Tethered To The Six Princes Of Sylvarra

Chapter 12

Turning to the mirror, I took a moment to look at myself.

My eyes were pale with fatigue. My face held the echo of grief I hadn’t fully escaped. But I smoothed my features, trying to iron out the sorrow I felt in my heart.

With a deep breath, I stepped out of the room and closed the door behind me.

And there he was.

Prince Eryndor stood at the end of the hall, leaning casually against the wall, as if he had all the time in the world to wait for me.

He looked like a painting brought to life, serene and composed, every detail precise.

As he noticed me, he straightened and began walking toward me. His silvery-gray eyes locked onto mine, narrowed slightly with a smile that could kill or heal or both.

A killer smile. Smooth, dangerous, and spicy.

I doubted anyone had ever looked at him and walked away untouched and wouldn’t be blown away by his looks.

And honestly, my heart skipped a beat as my gaze swept through him.

That smile, so gentle, so sincere, hit me in a place I wasn’t ready for. But should I trust him?

What if he truly was being honest with me all this time?

And what if… the soldiers who attacked us hadn’t been Sylvarrians at all?

The thoughts tangled like thorns in my mind. I had carried too many burdens for too long… Maybe it was time to loosen my grip on some of them.

Maybe I could open my heart… just a little. Maybe I should trust him.

And for now, I would.

“The dress is beautiful,” I said, offering a small smile, tentative but genuine. “But I won’t lie, the chief maid is a racist.”

His lips parted with a soft laugh, not mocking, just lightly amused.

“Ciara is just… that way,” he said with a soft, almost amused shake of his head.

His eyes glinted as they lingered on my face, reading every flicker of emotion like a language only he could understand. “Best not to take her too seriously; she’s just doing her job.”

“You look breathtaking, Princess Sorenna,” he said, his voice lowering into something almost reverent. “To possess such beauty… and a gift so rare that kingdoms would bleed for it. It’s almost unfair.” His eyes lingered. “Truly, the grace that clings to you…it’s something even power can’t command.”

The way he said it made something inside me flutter again, dangerously close to hope.

I didn’t know what to say. His tone was too warm, too polished, too full of something I couldn’t name.

So I simply offered a smile in return, one that felt polite and practiced but not cold. It was the safest thing I could give.

“And… about what we discussed a few minutes ago,” he said, his voice calm, almost too careful. “I hope you don’t take that as anything more. I just don’t want you confused.”

He offered a small, practiced smile. “I want to show you I’m here for you if you need to know anything about Sylvarra. You’re new… and you’ll need guidance.”

He said it like I already belonged here. I didn’t know how to take his words just yet.

I gave a faint nod, my eyes flicking away from his.

“I appreciate that,” I said, my voice calm, though something in me held back.

It sounded… kind, helpful even. But people here didn’t do anything without reason.

So I smiled just enough to be polite, but inside, I kept my guard where it belonged.

My eyes were caught, no, held by the beauty of the Trueborn Princes’ court as we walked down the spiral steps.

In the light of day, everything shimmered more vividly than it had under last night’s starlit sky.

Marble walls sparkled like dew-kissed stone. Crystal-tipped towers glistened as if dipped in sunlight. The court was something out of a tall, beautiful, and quietly powerful.

Prince Eryndor walked beside me with calm grace, silent but not cold. When we reached the gates that guarded the outer courtyard, he opened them with a touch and extended his hand to me.

I hesitated only briefly before placing my fingers in his.

He helped me mount the white-gray horse waiting on the other side, its coat silken, its eyes gleaming with the calm of something not entirely of this world.

It looked as though it had galloped straight out of a faerie realm.

Then his voice broke the stillness.

“Everyone might come at you. Dangerously,” he said. His tone was low and serious as he adjusted the reins in my hand. “There’s a rule in this kingdom I haven’t told you yet.”

I glanced down at him, unsure of how to take in what he just said.

“With a gift like yours,” he continued, looking up at me with unreadable eyes, “you need to guard it. Because here, the law is simple. If you can’t protect the power you carry, anyone capable enough… can take it from you.”

My heart froze.

The air shifted around me, colder, heavier.

Take it from me. I repeated silently the one thing that was giving my life meaning at this point.

I stared down at him, trying to read the truth behind his words, but all I could see was the shimmer of daylight dancing in his silver-gray gaze.

“Except for the princes,” he added, his gaze steady. “Their beasts wouldn’t permit them to hold a power that isn’t theirs. But everyone else? The law stands. If they can overpower you… your gift becomes theirs.”

A chill rippled down my spine.

“There’s more you need to learn, Sorenna,” he continued, stepping closer to the horse.

“I’ll show you the third clanship of Sylvarra. They’re not like the others. All of them…females, like you but powerful. Dangerous. Some of them were born with gifts; others took them. And none of them… are soft.”

Just what I’d been thinking all along.

There were three clanships in Sylvarra. That much I’d already begun to understand.

I’d known there were three clans in this kingdom. I had already seen two: the marked, tattooed princes… wild, primal, lethal.

And the trueborn princes, made up of the four twins, of which Eryndor and Zaryth were part of them, the other two I hadn’t seen yet.

But the third clan… made entirely of women?

Dangerous women.

Something stirred quietly in my chest. Maybe I didn’t yet understand the full weight of what was coming, but I wasn’t backing down.

Not until I avenged my mother’s death. I couldn’t deny it… a part of me was already burning to meet their king.