nights I’ve been falling asleep around four a.m. It’s an awful cycle.”
She sighed. “I bet if I go back to my dorm now, it’ll just be another restless night.”
“How about a distraction?” I offered. “Something to calm your mind.”
Emma tilted her head inquisitively. “What is it?”
“I’ll show you.” I took the stairs upward. We wound them to the highest floor of the castle, until we came to a door at the far end of a deserted hallway. I opened it cautiously. Emma’s mouth dropped open as she looked on.
I’d taken her to the rooftop of the dormitories. A large, flat area spread out before us, with pitched towers rising up to create a backdrop. The stars glistened overhead, while the waning crescent moon shone down from above. From here, you could see all of campus, as well as the glittering lights of Dolinska in the distance. A wooden bench was placed before an intricate railing, for observation.
Emma stepped to the railing and put her hands on it. “Ethan, this is beautiful.”
“I come up here to think. It’s off-limits for students, but they make an exception for me.” I rummaged through a wooden trunk and pulled out a large blanket. I hung it around Emma’s shoulders and said, “In case you get cold.”
Emma sat on the bench. I sat beside her, and she offered me half of the blanket. I didn’t need it, but took it anyway, just to be close to her. The blanket wrapped around us tightly, and Emma leaned into my shifter heat, looking out into the transfixing city beyond.
“I could stay up here forever, just watching the city,” Emma said. “I can see why you love it so much.”
My hands reached out to take hers. “I’ll always love Dolinska, and its people. Truth be told, Malovia will always be my first love.”
Emma squeezed my hands. “What do you want to be, now that you’re no longer going to be king?”
The question stung, but I knew it was coming. I would be graduating next year from university with a degree in Political Science. She wanted to know my plans.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have any. “I’m not sure, to be quite honest. My whole life I was raised to compete in the King’s Contest. Raised to become a leader, become an alpha. Everything I did was based around having control over every situation.”
I raked a hand through my hair. “And then... I lost my leg. And everything I thought I had control over completely got out of hand. My world turned upside down overnight, and I realized I was in control of nothing— realized just how much we’re all at the mercy of the gods, for better or for worse.”
Emma’s eyebrows knitted together. “That’s not true. The gods give us a choice.”
I sighed. “I feel I don’t have any choice in how my destiny calls me, onawilke. If anything, I’m a boat at the mercy of a ragged sea.”
She became silent, and I forged on. “I’ll probably focus on charity work. My work as a prince will never be done. I’ll always be expected to attend events and public functions.”
I sighed. “Though if you want my honest opinion, I’m tired of the endless parading. I just want to get out of here and... travel. See the world. I’ve been a poor monster hunter as of late, and because of it, I just want to stretch my wolven legs and run. Let myself be carried far away from fae politics, into the rest of the world where those things don’t matter.”
“But you love Malovia so much.”
“Almost too much. I’ve worried often that love would destroy me. So I long to do what any wolf does when they’re injured. Seek isolation.”
Emma nodded introspectively, and I nudged her. “What about you?” I asked. “You haven’t chosen a major. You have time, but I’m curious what your interests are.”
“I don’t know what to choose. I never wanted to be anything but a skater.” Emma shivered, and I brought her closer. “But we all know intuitively to have a backup plan. Most girls do, just in case, but I could never bring myself to pick another career choice... though I know skating can’t last forever. I fear if I decide to do something else, even as a safety net, it’ll ruin my chances. Jinx it somehow. And I want this so badly. I can’t let my dreams go.”
“There must be something else you want to do,” I said. “I love hockey, but I know it’s