Page 25 of Their Princess

Chuckling, I stood and stretched, squealing as I did.

The little boy laughed. “You have funny skin and make funny noises.”

“Would you like to come have breakfast with me?” I asked him and held out my hand.

He looked at it nervously for a moment, looked up into my eyes, and asked, “Will you protect me, Princess?”

The fact that he had to ask made me simultaneously angry and sad and my hair began to glow from the emotions. Squatting down so we were eye level, I nodded and set my hand on his shoulder. “While you are with me, my mates and I will keep you safe. Promise.” I made an x over my heart with my finger and smiled warmly at him, understanding the uncertainty he felt.

He reached out and touched a piece of my glowing hair. His expression changed to a look of deep contemplation, or as much as a child could hold that expression, and he nodded. “Okay, Princess. I’ll join you for breakfast.” I wasn’t sure what he’d considered while looking at my hair, but I was glad for the result.

Trey squatted down next to me and Elrith focused on him nervously. “I see you have scales; they’re similar to mine.”

Elrith’s brows furrowed in confusion as he looked at Trey’s smooth, human skin, but Trey let his dragon scales flow over and then Elrith’s brows rose in delight. “Wow! You can shift your skin like the princess!”

“Are you able to shift?” Trey asked him. “Into an animal or other form?”

Elrith looked at Talrinir nervously before looking down at the ground and clenched his hands in front of him without answering.

Why would he be nervous about telling Talrinir he could shift? They had demons who shifted, didn’t they? “We should start our journey so we aren’t late and we can talk on the way?” I suggested.

“Visit us again soon!” Druth called out from the front of her house.

I raised my hand and smiled. “I will.” Walking to Talrinir, I pulled her into a hug and whispered into her ear, “I’ll be in touch soon since we haveso muchto talk about.”

She hugged me back, then pushed me away gently. “Anyone ever tell you that you are a brat?”

“All the time,” Kayden said as he draped his arm around my shoulders and pressed a kiss to my cheek. “One of the biggest brats in both the worlds.”

I pinched his side and skipped over to Elrith, holding my hand out for him to take. “Come on, Elrith. Let’s head for the castle. I’m hungry!”

He set his hand in mine and after watching me skip a moment, started skipping as well, giggling with a huge smile on his face. “What is this?”

“It’s called skipping,” Kayden answered as he skipped by us, swinging his arms exaggeratedly.

“It’s fun!” Elrith exclaimed, and let go of my hand to skip faster after Kayden.

Once we were far enough from the village that no one could see us, Kayden shifted into his werewolf warrior form before continuing to skip.

Elrith slid to a stop. “Y-Y-You shift?”

“We can all shift,” I explained gently and shifted into my warrior form.

Mason shifted into his bird form and flew overhead. “Hybrids,” he cawed.

Trey shifted into his full dragon form for a moment, letting Elrith gawk.

“Can you shift, too?” I asked softly.

Elrith looked at me and my mates and asked, “Promise not to tell others?”

Although I wanted to ask why he didn’t want others to know, I nodded and saved the question for later. “Promise.”

Taking a breath, he closed his eyes, and we all stared in disbelief as his body rippled, black smoke exploded out of him, covering him and hiding him from our sight briefly. When the smoke dissipated, a three foot tall Elrith with the same horns, scale-covered skin, and fangs stood, but he now had red eyes, wings that looked to be made of the same stonelike substance as the scales on his skin, and claws growing from his fingers.

“He looks like a gargoyle,” Mason whispered in my ear.

I nodded my agreement and quickly schooled my features so I was smiling as I approached Elrith. The last thing I wanted was for him to assume we thought him strange. I knew from experience how that felt. “You look awesome!” I praised. “May I touch your wings?”

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