shadow to mine, and as I agreed, my body will forever be yours. But I already know I will offer you so much more. Not every Dark Companion becomes their partner’s lover, but I would like us to be that. It is not an attachment of convenience for me.”

Hawk exhales, and his fingers weave through mine. “I really want to believe you, princeling. Some would say I should have learned my lesson. Apparently not. My family would have laughed so hard, but I like that you’re so passionate about this.”

I smile at him. “I’ve never been as impulsive as I am around you, but I like it. You unleash me from the shackles in my own mind. And it doesn’t hurt that I can’t stop thinking about the night when you finally come inside me,” I whisper the last words, afraid that he might not like the way I worded it, but his hand squeezes mine more firmly.

“Oh, you’re such a tease! But that’s okay. We need lube anyway, and we don’t have any,” Hawk mutters, chuckling to himself as we reach a crossing and turn right, headed toward the rising sun. “So now a quick dip to Boston, and then we’re out of here. For good.”

I clear my throat. “I was thinking actually… I have seen reports on television about this object called the Sunwolf Crown. Though it’s probably in the human realm under a different name—that’s irrelevant. But if it’s the real thing, and I don’t see why it wouldn’t be, finding it could mean the end of my banishment. It used to belong to the son of the first Lord of the Nocturne Court. I do not wish to bore you with the details of its use, but if I brought it to Lord Kyran, he’d have to be grateful enough to restore me to my former position at court. It was stolen just two weeks ago from a place called New York City. Do you know of it? Could we go search—”

“No,” Hawk tells me with finality to his voice, even though his gaze is almost apologetic. “I am already taking a huge risk by driving you to that blacksmith. If he’s the only person who can take off that thing around your neck, then so be it, but I can’t go back to prison and spend the rest of my days in a cage.”

I’m disappointed, but I nod. He knows his world better, so if he says it’s too risky, I have to trust him. I raise his massive hand to my lips and kiss it. “You will not. I will not allow it. You will become my Dark Companion, we will go to the Nocturne Court together, and see what we can gain thanks to the power of your shadow. Lord Kyran will not be able to dismiss such an asset.”

Hawk swallows, watching me for the longest time. But then his hand squeezes mine, and the car speeds up, carrying us toward destiny.