AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I would appreciate any training I can receive, as I’ve only been given mage training and did not even know I was a siren or elf or anything else until now. The last thing I want to do is hurt anyone I care about. However, I don’t have access to my magic right now and I don’t know if it’ll be back by tomorrow.”
She nodded and ate another bite of her food. “Let’s hope it’s back by tomorrow, but if not, I can still do some sensing and get answers to some questions at the very least. I’ll start our training tomorrow at noon.”
“Noon?” Riddick asked.
She smiled and said, “A woman needs her beauty sleep.” She winked at me and I stifled a laugh.
After several silent moments, the others returned, and while Caleb looked happy, the others were obviously worried about something.
I wanted to ask if everything was okay, but since he seemed happy, I left it alone and just focused on finishing my food.
Thankfully, he finished his food about the same time as me, so we were able to say goodnight and head upstairs to the rooms they had prepared for us.
Caleb showed the guys where their rooms were first before opening the door to my room and waving me inside.
The room was large, had a king-sized four-poster bed, a side table with a lamp, an attached bathroom, and as I walked closer, a beautiful view of the woods behind the house.
“Is everything okay?” I asked as I looked over my shoulder at him. “Your family seemed upset about you telling me not to bow my head.”
He smirked, put his hands in his pockets, and rocked back on his heels. “Everything is fine. They just haven’t seen me interact with a girl before and wanted to make sure I was behaving myself.”
I arched a brow. “Behaving yourself? You’re an adult.” We were both in our twenties, so I wasn’t sure what they could possibly be worried about. I wasn’t a naïve child. Inexperienced for sure, but not naïve.
“You’re held to a different standard when you’re an alpha and even more so as a member of the royal family.”
My eyes widened. “Did they think you were pressuring me and using your status as prince?”
His lip twitched. “Something like that.”
Clearly there was something else, but he didn’t want to tell me for whatever reason. Maybe it was personal.
Dragging my finger along the side table, I moved to sit on the edge of the bed. “Your family seems very loving. You must have had a great childhood.”
“Yes, I did. I wish I could have found you sooner, to make yours better, like I did Riddick’s.” He sat on the bed beside me and pushed my hair behind my ear. “Do you want to talk about your parents and what happened in the warehouse?”
I shook my head. “Not yet.” Really, I hoped to put the whole incident behind me and move on.
“When you’re ready, I’m here.” He stood and stretched his arms over his head. “I better head to bed. Knowing my fathers, they’ll pull me out early in the morning for some sparring and training sessions.”
“Thank you,” I whispered and raised my eyes to meet his. “Thank you for bringing me here.”
He leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on my lips. “Get some rest, Ember. You are safe here. No one can hurt you.”
Except myself and possibly the handsome prince before me, if the way my emotions were spiraling was any indication.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
The sound of growling woke me early the next morning. I cracked open my door and peeked through, covering my mouth to stop from laughing as Caleb was dragged down the hallway by two of his fathers, Prince Deryn and Prince Rhys. Prince Foxfire and King Nico dragged Riddick out of his room as well, both young men growling and grumbling with sleepy eyes at the older men, but obviously not truly upset.
Since I was awake, I freshened up, glad there was a toothbrush available in the bathroom attached to my room, and then hurried downstairs so I could watch the sparring. I had heard that Caleb was an excellent fighter and could use all of his forms with ease, so I was very interested in witnessing that while not in a truly life-threatening instance.
I skipped down the staircase to the foyer and was intercepted by Princess Jolie.
“Ember!” she said joyously, smiling wide. “I hoped you would be awake soon. We have breakfast in the dining room.”
“Thank you, I’ll grab something in a minute. I wanted to watch the sparring.” As soon as I admitted it, my cheeks warmed.
