Page 24 of Exiled Prince

Our eyes hold and connect. Mating band on show or not, it doesn’t change the fact that she ismine. “You wear what you are comfortable with.”

She smiles and lifts her head to rest on my shoulder. “The reason I’ve been running around and disappearing on you is because I’ve been trying to find information on Shadow. That’s why I was at the strip club. And just so you know, no one else could see it was me. I used an illusion to make me look like someone else, but I guess as my fated mate, you could see right through that.”

My fingers gently tangle into her hair, massaging her skull. “I like that no one else got to see you like that.”

Understatement.

It was driving me crazy with jealousy, thinking that other men got to see her in her lingerie and another woman had her mouth on her.

“I knew you would,” she replies in a dry tone, making me laugh.

“You want to find your brother? I’ll help you,” I promise as she sighs in content as I continue to massage her. “Soren is the best tracker in all eight realms. If I ask him to help, he will.”

“You know Soren?” she asks, sounding surprised. “I thought about asking him, but I don’t know him that well to ask for a favor. I only met him once at a party in the Goblin Kingdom, not to mention the whole Salem and Pandora thing.”

Ah, yes. Salem was once betrothed to Pandora, which spurred a little unhealthy obsession. And Soren found Salem going down on his now mate.

Let’s hope Soren forgets all about that.

“I’ll take care of it. You tell me everything you’ve found out so far,” I say, kissing her head.

“He’s been missing for a few years,” she says, sadness lacing her tone. “He just disappeared without a trace. One day, he was at the castle, and the next, he wasn’t. King Bax searched for him, we all did, but eventually, he stopped. I never did, though. Me and my brothers have never stopped looking. Laurel told me to go to the strip club that night to look for someone named Jagger. That’s why I was there. Actually, Laurel is the one who told us to be on the battlefield that day. The day you kidnapped me.”

“Laurel, the seer?” I clarify, and she nods. I choose to ignore her last comment. I have no regrets with how it all went down because I got the outcome I wanted. But it seems Laurel played a hand in the timing of our fate. I know Astrid has been wanting to try to save Laurel from the Shifter Kingdom, worried about her treatment there. Laurel won’t leave, though, and we have no idea why.

“Astrid is a seer too. I’ll ask her if she can see anything to do with Shadow,” I say softly, wanting more than anything to take her pain away. Her loyalty to her family is a commendable quality and makes me realize just how incredible she is. More than beauty and powerful magic, she has a genuine soul andgood character. She’s also quirky as hell, which I find both cute and amusing.

“You’re close with Astrid?” she asks, her tone giving nothing away.

“Yeah, I would say we are,” I reply, treading very carefully. I don’t think she’d ever want to know that I used to have feelings for Astrid. I’d hate to hear that about her and another male. In fact, even the thought makes me want to strike someone with a lightning bolt. “She’s the one who told me about you. She saw a vision of us.”

I don’t add that Astrid was in the vision, too, sitting with us. And that we were clearly all friends. They can find that path on their own.

I also don’t mention that I was wearing a crown in the vision because that can only mean one thing.

Saylor is very far down the line to the Shifter throne, being the youngest, so chances of her taking the crown are slim. So that means any crown of mine would have to come from the Demon Kingdom.

The one place I haven’t set foot in since I was a child.

The one place I don’t want to go, but as fate would see it, the one place I might end up.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Saylor

On my kitchen counter sits a massive strawberry cheesecake, a big bowl of chocolate biscuit pudding, and a whole tray of chocolate brownies.

I don’t think there’s any other way to break the news of my bonding to my brothers. Bane reluctantly went back to Chaos with the promise that I would join him back there later tonight. I know he thinks we should live together right from the get-go, but I don’t see the harm in us moving back and forth until we figure it all out. I sure as hell am not getting rid of my house.

Dressed in a long pink and purple flowing dress with my hair tied on top of my head, I tap my black boots as I contemplate how this will go.

Will they try to go after Bane?

Will they accept us?

Will they try to lock me away and cockblock me?

Will Salem try and kill him?

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