Page 21 of Dark Prince's Captive

“Aruan,” I say, pronouncing the foreign name carefully, “seems to be confused.He thinks I’m his mate.”

I laugh to stress my point, but when no one joins in, my laughter quickly dries up.

Holding the sheet up with one hand, I wave toward the two newcomers.“You’re both Alit, right?”

They look at each other before nodding.

“You have special powers, like Aruan,” I continue as an argument takes shape in my head.“Do all Alit have powers?”

“To a lesser or greater extent,” Kian says.

“See?”I give them a friendly, peace-offering smile.“I don’t have a power.”Voila.Point proven.“I’m not an Alit.”

I glance between the trio, anxious for them to connect the dots.

Kian and Vitai shoot Aruan baffled looks.

Their brother stares back, stone faced.

“It’s rare for a royal Alit not to have a power, even a feeble one,” Kian says.“And it’s unheard of for a powerful Alit to be fated to a mate with a weak power, let alone to a mate with no power.Yet I don’t sense anything inside her.”

Aruan turns on him with flashing eyes.“That doesn’t mean anything.Are you suggesting I don’t recognize my own mate?”

“Not at all,” Kian says quickly.“I’m merely saying that it’s strange.”

“Maybe her power was destroyed when she was sent to Earth,” Vitai offers.

My gaze bounces between them like a ping-pong ball while they discuss me as if I’m not in the room.

“That could be,” Kian muses.“Which would be unfortunate.She may be too weak to rule at your side, Aruan.”

The silver of Aruan’s eyes darkens to a deep graphite.A tremor shakes the room, the floor wobbling beneath my feet.

I slam a palm on the wall to keep my balance.

What the hell is going on?Is this an earthquake?

“Accuse my mate of being weak again, and you’ll face me in the clearing,” Aruan says in an icy tone.

Okay, enough is enough.

“Hey, dudes.”I utter another uncomfortable laugh.“While I categorically state that I’m not an Alit, that doesn’t mean you can insult me.”I hurry to tell Aruan, “Although I’m not ungrateful for your intervention when the Phaelix kidnapped me.”

Aruan fixes his piercing gaze on me, possession sparking in the depths of those mercurial eyes.

Kian’s manner is placating.“Father is waiting, and you know how he gets when we waste his time.”

This seems to bring Aruan to his senses.Bowing his head stiffly in my direction, he says, “I will see to it that clothes and food are sent.”

With that, the three of them are gone, and the stone wall materializes back in place.

I rush to it and knock a fist on it to test if any part of the wall is hollow.

No luck.

I move in a circle around the room, but the walls are solid.I even press on a few stones, hoping to find a secret button that unlocks a concealed passageway, like in one of those spooky Gothic movies.

Nope.

---