Tempted by a Rogue Prince

by Felicity Heaton

  He reached behind him to push Rosalind back and a chill bolted through him.

  She wasn’t there.

  He turned took look over his shoulder at the place where she should have been and then swung his gaze back to Bruan and froze right down to his heart and marrow as she appeared between them, swinging her hands forwards to unleash the two black orbs she held.

  “Rosalind!” Vail sent his blades away and reached for her but everything seemed to slow, his movements sluggish and his muscles stiff, refusing to respond as his heart burst into action, sprinting at a million miles per hour against his ribs and hurting with each beat.

  Rosalind’s spells flew and struck true, slamming straight into Bruan’s broad bare chest and turning his skin black and strewn with bright orange cracks that glowed like fire.

  Vail stretched and managed to grasp the back of her dress. He focused and light traced over his body as he pulled her back into his arms. She gasped and darkness swallowed them.

  Together with pain.

  Pain so fierce that it burned him to ashes inside, blazing like an inferno in the left side of his ribs but also in his right, duller there.

  He reappeared on the other side of the glade and stared down at Rosalind.

  She lay slumped in his arms, her blonde hair red with the blood that pumped from the deep wound in the left side of her chest. Crimson flowed over her skin, stark against its pale beauty.

  Tears stung his eyes, burning as fiercely as his heart.

  Darkness descended.

  He laid Rosalind down and snarled as he turned on King Bruan. He didn’t give the demon a chance to defend himself. He teleported above the demon, dropped onto his back with his legs around his waist, and twisted hard, sending the large male slamming into the ground. He bared his fangs and growled as he raked his black claws down the bases of the demon’s wings, severing tendon and slicing through bones.

  Bruan roared and bucked. Vail dug the claws of his left hand into the demon’s wing and anchored himself. He grabbed the other wing with his right hand, pressed his feet into Bruan’s back and pulled with all of his might until the wing snapped free. Bruan’s pained cry was music to Vail’s ears. He bared his fangs on a hiss and ripped the male’s other wing away. Blood cascaded from the ragged wounds on the demon’s back, staining all of him red.

  Vail needed more.

  Rosalind’s heart laboured in his ears.

  Her pain and fear flowed through him.

  This demon would experience the same pain and the same fear.

  He would die for what he had done to Vail’s mate.

  Vail growled and grasped the demon’s horns. The male bucked again, almost throwing him this time. He pressed his knees into the demon’s broken shoulders, pinning him down with his weight and pulled hard on the horns, yanking the male’s head back. They refused to give.

  He pressed one clawed hand against the back of Bruan’s head and snarled as heat scalded him. The black caused by Rosalind’s spells was spreading, creating fiery cracks in the male’s skin. Incinerating him. The darkness within him purred in approval of her magic and commanded him to finish the male, to bathe in his blood and bask in his victory.

  Vail grasped Bruan’s head and bashed it against the ground, tugging on his right horn on the up and shoving it forwards on the down. Bruan struggled beneath him, writhing and trying to claw at him. His actions turned sluggish as Vail kept up his assault. The horn finally cracked and Vail grinned, satisfaction humming in his veins, and snapped it free. Bruan roared in agony.

  Vail silenced him with his claws, running them deep across his throat, severing tendons and cutting through his vocal cords.

  Blood drenched his hand and he still needed more. He needed to make the demon pay for what he had done to Rosalind. He would make the demon pay.

  He grabbed Bruan’s head and the male didn’t resist.

  Vail looked down at him, cocked his head to one side, and frowned.

  He growled and shoved to his feet, and scoured the glade for more demons. There would be more. He would kill them too.

  There were no demons for him to fight.

  He stood in the middle of the glade, darkness running through his veins, demanding satisfaction. There were more demons in the forest. He would hunt them and toy with them before killing them. They would all pay for trying to control him.

  They would all pay for harming his Little Wild Rose.

  Little Wild Rose.

  He stilled, the darkness in him fading as he recalled why it had taken him, and turned slowly on the spot to face her.

  Tears burned the back of his eyes and his strength left him, sending him to his knees.

  She lay across the glade, the grass around her stained red with her blood, her skin ashen like starlight.

  “Rosalind,” he whispered and dragged himself to her, fighting back the tears as he reached out to her through their bond.

  Her pain tore at him, cutting him to pieces inside.

  Her heart stuttered.

  “No,” he murmured and shook his head, sending tears spilling down his cheeks. He pulled her into his arms and rocked her as she stared up at him with dull blue eyes.

  Her fingers flexed and he took hold of her hand, clutched it to his lips and breathed in her comforting scent of wild blooms.

  Her heart stuttered again.

  She smiled weakly.

  “No,” he snarled as he sensed the link between them fading and pulled her closer, squeezing her to his chest. “Do not leave me, Little Wild Rose.”

  He drew back again and looked her over. She was immortal now, but the blade had pierced her heart. Even an immortal couldn’t survive such a wound. She had magic though.

  “You cannot leave me. I will not let you. You promised me forever.” He kissed her hand again and then released it and pressed his palm to her chest, trying to remember how to slow bleeding so he could give her a chance to live. “You have magic. You can heal yourself.”

  She shook her head and tears streamed down her temples.

  Her fear flowed over him and he took her hand again, sensing her need for him to comfort her.

  “Do not leave me,” he whispered and pressed his forehead against hers. “I cannot live without you. You promised me forever.”

  She slowly tipped her head back, brought her mouth to his and softly kissed him.

  He kissed her, pouring every ounce of his love for her into it, and then broke away from her. “I will not let you die. I will save you.”

  She smiled again, love shining in her dull eyes but no trace of hope. He wiped her tears away and then dealt with his own, scrubbing his bloodied hands across his face.

  “It’s alright, Vail,” she murmured, her soft voice quiet and weak. “I knew this was coming. I could never promise to be with you forever… but I can promise I will love you forever.”

  It wasn’t enough for him. He needed forever with her. Not forever with a memory of her.

  Tears lined her blue eyes again.

  Blood lined her lips.

  “I wanted it so much,” she whispered, her voice fading more with each word she spoke. “Even when I knew I could never have forever with you.”

  Her heart stopped.

  Vail threw his head back and roared.

  CHAPTER 29

  Vail laid Rosalind down on the soft short grass in the centre of the glade she had loved so much, having removed the demon king’s body from its boundaries, purifying it for her and returning it to how it had been when they had been here together.

  The blossoms in the trees began to glow again, their faint light casting a pure white glow over Rosalind.

  Little Wild Rose.

  She would have that forever with him that she wanted and he would have forever with her.

  His mate.

  He kneeled beside her and held her hands, staring down at her beautiful face.

  Vail drew in a deep breath, exhaled it, and closed his eyes. He focused on his connection to natu
re, mentally apologising to her for all the harm they had done to her beloved trees and plants as he fostered it, slowly pouring all of his strength into forging a strong link between them. It had to work.

  Rosalind had asked him once if he could heal people as he healed nature.

  Rosalind was nature.

  She was one of her most beautiful creations.

  It had to work.

  He released her hands, laying them on her stomach, and pressed one palm to her chest and one to her forehead.

  He channelled everything he could into her, doing exactly as he did when he healed wood and earth. The drain on his power was instantaneous, sapping his strength and scalding his bones until he trembled uncontrollably. Darkness crept into the corners of his mind and it began to spin and twirl, his grip on consciousness slipping as he gave everything to Rosalind. Crippling pain stabbed along his nerve endings, making them scream in agony, but he held on, his focus locked on Rosalind and saving her.

  Bringing her back to him so they could have their forever.

  After everything he had been through, countless centuries of pain and suffering that had driven him mad and killed all hope within his heart, he had finally broken the shackles of his past and had found something good. Something worth living for. He would not let death take that from him.

  When darkness swallowed him for a second, it severed the connection between him and nature, halting his work. He had given everything he could and surely he would be rewarded for it. He opened his eyes, expecting to see Rosalind’s smile as she came awake.

  She lay still, her chest unmoving, their link still cold, forming an abyss within him that threatened to swallow him whole.

  Vail growled, moved both hands to her chest and pressed them against her sodden black dress. Fresh blood pooled around them and crept along the gaps between his fingers. He frowned and funnelled power into her again, using every last shred of it and drawing on all his reserves, giving everything to her until his muscles turned to liquid beneath his skin and his bones to ashes, fire seared his mind and blood poured from his nose.

  She still didn’t wake.

  Tears flowed down his cheeks and he curled his hands into fists and collapsed over her, resting his head on her stomach, his shoulders shaking as he fought each sob that tried to escape him.

  “Little Wild Rose,” he whispered and looked at her face, imploring her to hear him and return to him.

  A breeze stirred the trees and the blooms glowed brighter, nature mocking him with their light and how they danced, so alive and beautiful.

  He wanted his mate alive and beautiful again.

  He had failed her.

  The darkness within him was too strong. It had tainted and destroyed his deepest connections to nature, so she would no longer grant him the power to save Rosalind.

  But he couldn’t give up on her.

  She deserved to live.

  She deserved forever in this world.

  He didn’t.

  If he couldn’t have forever with her, then she would have forever without him. She would live in his place because this world needed her more than it needed him. She was good and light. He was evil and darkness.

  He rose off her and stared all around him at the trees. He dug his fingers into the grass and the earth, clutching it in his fists, feeling nature flowing around him.

  Life flowing around him.

  Rosalind deserved that life flowing through her.

  “Please,” he whispered, his lips trembling as tears blazed hot trails down his cheeks. “Hear me. Hear my wish… mother nature. Take my life in exchange for that of my ki’ara. She is more worthy of living in your world and she is connected to you just as I am. I willingly give my life for hers. Destroy me and save her. Please.”

  He looked down at Rosalind and blinked, clearing his eyes so he could see her.

  “Please.” It had to work. “She deserves life. My beautiful mate.”

  Cold swirled around him, chilling him to the bone, and the trees swayed, their light and life still mocking him. Nature was going to deny him, and he would die here anyway, with his mate where he belonged.

  “Then take my life anyway, because I do not wish to live without her.”

  Heat rushed over him like a tender caress and he looked at the glade.

  Plants burst from the grass, growing wildly, their colourful flowers blossoming and withering in the blink of an eye, only to be replaced by another wave of blooms.

  Fine mist curled around him and sparkled like a rainbow in the bright glow from the trees that reached above him, their branches stretching towards each other, forming a canopy above him and Rosalind that shut out the darkness.

  Vines crawled over his black armour and over Rosalind, twining through her hair. They caressed up his sides and over his shoulders, and tiny blossoms formed on their stems, the same pale blue flowers that grew on the castle in his kingdom. They glowed and their light traced over his body, increasing the heat rushing through him, filling him with strength.

  He felt the power flow through him, the connection he had always possessed that had always been stronger than Loren’s for some reason.

  Flowers continued to burst into bloom only to die a second later, their fragile hold on life speaking to him as he placed his hands on Rosalind’s chest and tried to give her back what had been taken from her.

  He closed his eyes and funnelled all of the power flowing through him into her, using it to heal her damaged heart.

  It stuttered back into life and he bit back a sob as it began to beat and she gasped her first breath.

  Vail kept channelling everything into her, giving her all of his strength, determined to heal her fully before nature took its toll for the use of her power.

  That power dwindled before he could finish his work, his connection with nature fading and the vines covering his shoulders and legs wilting away.

  “No.” He tried to grab them but they turned to ashes in his fingers.

  Rosalind’s heart beat weakly.

  He wasn’t sure how long it would hold on for before it gave out again. He wasn’t sure why nature hadn’t taken the life he had offered. He didn’t have time to question either.

  He pulled Rosalind into his arms and focused all of his remaining power on undoing the barrier surrounding the Fifth Realm and unlocking the portal to his rooms in the castle of the elf kingdom. Pain rippled through him, tearing at his muscles and lashing his bones, and he ground his teeth against it and held his focus, forcing his way through the walls that stood between him and where he needed to be in order to save Rosalind.

  The barrier gave and it took most of his remaining strength to undo the locks he had placed on the portal to his rooms, sealing the elf kingdom to him. The moment it opened, he teleported, hoping he would have enough power to make it with Rosalind draining him.

  He landed hard on his knees on the dark stone floor in a room now unfamiliar to him but painfully familiar at the same time.

  Light streamed in through the tall arched windows to his right, where his large bed stood against the dark stone wall. He stumbled onto his feet and carried Rosalind there, setting her down on the dusty purple covers.

  He brushed the tangled strands of her bloodied blonde hair from her face, pressed a kiss to her brow when she moaned, and whispered, “I will be right back, Little Wild Rose. I will bring you Olivia and she will heal you.”

  She reached for him and he took hold of her hands, pressed a kiss to both, and laid them on her stomach.

  Stepping back from her was one of the hardest things he had ever had to do but he forced himself to place the necessary distance between them. Her life depended on his brother’s female and Vail was weak right now, liable to stay here with Rosalind if he didn’t push himself away from her and hold himself at a distance. It would be all too easy to surrender to his need to comfort her and she would slip away from him again. He refused to squander this second chance that nature had given him, this precious gift o
f his mate and a shot at forever with her.

  He focused on the connection to his brother, wobbling on his feet. He had to find him fast, before anyone else discovered that he was in the castle. They would kill him without waiting to hear why he was here. Only Loren could stop that from happening.

  And only Olivia could save Rosalind.

  He sensed his brother in the great hall.

  Vail teleported into the centre of it.

  Right into the middle of a grand affair.

  The ornately carved white wooden pews of the enormous hall were filled with females and males dressed elegantly in their finest attire, and some of them were not elves. Demons and mortals sat amidst the gathered, along with a few from shifter species.

  Vail started down the long wide aisle between the towering black columns that supported the vaulted white ceiling. Light streamed in through the tall arched windows that lined both sides of the hall, illuminating the beautiful carvings of nature and life on the black columns, scenes that had fascinated him as a youth.

  Each silent step pulled him back further into his past, to a time when he had walked this same path with his head held high and pride in his heart as all around him had turned to admire him and had whispered in awe.

  A thousand pairs of eyes swung his way, a few startled gasps and fearful murmurs escaping their owners as they settled on him. None admired him now. All feared him. He couldn’t blame them, not when he wore the blood of his enemies on his skin and his armour.

  He flashed his fangs at them and looked for Olivia.

  She stood at the head of the aisle, wearing a pale blue elven gown with silver metal curves and swirls forming a corset over her torso. Loren stood beside her, dressed in his finest black tunic with rich purple embroidery, trousers and his knee-high boots.

  Behind Loren, Bleu growled and called his armour, replacing his formal attire with it. He drew his spear out of the air and ran at Vail.

  Vail sensed several guards coming up fast behind him too but he couldn’t move as he stared straight into Loren’s wide purple eyes and felt surprise ripple through him too as he realised something dreadful.

  He had just interrupted their wedding ceremony and Olivia’s coronation.