The Prince's Gift

Chapter 11.

Fallon leaned further back into his seat, propping his legs up onto the table in front of him to get comfortable. He wrapped his hands behind his head and leaned further into them as he sighed comfortably. I raised an eyebrow at him as he took his time, smirking at my impatience. 

"Well, we grew up together. That much I'm sure you've figured out. My family was very close with his. My father was Hand to the King, but once he died things began to change for me." A shadow crossed his eyes at the mention of his father and I couldn't stop myself.

"I'm sorry about your father Fallon."

He nodded and his jaw ticked before he continued. "It was unexpected, but we got through it. He died on a mission for King Kyran. He'd gone to try and negotiate ahead for my father with King Erik. Unfortunately, he saw that as an insult and decided to make his point that he'd only be dealing with the King himself. So he killed him."

My hand instantly rose to my mouth as I tried to maintain my composure. "Fallon, I'm so sorry. That must have been terrible for you and your mother."

He scowled and leaned forward, dropping his feet to the floor and placing his forearms on his knees. "It was awful, but definitely hardest on my mother. The mate bond was strong between them, and ultimately she couldn't take it. It destroyed her until she'd completely withered away. She refused to try and mate with another to break the bond. She battled with it for months, but it finally took her."

I leaned forward and reached across the table, placing my hand on his and squeezing gently. His eyes cut up to mine and I could see that the memory still pained him. "How long has it been?"

He sighed and ran his free hand over his face. "It's been 50 years since then and the battle happened the following year." 

I nodded and sat back in my seat, a little straighter than before as he began the story once more. 

"After my mother passed, I had nothing. I threw myself into my training and that's where Zane and I really connected. It was like we finished each other's movements. I could anticipate nearly every time what he needed from me and we began to fight as a unit, making each other stronger. It wasn't until the yearling battle that we realized what an asset that was to have. It had been months since Erik had killed my father, and Kyran wanted to wait to ensure the retaliation went perfectly, but Erik beat us to it. He'd created a yearling army so huge that we were forced to react. He marched them right up to our gates and unleashed them during an alliance ceremony. All of the surrounding kingdoms were there and we were completely unprepared for an attack of that magnitude. There were thousands of them, and they took just as many of us, but we finally won. It was gruesome and honestly the bloodiest battle I've ever been through, but Zane and I managed to make it out with only a few injuries. His were worse than mine by far, but he's the strongest guy I've ever known. It took him no time to heal."

My mind raced at the thought of the images Fallon painted for me. I couldn't imagine anything like it. My heart ached for the pain he'd gone through. That they'd both gone through. I hated the thought of Zane hurting.

His hand reached across and it was his turn to squeeze mine this time as his eyes sparked playfully at me. "We're going to be fine. This was just one this time. Chances are, it was nothing but wrong place wrong time. We won't let that happen again."

I smiled at him but I couldn't help the pit that had settled in my stomach. Anthony brought in lunch for us, but I was too tightly wound to eat. I picked at my food, pushing it around my plate before Fallon noticed.