Marked Prince - Michelle M. Pillow Page 0,31
mind if people know I’m attracted to you, and I will be envied when they find out you’re attracted to me.”
“That’s not the only concern,” she insisted. “If I know secrets, and people want to know those secrets… I can’t be trusted. The more people I’m around, the more I see. I don’t think you should take me around your parents. I should hide when we get close to their house.”
He looked as if he wanted to disagree but didn’t speak.
“I need you to promise me something. I can’t ask my sister, and Grier would never do anything to go against his wife, so that leaves you as the only person I can ask.” Fiora put her hand on his arm. “I will go into the city with you to read the futures. I promise I will try to find out what I can to help you and Shelter City, but the more I find out, the more dangerous I become—to the shifters and the Cysgodians.”
He again glanced down the path before gesturing that she should walk with him.
Fiora pulled his arm to stop him. “Jaxx, I need you to promise me that you won’t let the Federation take me.”
“I have already said you are under my protection.” Jaxx’s tone changed as if her words insulted him.
“Even if that means you have to kill me,” she finished the thought.
He looked horrified.
“You’re the only one I can ask,” she insisted.
“No,” he said. “It will never come to that. Death is not an answer.”
Fiora frowned. “You don’t know my life or my pain. Sometimes there doesn’t seem to be another way out.”
He looked at her for a long moment, and she could see he was trying to choose his words. Finally, he whispered, “You’re not alone.”
For perhaps the first time in her life, no words forced their way past her lips. She opened her mouth, as if ready for them to escape, but remained silent.
“You’re not alone.”
How long had it been since she’d felt like she wasn’t alone? No one cared about her beyond what she could do for them. Everyone she’d met since she’d been forced from her home had tried to use her for some kind of gain—which team would win, what industry would thrive, perform parlor tricks for my dignitary friends. That feeling of aloneness could be all-consuming and hard to see past.
“Fiora,” Salena called, appearing on the path ahead of them. She waved her hand for her sister to hurry.
“We should go,” Fiora said.
Jaxx grabbed her arm and didn’t let her leave. Firmly, he stated, “There is always another way. We will find it.”
She wasn’t sure exactly what he meant by that, but now wasn’t the time to ask. He released her and began walking with her toward Salena.
“You’re not alone.”
His words stayed with her as they rejoined the others on the path.
“What were you two—?” Grace automatically stopped her teasing question with a look at Salena. She shook her head. “Never mind. Not asking questions.”
It was too late though. Fiora already knew what the rest of the sentence was. “Jaxx kissed me and then refused to kill me.”
Salena began to speak, but Jaxx lifted his hand toward her and shook his head. “Everything is fine. We’re near my parents’ home.” He looked at Fiora. “And you’re not hiding in the forest.”
“It will be good to see your mother again, Jaxx,” Salena said. “Olena was very kind to me after you found me. I think you’ll like her, Fiora.”
Jaxx’s parents lived a short walk from the Draig village. The home was nestled into the trees, larger than those they’d passed in the village but unassuming and not what she’d expected for a royal couple after seeing the palace.
Grier suddenly stopped. “Do you hear that?”
Fiora tilted her head and listened. “No.”
Jaxx lifted his hand in front of Fiora to stop her advance. His face changed by small degrees as if trying to shift into a dragon only to stop halfway. A ridge formed across his brow, pushing out from his forehead to create a protective line over his nose and eyes. His eyes flashed with yellow flames, and talons grew from the tips of his fingers.
Fiora’s breath caught, but she wasn’t frightened of him.
“It’s too quiet,” Grace said, inching along the path toward the house with her cousins. “Something’s wrong.”
Two glass doors to the home were opened wide, revealing the interior before they were close enough to step inside. One of the doors had been smashed.
“This isn’t right.” Jaxx’s