Page 8

Aruan

T he moment I enter my mother’s quarters with Elsie in my arms, my father’s ire rains down on me.

Red-faced, he waves a hand at the trembling humans who are doing their best to make themselves small behind a table. “What in the name of dragons is the meaning of this?”

They’re all wearing simple robes, except for the man who’s dressed in pants and a tunic, which either my mother or father could’ve fabricated to cover their nakedness.

I do the same for Elsie even though I’m shielding her from any invasive stares in my arms. It’s easy enough to disintegrate the cloth that covers the table and reassemble it in a soft, warm gown straight on her body.

Elsie gives a start as she takes in the dress she’s suddenly wearing, but with the palpable strained atmosphere in the room, she doesn’t make a squeak.

I look around. “Where’s mother and Gaia?”

“Your mother is consulting her secretary,” my father says. “Despite my order to rest.” He extends his arm toward the man and women again. “All because of this. Of them . I sent Gaia to fetch my advisor. We need to figure out a strategy.”

My tone is dry. “Thank you for asking about the welfare of my mate.”

He barely glances at Elsie. “I can see that she’s safe.”

“Your concern is heartwarming,” I mutter.

“Your careless action breaks the first and foremost commandment of the scrolls,” he says in a harsher tone. “How am I to appease the followers? How am I supposed to justify their future ruler, who should be setting an example, breaking the rules?”

“You know I’m not a believer.”

“That’s beside the point. What matters is that most of the people and the royals are. What in Zerra were you thinking, bringing them here?”

“Would you rather I left them to die?”

“You should’ve left them somewhere else until we’ve figured out a way to deal with the problem, not flaunted them under the noses of every Alit in Lona.”

“It’s my fault,” Elsie says. “Don’t blame Aruan. I told him I wouldn’t return unless he brought them with us.”

My chest swells at the fact that Elsie is defending me, but I won’t allow her to fight my wars, especially not with my family.

“They’re victims of the slave trade,” I say. “I’ll go into the details later. For now, I have to take care of Elsie. She’s injured.”

“What about them?” my father calls, gesticulating at the humans as I turn for the archway.

“Put them up in the empty quarters. Mother will send them back to Earth when she’s recovered enough.”

“You know any contact with Earth is forbidden,” he says through gritted teeth. “Opening a portal there even more so.”

“We’ll have to find a way around it.”

I don’t wait for my father’s reply. I make it back to my quarters in record time, tapping into Kian’s mind on the way. Usually, I don’t let my brother anywhere near my thoughts, but the situation calls for desperate measures.

Kian acknowledges my request immediately. Once he’s taken note of what I need, I close off my mind, making sure he can’t use the opportunity to dig deeper into my head.

Inside my quarters, I make quick work of stripping Elsie and inspecting her injuries. Through it all, she doesn’t say a word, which is very unlike her.

“Does it hurt?” Cupping her face, I ask, “How do you feel?”

Her chuckle is meek. “Terrible, actually. It feels as if my head is going to explode. I think I have a concussion.”

I don’t know what that word means, but she definitely has a head injury.

She sucks in air through her teeth when, after gently parting her hair, I accidentally touch a big bruise on the back of her head.

My fury ignites in a flash again. It’s a good thing the Phaelix who did this to her is dead, or I would’ve taken great pleasure in torturing him to his last breath.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” she says, sounding as miserable as she looks.

“Dragons, Elsie.” Anguish follows hot on the heels of my rage. “Hold on, my sweet.” I lift her into my arms and carry her to the cleansing room. “Vitai is on his way.”

“Remind me to never take on a gang of Phaelix again.”

Stopping dead, I narrow my eyes. “What did you say?”

“They were going to rape Alexa.” She rubs her temples. “I had to do something.”

“What exactly did that something entail?” I ask with equal amounts of anger and dread. How dare she put herself in such a vulnerable position?

“I sent a swarm of prawns to, um…” She clears her throat. “To get rid of the Phaelix.”

I frown. “Prawns?”

“Huge, orange-brown insects with mean pinchers and hairy back legs. Unfortunately, when I sent them away after clearing the area, I didn’t know that the Phaelix live in treehouses and will jump on me from the sky.”

I grind my teeth together so hard I feel the crunch in my jaw. “If you ever do anything so dangerous again?—”

“I should’ve kept the prawns around.” She rolls her eyes. “Yes, I know. It was stupid to let them go immediately. In my defense, I’m new to all this fighting.”

I’m having a hard time keeping my voice even and not showing her just how much I’m fuming inside. “You’re not listening to me, Elsie. You’ll never?—”

“Don’t worry. I can’t try something like that again even if I wanted to. My power is gone. It seems the Phaelix who hit me destroyed it when he gave me the blow on the head.”

The scenarios she’s describing are enough to drive me to madness. It’s difficult to cling to reason through the haze of red that invades my vision.

“I’m kind of sad about it,” she says in a small voice. “I mean, about having lost my power. It was cool.”

Just like that, my anger vanishes, and my heart softens. A need to soothe her compels me to say, “Maybe it’s temporary.”

“Have you seen Betty?” she asks with sudden alarm.

I grit my teeth and remind myself that the priority is healing her.

“Aruan?” she says when I continue on my way to the cleansing room.

“No,” I say through a clenched jaw.

She searches my eyes as I climb down the steps and lower us into the water. “You’re still angry.”

Angry doesn’t come close to describing what I’m feeling. I sit down on the reclining bench, bend my knees, and settle her between my legs. “Lean back. I’ll take care of you.”

She does so reluctantly and gasps when the water washes over the back of her head.

“Sore?” I ask, gently scooping water over her wound.

“It burns like a bitch,” she hisses.

Holding her in my arms has a profound calming effect on me. As the knowledge that she’s safe takes root, the anger and tension flow from my muscles, aided by the salts I added into the water.

I even manage a smile as she tilts her head back and gazes up at me.

“You have a strange way of expressing yourself,” I say. “I’ve never heard that saying, burning ‘like a bitch.’”

“Earth lingo.” She grins and then sucks in a breath. “Ouch.”

“Easy, my sweet.” I brush a hand over her hair, avoiding the bruise. “You’ll feel better in a bit. I promise.”

“Why don’t you undress when you get into the water?”

I arch a brow. “Do you want me to undress?”

“Don’t put words in my mouth. You know what I mean.”

“I was in too much of a rush. Besides, it’s easy enough for me to dry my clothes. It only takes a moment.”

She perks up a little. “How do you do that?”

My smile stretches. My little inquisitive mate. “The same way I fabricate water from the air but just the reverse.”

“You’re awesome,” she says, already sounding sleepy.

Grinning, I tighten my arms around her to prevent her from slipping down. “Am I, now?”

She tries to wave my remark away, but she doesn’t manage to lift her hand from the water. “You’re making fun of me.”

“Never,” I tease.

The calming effect of the water is not only making her tired but is also loosening her tongue.

I haven’t added sleeping salts to knock her out cold this time, but I instructed a maid to mix a little potion with a numbing effect into the water.

The remedy numbs both the body, to relieve pain, and the mind.

“I mean,” she continues, slurring a little, “your power is awesome.”

“Most people will disagree with you.”

“Who cares about what they think?” she says, yawning. “Mm, I already feel better.”

“That’s good, my sweet. You can relax. I won’t let you go.”

I mean it in more ways than one, but I don’t know if she catches that. Her eyes droop, her long, sunset-colored lashes brushing her soft, pink cheeks, and still, she fights the sleep that’s stealing over her.

“I’m not falling,” she says in wonder. “Just… floating.”

“You fell?”

She tries to nod, but instead, her head lolls to the side and comes to rest on my shoulder. “Oh, yes. The first time in this pool. It was awful. I thought you were drowning me.”

“I’d never harm you, Elsie. You’re my mate. It’s my duty to protect you.”

“Duty.” She scoffs before adding sarcastically, “I’m sorry to be so much trouble.”

“Trouble? It’s my honor.”

“Honor. Duty.” She sniffs. “Aren’t you supposed to be doing these things because you like me?”

“Like you?”

What kind of a statement is this? I think about that for a moment. By dragons… she wants me to feel something for her. The unexpected notion warms me. If she cares about what I feel for her, it must mean she’s not completely immune to me.

Of course I like her. I more than like her. I find her irresistible, and I don’t mean only her body. I enjoy her sharp mind, and I admire her strength and determination.

She’ll make an outstanding queen one day.

I open my mouth to tell her that, but her eyes are already closed, and she’s breathing evenly. So I just kiss the top of her head. “Sleep and heal, my pretty little rebellious mate.”

I make quick work of cleaning her and washing the blood from her hair. I’ve barely dried us and tucked her into my bed when Kian enters.

He sounds surprised. “You found her.”

Irritation gets the better of me. “Of course I did.” I’ll always find her, even if I have to go to Earth to do so. “What took you so long?”