Marked Prince - Michelle M. Pillow Page 0,18

a lame excuse, but it was the only thing he could think of to avoid Kane’s direct questions. He wasn’t ready to talk about the death mark.

As he lay down, hiding his face from his cousin’s view, his thoughts turned to Fiora and the struggle in her eyes. They stirred an ache deep inside him. He wanted to find her and protect her.

The impulse might prove necessary soon enough. The Federation would know that she was missing, and they’d come looking. Maybe that is how he died. Perhaps it was his fate to protect her from going back.

“Jaxx?” Kane’s voice was insistent.

Jaxx didn’t open his eyes as he gave a monosyllabic moan in response.

“I’ll bring you a tray back from the dining hall,” he said. The sound of the door opening and closing followed the words.

7

All around her was the lingering nightmare of death. The hollowness of it stayed inside her.

Fiora should have been happy to see her sister, and yet, how could she enjoy the reunion with the predictions peeking at her through her peripheral vision?

Flames came from the sky. Explosions lit Shelter City. Screams echoed on repeat in her head. The world was on fire, and she could do nothing about it. Well, she could pray no one would ask her a question that made her tell of the upcoming events. Not knowing was better than an entire planet huddling in fear and begging her to find answers.

Fiora felt a tickle and wiped the back of her hand across her nose. Blood smeared her skin. It reminded her of the prison walls splattered in red. The guards should have let her die.

Even with a nosebleed, things felt calmer now that she was in a guest suite, away from people. Her sister had arranged the new accommodations. The walls were the same red stone as the rest of the palace she’d seen. Tapestries covered the walls, the woven cloths depicting landscapes from what she guessed were parts of the planet, since she’d only seen the inside of the facility and fragments from other people’s futures.

Salena would never say it, but Fiora knew she had frightened her sister with talk of upcoming death. She didn’t want to tell her, but Salena kept asking how she was and Fiora was compelled to answer in detail.

The images in her head were like residual imprints that would grow less insistent in time if she didn’t go back to Shelter City. Today, they were being replaced by visions of an encounter outside the mountain palace of the monster people.

Draig palace. Dragons. Not monsters. They were men who shifted into dragons or dragons who shifted into men.

And flew.

Fiora touched her stomach, remembering the flight all too well. If she never took to the air again, it would be too soon.

Thinking of the sky moved her mind to Jaxx. A strange tranquility came over her when she thought of him. Maybe because he didn’t have a future. She felt terrible about his fate, but not seeing his tomorrows meant she could consider him without pain. He had such a steadying presence.

Steadying? Who was she kidding? Sexy. He had a sexy presence.

She’d gotten a pretty good view as he’d led her naked through the halls of the palace. Windblown dark hair and brooding eyes created the perfect balance of man and beast. Within the body of the man, she sensed the animal—caged energy that flowed beneath the surface of his skin.

When he had been in the form of a dragon, she’d sensed his humanity. The beast had been gentle with her when they’d landed.

The guest suite was smaller than her sister’s home, but compared to her prison cell, it was a mansion. The ample space made her feel incredibly small. The high ceilings and walls covered in imposing tapestries gave the illusion that she was a child in the land of giants. A massive, winged beast—blast it all, dragon—a massive, winged dragon was depicted in thread with fire shooting from a fang-filled mouth.

Foolish as it was, she found herself avoiding eye contact with the material creature.

A light tap sounded. Fiora sat up on the couch and tilted her head to listen in the silence.

Tap-tap.

She turned her attention to the door. The tap turned into a louder knock. She frowned, not wanting anyone to come near her.

Guilt instantly assaulted her at the notion of ignoring whoever sought her attention. She was a guest. They kept her safe from the Federation. Without them, she’d be eating nutrient paste and