Lost Prince

  LOST

  PRINCE

  THE ELEMENTS SERIES PART TWO

  BY M.A. ROTH

  Other Books by M.A.Roth

  THE ELEMENT SERIES

  Dark Queen (Novella)

  Shattered Crown (Novella)

  Hidden Princess (Book One)

  Lost Prince (Book Two)

  Cruel king (book Three)

  CHAPTER ONE

  SARAJANE

  CLIMBING THE MOUNTAINS was hard this time, as I was only traveling with Tristan, Alana and Mirium. We had split up once Morrick arrived back to Aquaterra. He had just came from the mortal world, where my mum and my sister Jessica had returned to bury our father John.

  Well, he wasn’t my father. I only found out recently I was the daughter of King Morrick… and that made me a princess. Being a princess was something I was finding hard to get used to, I didn’t feel like one. Being raise in the mortal world removed that luxury from me. I had grown up with a normal childhood, maybe if I was raised here, things would have been so much different. I try not to linger on ifs and buts.

  So we were a day ahead of Morrick, Legis, his guardian, and Kiar, one of mine who wasn’t speaking to me, as he blamed me for his best friend Neve’s death. I blamed myself to be honest; he had died saving my sister, even against King Morrick’s wishes not to do so.

  It was easy for him to decide something like that as she wasn’t his daughter. I was.

  So we were going to Humus where I would be trained to use my powers, which I would have to used to save Saskia.

  Right now I was being trained to fight, and it was relentless.

  “Sarajane, you are not focused. I could have killed you three times already,” Tristan says. His frown is telling me he isn’t happy with my performance so far. We have been training for only two days now and he expects me to beat him, the man who can disarm thirteen men in minutes. I had witnessed that myself.

  “I am trying.” I wipe sweat off my forehead using my free hand; the other grips the wooden sword, that Tristan had carved for us to practice with.

  “Not hard enough, Sarajane.”

  That’s it. I had enough of his barking at me every two seconds. The wooden sword hits the ground sending waves of dust up into the air. “I am taking a break.” I stomp off daring him to stop me.

  Tristan’s sarcastic voice follows me. “Oh yes, when someone is trying to kill you, you can call in a break.”

  “Alana!” He calls. It only takes a moment before the sound of wood striking wood fills the air. Alana is a good friend as well as my personal guard. Tristan had trained her when he had found her as a child, after her family and village was slaughtered.

  She had attacked him with her fire affinity and he’d taken it away by accident—not a gift anyone else possesses in Saskia—so to defend herself, he trained her in combat. She’s really good.

  I follow the sound of running water until I find a stream flowing through the mountain. Kneeling down, I scoop up a handful and splash the cold water on my face. I dab the back of my neck to help cool down my body.

  Saskia is pure in all its beauty. When something is white, it’s snow white, or if it’s tall, it rages into the sky: nothing seems to be in half-measures here. I sit by the stream cross-legged and close my eyes, just letting the moment of peace surround me.

  “Sarajane.”

  I keep my eyes closed as Tristan sits down beside me.

  “I just worry that you will get hurt.”

  Tristan’s tone sends a shiver through me. A smile tugs at my lips; as I look up into his moss green eyes, my stomach flutters and I find myself dropping his gaze, it’s too intense. His hand reaches and cups my chin dragging my gaze back up to his.

  “I worry about you.” His words are delivered with a soft kiss to my lips. His lips are warm and soft under mine and I press harder against his. Wanting more of him. This is the first time we have been alone since leaving Aquaterra, where he had told me he loved me. I lean out of the kiss when I remember we decided to keep our love a secret just for now; there was too much going on at the moment. Tristan doesn’t let my face go and my heart starts to race.

  “I missed your kisses,” I say.

  Tristan’s lips rise up into a grin and my stomach quivers again. When he smiles, it sends my body into turmoil, his smiles are so rare. When I first met him, he spent all his time being so serious that I couldn’t imagine what would ever make him smile, but it’s something that I seem to make him do.

  “I missed yours, too.”

  He releases my face but I’m not ready for the contact to end. I wrap one arm around his neck, pulling him closer to me.

  He takes my hands off his neck and holds them against his chest. “Sarajane, no,” he says while leaning his forehead against mine. His breath fans out across my face. “I can’t be distracted.”

  “Not even a little?” I ask and press my lips against his again.

  His eyes open quickly, his nose flaring. “No we need to train you in case I am not around… or Alana.”

  My pulse spikes at his words. “Why would you not be around, Tristan?”

  He reaches up and touches my cheek. “I gave my word I would protect you, but it’s a just-in-case situation. I have no intention of leaving you unguarded.”

  I relax into his touch. “Good.” I felt content here with him. If only we could stay like this forever… or even just a little while longer.

  “Ready to train again?”

  I let out a heavy breath. “No.”

  Tristan removes his hand from my face and stands. I miss the contact immediately. “Come on, just one more hour for today.” He holds out his hand for me to take.

  He practically drags me back, but as we get closer to the training area, he returns to serious Tristan. Letting go of my hand he moves in front of me.

  Alana’s making arrows for her new bow that Tristan’s teaching her how to use it. She has advanced to the next stage, lucky her.

  “Okay, I don’t want you to attack me. I need you to deflect my blows,” Tristan says while throwing me a wooden sword.

  Mirium sits beside the campfire watching us. But I look away, trying to concentrate really hard. Tristan attacks, hitting my knuckles with the back of the sword.

  “There goes your hand, Sarajane.”

  I shake my throbbing hand and glare at him. “What the hell, Tristan?”

  “I told you to deflect my blows, not stare at Mirium.”

  My anger flares and I charge at Tristan. I swing the sword, aiming for his shoulder. He moves out of my way with ease and kicks out my legs, making me land on my back, his sword is pointed at my throat.

  “Control your anger. Or it will eventually get you killed. Again.”

  I stand up, the burn of humiliation scorches my cheeks as I take my position. I try to control my anger, but it’s easier said than done. Tristan attacks again. He moves his sword to my stomach, and I race with my own to deflect it, but he swings in a full circle at the last minute, tipping me on the back. “You’re dead again.”

  At this rate of being tipped with his sword, I will be covered in bruises.

  “Again,” Tristan repeats.

  And we do this for the next hour where I deflect none of his blows. At the end, I’m soaked in sweat.

  “You did well; your concentration was better this time,” Tristan says.

  I narrow my eyes at him as I fight for air. “You were fighting me, in case you forgot, and killed me like hundreds of times.” I’m bent over trying not to look so un-lady like, but failing miserably.

  He doesn’t reply but sits down beside the campfire with a stupid grin on his face. His clothes are perfect, his face hasn’t a bead of sweat on it. He doesn’t look like someone who spent the last while sparring. I know Mirium i
s watching me as he cooks mutton—again—with no vegetables. Having meat all the time is getting to me and it had to be covered in an abundance of salt to preserve it for our journey. We had no way to preserve vegetables, so we could only add herbs to our dinner.

  I join them when I manage to get my breathing under control. Alana sits down too, when Mirium cuts up the mutton, and we all eat in silence. The training is tough, so I’m always ravished afterward.

  “How long more do we stay here?” I ask Mirium while chewing around a mouthful of food. We had been here the last two days at our little camp but it seemed like such a delay on reaching Humus.

  “One more day, and then we will travel until we come across a small settlement called Gaul. There we will rest for a few days until Morrick reaches us.”

  “Tomorrow we will train as much as possible,” Tristan says. He’s focused on his food and not on me, but I know the comment is directed to me, as I am the only one needing training. I feel tired at the prospect.

  “Great,” I mutter.

  After we eat, Alana and I leave to wash ourselves where the stream pours into a small estuary. The water isn’t warm, but I scrub myself as quickly as possible before putting my traveling clothes back on. I miss the simple things back home so much. I had taken so much for granted, like warm water, electricity, coffee in the mornings. I let out a sigh. Alana raises a brow.

  “Just thinking of warm water,” I say.

  Alana laughs and moves behind me while dividing my hair to brush it out with a comb. She likes doing it and her hands are gentle and graceful with my curly hair. I know I should cut it, as it has grown nearly to my waist, but every time I decide to, I just can’t bring myself to do it. It has taken me so long to grow it.

  “Sarajane, can I ask you something?” Alana’s voice carries an undertone.

  “Yeah, of course.” I glance at her over my shoulder.

  She makes me face forward again before she continues combing my hair. “What is going on with you and Tristan?”

  Thank God my back is to her because my cheeks heat up. “What do you mean?”

  Alana stops combing my hair and moves around so we are face-to-face. She places a hand on her hip. “You

  know exactly what I mean.”

  I shake my head slightly, trying to act normal. “Nothing… just that he is annoying.”

  Alana laughs. “You are the worst liar, Sarajane.”

  I raise my hands in defeat. “Fine. We are, you know, seeing each other. Well, kind of. I don’t know what you call it here.”

  Alana’s face doesn’t break into a smile like I thought it would; instead she frowns at me. “Just be careful, Sarajane.”

  Her reaction surprises me and I hate how hurt I feel. “What do you mean, ‘be careful’?”

  Alana gathers up our few belongings. “Nothing, I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  I try to catch her eye. “I won’t. Besides, he told me he loved me.”

  Alana finally meets my gaze and forces a smile. “I am happy for you.” But her eyes tell a different story.

  CHAPTER TWO

  SARAJANE

  I know Alana isn’t happy for me, but I leave it alone for now as we return to camp. Alana spends the rest of her time giving Tristan dirty looks. Is she jealous? Is that why she’s acting weird? I try to ignore all the questions that swirl around in my head.

  Mirium takes the first watch and Tristan will take the second. The rest of us crawl into our bedrolls for the night. I shake mine out, like I do every night before getting into it; I’m terrified of spiders or any creepy crawlers. This always set off Alana making fun of me. I climb in, satisfied that it is a spider-free zone. “Night everyone,” I say as I tuck myself in.

  “Night, spider girl,” Alana has laughter in her voice and that eases some of the tension I’m feeling about her reaction to me and Tristan.

  “That’s getting old, Alana,” I say back, but our usual banter has me relaxing into my bed roll.

  That night is peaceful. A cold breeze comes with the early morning sunrise. I am the last to wake up, which is typical; my body is still used to alarm clocks. My chest tightens at the thought of never seeing home again; I just hope one day I will return to the mortal world. I banish the thought for now; there is nothing I can do about it - all I can do right now is focus on the mission before me. Mirium’s gazing out into the distance, the steam rises from a mug in his hand. The swirls painted on the mug make me smile as I think of Mei back in Aquaterra.

  They made some amazing pottery and sent us off with the essentials. I get myself a cup of chamomile tea and sit on one of the logs sipping it slowly.

  “Where is Alana and Tristan?” I ask Mirium.

  He turns around. “Sorry, Sarajane, I didn’t realize you were awake.” He comes over and sits down next to me. “I was lost in thought. They are gone to check the area to make sure we aren’t leaving a trail behind before we move on.”

  I take another deep gulp of tea, warming my stomach. “Oh yeah, he doesn’t want anyone following us.” I give Mirium a smile.

  Tristan is very exact on covering our tracks. Before we’d left Aquaterra Mirium, had a vision that war awaited us in Humus, but he hadn’t mentioned anything since. I wonder if he has had any more visions. “So the war… do you know any more about it yet?”

  Mirium shakes his head glumly. “No. I had no more visions. But we will watch the area before we enter it to see what exactly it is that awaits us.”

  Tristan and Alana arrive back then and Tristan looks past me. “Sarajane, let’s practice now.”

  He’s a morning person, not. I throw the rest of my disgusting tea away gladly—I just needed enough to warm my stomach—and pick up my sword.

  Today Tristan is clothed in trousers and a black tunic which make his eyes look even greener. He looks handsome… well, except for the scowl that he wears now.

  “Attack me,” he commands.

  I look at Alana, wondering what has him in such a bad mood. Had she said something. She looks away nervously. What had she said? I need to focus, I didn’t want a repeat of yesterday. I circle Tristan, trying to see the best area to attack. But he circles with me.

  “Attack me, Sarajane!” his bark has me frowning. I notice we have the attention of Mirium and Alana. I want him to tell me what happened. But I can tell from the look on his face that I’m better off waiting until this is over.

  I launch myself at him hoping to catch him off guard. He takes me down in one quick movement. I land on my back; the air is ripped from my lungs.

  “Tristan, don’t be so rough,” Alana’s standing up. I roll onto my stomach and get off the ground.

  Tristan points his wooden sword at her. He’s filled with aggression. “If I want your opinion, Alana, I will ask for it.”

  She closes her mouth immediately. Is that what happened? Had she given her opinion about something? I get up with no grace while I try to catch my breath. “It’s okay, Alana. I can handle this.” If he wanted to play dirty, so could I. After all, I had powers. I wasn’t sure how to use them, but I could try.

  I circle him again, trying to call up air that hopefully will push him over and right onto his ass; he’s starting to get suspicious, as I’m circling him far too long. I focus harder and I feel it.

  “Sarajane, don’t.” His warning comes too late as I launch a gust of wind right at him. It billows up all the dust and races towards him. The air fills up like a sand storm. I feel so proud as I watch my creation take form.

  Tristan shouts out as he crumbles to his knees, his face is covered in sweat. I release my powers and everything grows silent. His gaze snaps up to mine, his eyes are wild with anger.

  Oh shit.

  I stand my ground as he pushes himself up to his full height and stalks over to me. An apology dies on my lips as his fingers sink deep into my shoulder.

  “Don’t you ever use your powers against me!” Every word is laced with anger. “Do you understand?”

&nbs
p; His fingers dig deeper and I pull myself out of his grasp. “Yes!”

  He glares at me for a moment before leaving, his body radiates with anger. I pull down my tunic over my shoulder; bruises are already starting to appear.

  “Are you alright, Sarajane?” Mirium asks.

  I don’t look at him as something close to shame fills my cheeks. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  Tristan doesn’t come back for the rest of the day. Several times I’m tempted to follow him and ask him what the hell just happened, but I cling onto the small amount of dignity I have left, and sit down on a log feeling pretty sorry for myself. A wooden sword fills my vision. I look up to Alana.

  “We should practice.” I take the sword from her outstretched hand. It would keep my mind occupied for now.

  Alana lets me win several times, trying to cheer me up. When I question her about it, she tries to look innocent, making me laugh. So we just had fun with it.

  Tristan arrives back just as we have packed everything away and we are ready to go. He won’t meet my eye and I’m so tempted to demand an explanation, but instead I follow close to Mirium as we set off for the small settlement of Gaul; it is a few miles’ trek from where we are. No one speaks along the trek, and honestly I’m fine with that. Alana keeps shooting Tristan dirty looks. Tristan refuses to meet my eye, so I focus on my footing instead.

  We enter Gaul in the dark of the night, but the small town is alive with menacing activities. Women tromp through the streets, lowering their tops to show cleavage, to entice any man into their homes. A man slurs with drink while taking a woman’s hand and dragging her off to some dark and sleazy corner for a fumble. Giggles erupt before they disappear. Small children, dirty and neglected, plead with us for food. Tristan scares them off with one hard look.

  “They’re only children, Tristan,” I say, feeling sorry for them.

  Tristan laughs, but it’s sour. “They are the whore’s children, unwanted and un-cared for; it’s not my job to feed them. I didn’t make them.” He gives me a cutting look at even feeling anything for them. I’m ready to give him a piece of my mind when a man stumbles from one of the many alehouses and bumps right into my arm, nearly knocking me over. I manage to regain my balance in time to see Tristan pinning him against the wall with a dagger at his throat. We all freeze to the spot at Tristan’s aggression.