Page 29 of Dark Reign

Corina

Pierce had been talking for roughly ten minutes and still managed to say nothing at all.

It was clear he, and probably the rest of Vol’s staff, had been trained in the art of evasiveness. Apparently, details surrounding the incident with HIN-190487 were completely under lock and key, but I couldn’t just let this go. Not knowing they were hiding so much, not knowing all the work our team had put into making tonight happen. There was a reason this woman and the child she gave birth to were still alive and well after successfully ‘donating’a supply of tainted blood.

And my team needed to know how she, and whoever else was behind it, pulled it off.

My eyes were beginning to glaze over as Pierce veered off topic yet again. My gaze drifted above his shoulder to the crowd when I lost interest. Yes, watching the Ianites fake sincere smiles was more entertaining than this conversation.

I scanned for more faces from the directory, someone who held a lower position maybe, someone I could crack a bit easier, but then my attention was stolen …. by four fast-moving figures that charged straight toward me.

Four men whose faces didn’t even register right away, because havingthemstorming in my direction couldn’t have been good.

I would have expected someone of their status to send sentinels to arrest me if I’d done something wrong, but … that had to be what this was about. The only plausible reason for whatever was happening was that I’d, somehow, given myself away.

They knew.

Which meant I was done.

Stunned, I couldn’t make myself run. Maybe I’d been so well-programmed to hold my composure that I couldn’t even break character. Not even if my life depended on it, like it did right now.

Nothing Pierce said stuck with me at that point, as my life flashed before my eyes. Four whispered words reached my team, so they’d at least have an idea of whose faces were the last I’d seen before death.

“The princes are coming.”

It sounded like Felix choked on his drink in my ear as his voice came through the com.“…What? As in … all of them?”

Pierce assumed I was speaking tohimwhen I uttered the statement, prompting him to glance over his shoulder as the royals rushed toward us.

“What the heck happened, Cori? Is your cover blown?” Felix was frantic and I heard Liv trying to calm him in the background.

I couldn’t respond because they were here now, all four maybe two feet away. Each kept those focused, silver gazes trained directly on me.

Standing so close, as opposed to seeing them through a television screen, they were overwhelming, each in his own way. I’d read all their stats online, had seen countless photos, but nothing prepared me for this, meeting them.

A clean, citrusy cologne made me breathe deeper, just hoping to get a better whiff of it than the breath I’d taken before. I wasn’t sure whose scent it was, but enjoyed it more than I cared to admit. Their presence preceded them and was nearly tangible. I’d never felt anything like it before, the sensation ofanyone’ssoul encircling me, weaving through my hair, my limbs, all over—that powerful feeling multiplied by four.

Standing in the shadow of their tall frames, the breadth of their wide chests and shoulders, I felt my lips part, but no sound came out. Just a soft breeze of air that left my mouth.

Most Ianites were beautiful creatures, but this quad up close was … devastating. Each set of silver eyes bore through me, their odd iridescence flickering when they caught the light in strange ways. I imagined this to be what it might feel like to encounter a pride of hungry lions alone in the darkness. Their intense gazes were almost hypnotic, an effect pictures hadn’t revealed.

“Pardon me, Your Highnesses,” Pierce said with a bow, reminding me he was standing there. “I was just leaving.”

The princes didn’t say a single word to the man as he departed, didn’t acknowledge him. They just stared.

Atme.

It was hard to breathe, and had it not been for Liv’s voice in my ear, I might not have blinked.

“It’s customary to curtsy,” she whispered. It wasn’t like they could hear her, but she kept her voice low anyway. “Hurry before you give yourself away.”

Placing one foot behind the other, I took the material of my dress between my finger and thumb, and then lowered a few inches.

“Good evening, Your Highnesses.” I finally uttered the greeting, but the words didn’t come out so easily.

I was terrified, shaking like a leaf, still unsure why they made such quick work of coming over to me.

“Good evening.” Julian had led the pack toward me, so it made sense that he’d be the first to respond.

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