The Shadow Prince

chapter nineteen HADEN

“What are you talking about?” Dax asks Simon as we stand in his living room. “What do you mean, what Haden did in the grove? He’s been with us the whole time.”

“We both know that’s not true,” Simon says. “Why don’t you ask Haden what he did when he snuck out this afternoon?”

I feel like I’ve been struck with a mace. “You told him I left?” I ask Dax, like an accusation.

“No,” he says. “But what is he talking about? I thought you went straight there and back?”

I don’t know how to answer his question. I’ve lied to him and there are no easy words to explain that.

“Your boy here broke one of the biggest rules of this here Champion gig,” Simon says. “And only a few hours into his first day. Apparently, young Haden had a busy afternoon.”

“Haden, what is Simon talking about? What did you do?” Dax goes pale. “The girl they found in the lake. When you went to the grove … you didn’t …?”

I am dumbstruck.

“Girl? What girl in the lake?” Simon says, sounding surprised. “Have you been even busier than I thought?”

“No! I didn’t hurt anyone,” I say. “Yes, I snuck out, and I may have tried to grab my Boon, but I certainly didn’t—”

“Whoa,” Dax says. “You tried to grab who? Daphne? When did this happen? What? Why? How?”

“I didn’t do anything,” I start to say, but I can tell that the guilt is showing in my voice. I let my shoulders sag, resigned to admitting the truth. “I made a mistake, Dax.”

His eyes widen. “Did you … did you do something to your Boon? The girl they found in the lake?”

“No!” It shakes me to my core that Dax would even ask me such a thing. “I mean, yes, I did something to my Boon but I didn’t hurt her. All I did was try to grab her and take her through the gate. And, yes, I know it was a stupid mistake. But that’s all I did. I don’t know who this other girl is, nor what happened to her.”

Dax’s face turns red. “That’s all? That’s all? How did you …? Where did you …? How did you even find her so quickly?”

“When I snuck out earlier, I went to go check on the gate, like I said I did. And she was in the grove, like she’d been placed there just for me. The gate was still active and I thought it was a gift from the Fates. I thought I could be the fastest-returning Champion in the history of the Underrealm.”

“That’s the damn foolest thing I have ever heard,” Simon says. “Don’t they train you children anymore?”

“Haden was not one of the Elite,” Dax says. He sounds like he’s trying to placate Simon, but his words make me feel that he sees me as an inferior Champion as the others do.

“Well, weren’t you told this wasn’t a snatch-and-grab job?” Simon says. “Do you know what happens if you try to take a mortal through the gate against her own free will? Don’t you think there’s been some idiot Champion who’s tried it before? The gate doesn’t work that way. The girl has to want to go with you.”

“I tried to make her say she’d come with me.”

“She can’t just say it. Every fiber of her being has got to want to go. If not, she dies. And so do you. If you had tried to bring her through that gate, you’d both be a couple of pillars of dust right now. And then where would we be?”

“Ah Hades, Simon, I didn’t know you cared so much,” I say.

Something flashes in his eyes, and suddenly I regret my snark. In a movement much faster than I thought him capable of, he is in my face. One hand slams the wall next to my head, and the other grabs me by the throat. “Listen, you koprophage, we all have things riding on this quest of yours.” His breath reeks of something earthy and bitter. “You mess up like that again and you’ll be holding your intestines in your hands. Do you understand me?”

I try to nod, but it’s impossible with him gripping my throat. I try to raise my hands to push him off me, but Simon stares into my eyes and says, “Drop your arms.”

I don’t know why, but I follow his order, my arms falling to my sides.

“That’s enough,” Dax says, approaching.

Simon looks at him. “Be still,” he says, and then trains his gaze back on me. “Both of you.”

Dax stops moving, and I make my body as still as a tree, and all thoughts of struggling out of his grasp leave my head. I can’t move, even though I want to.

“Say it,” Simon says. “Beg for it.”

At first, I think he means that he wants me to say I understand him, but then I realize that he wants me to invoke elios.

I’ve begged for mercy only once in my life—the day my honor was stripped away—but I have never done it since. Not from Rowan or the Court. Not from my father. And I have no intention of giving Simon the pleasure.

“Never,” I gasp. I try to move again, but my body stays still and uncooperative.

“Good luck with that, boy,” Simon says. “Do you know what I’m capable of? I’ve made men into kings and celebrities, and helped topple governments with only a few sentences. I think I can get a little kopros like you to invoke elios if I want. Say it.”

I feel the word forming in my mouth. I bite my tongue to stop it.

I taste blood.

“Say. It,” Simon says, glaring deep into my eyes. His words burrow inside my head and I cannot stop myself any longer from complying with his demand. It is as if he controls my mouth.

“Elios,” I croak, before clamping my teeth shut.

Simon lets go, a satisfied smile on his face.

I stay rigid against the wall. Dax remains still also. I see Garrick watching between the rungs in the staircase’s banister. I cannot make out the look on his face.

“Now that that’s settled,” Simon says, straightening his tie, “I have a charity auction to get to. Anyone fancy accompanying me to the ballet next month? I think I’m going to bid on season tickets. No? Well, then, I’m off.” He picks up his glass and takes another sip of the thick red liquid. He smacks his lips. “Mmmm. Feel free to help yourselves to the beet juice in the fridge. It’s great for the metabolism.”

We all watch in frozen disbelief as Simon rinses out his glass in the sink and then grabs his keys. “Good night,” he hollers when he leaves through the door to the garage. “Oh, and you can relax now.”

With his words, the rigidness leaves my body and I slump down against the wall. I cough, and blood stains my hand. Dax rushes over to help me. I wave him away. I’m not ready to accept his help. Not after he had even entertained the idea that I could have hurt that girl.

But what stings even more than my bleeding tongue and my bruised ego is the look of disappointment in Dax’s eyes, knowing that I lied to him.