Page 157 of The Last Syphon

“Well, you wasted your time.” Inara folded her arms over her chest, strengthening her stance to give off the illusion that she was unmovable in her quest. “I’m not going back until I find out what is going on.”

He chuckled darkly. It sent a shiver racing down her spine. Silver glittered from the mountain of swords strapped to his body. The hilts of two swords peeked out from behind his back, as well as another two strapped to his waist. His red-scaled armour looked as impressive as always. He was dressed for battle. For war, as he always was.

“You delude yourself if you think you have a choice. You will return with me now, and you will return without protest, or I will throw you in the dungeon.”

Inara’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. Would he really do that? She wasn’t sure.

The most plaguing question she had was why the fuck he cared so much? Why he had come all this way. Inara would have returned eventually. She did have a binding contract after all, and the last thing she wanted was a bounty on her head from Arelia.

She knew where this would go. They would continue to go back and forth, her saying she wasn’t going back and him demanding that she does, until he eventually grew tired of it, and he forcibly dragged her back. She would put up a hell of a fight, but as powerful as she was, she had no delusions that she was a match for him. Not without her syphon ability, anyway, and she could never risk exposing that.

Switching tactics seemed like the best bet.

“Compromise?” She began, raising one finger in the air. “We’re both already out here. What’s the harm in travelling a little further south and inspecting the line? Think about it. I assume your trip here was already sanctioned by the High Council?”

Prince Walder didn’t answer.

“They don’t have to know we went out there. You could just tell them you came to the Borderlands and dragged me back. We don’t have to tell them about any side missions we choose to take along the way.” Inara thought it was quite ingenious of her, in fact.

His expression didn’t change.

“Think about it! It’s the perfect workaround. What could go wrong?”

Famous last words.

He didn’t look like he was budging on his stance, and it angered her. She wanted to stamp her foot in frustration but refrained. Barely.

She needed to sweeten the pot somehow.

“Come on,” she pleaded. “I have provided you with the perfect excuse to do what needs to be done! How many of your people went missing? Don’t you want to find out what happened to them? Don’t their families deserve to know why they never returned home?” It was a low blow. She knew that. He had this sense of nobility when it came to his people. The people he was vowed to protect and care for, and she knew she was exploiting that.

She also did not care.

He still did not speak a word, and her magic rushed up inside her in response to her boiling anger.

“Fraener!”

A few thunderous steps later, and her dragon was at her side, his monstrous glare stuck on the Crowned Prince.

“I don’t care what you do,” Inara said, and she truly did not. Nothing was going to change her mind. Her village was at stake. “You can either come with me, or stay here and wait for me to return to take me back in chains. It’s up to you.”

For the first time, she saw him…conflicted. Unsure what to do. “I will drag you back,” he warned. Threatened.

“You’ll have to knock me out to do it.”

He was more than capable of doing it. Inara was sure of that. But for some reason, she did not believe he would do it. There was a voice in her head—this tiny, minuscule voice that told her he wouldn’t, despite his words and the threats lying deep within them.

He cursed and looked away, eyes plastered to the bright purple sky. Something warred inside him. Two sides of him fighting against the other, and he was unsure which side to listen to.

Which side is going to win the struggle? she wondered.

After what felt like a lifetime, Prince Walder finally sighed, and Inara tried not to leap with joy.

He didn’t even need to say it. She knew.

Inara had won.

Prince Walder was not happy. They had not spoken since leaving Deadhaven. Not that there could be much discussion in the sky, anyway, but Inara did not need words to know his mood. She could tell from his aura and that perpetually sour look on his face.