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He sighed and loosened his hold on her enough to look into her eyes. “That’s the best thing I’ve ever heard.”

Chapter 17

Au'revele opened her eyes and gazed sleepily around Alexandrus’ nursery. He was sleeping soundly in his crib — finally. He’d awakened every other hour for the last two days, and everyone in the royal residence was dazed from lack of sleep. Au'revele had finally managed to talk Vivian into allowing her to take him into his nursery for the night so that Vivi and Quin could get some sleep. She didn’t know if it was the special Eschinian tea she’d prepared for him, or if it was simple exhaustion, but Alexandrus was finally asleep.

Having lain down near his bassinet to try to get some rest of her own, she wasn’t sure what had awakened her, and she was just about to fall asleep when she heard a sound that just didn’t fit. She lay still, listening to Alexandrus’ even breathing and deciding that it had to have been him. She closed her eyes and started to fall back asleep, but was suddenly awake again. It was more a feeling this time than a sound. She closed her eyes but remained awake, alert, waiting for anything at all to confirm her uneasiness.

The adjoining door between her apartment and the nursery eased open. That sound was unmistakable.

Au’revele’s heart jumped, but she remained unmoving, giving the impression of sleeping.

She sensed movement as whoever had made their way into the nursery, progressed carefully across the large room. She felt someone’s breath on her face as they leaned close to her, apparently trying to determine if she was near waking, then satisfied that she would not, backed away from her and made the worst mistake of their life. They reached for Alexandrus.

Au’revele screamed long and loud as she came up off the small bed and launched herself at the person who was sostartled by her lunge toward them they stumbled back several steps, nearly dropping Alexandrus in the process.

Au'revele rushed the person, using her shoulder to knock the person backward as she fought for Alexandrus.

The person holding him fought her back.

Au'revele relied on instinct when she grabbed the person’s throat and squeezed with one hand while keeping her other arm around Alexandrus in case he was dropped.

The person holding Alexandrus kept fighting for possession of the child.

Au'revele’s nails scraped across the person’s throat as she released their neck and Alexandrus so she could better fight. Raising both hands quickly to their face, she went for their eyes, shoving her thumbs into both eye sockets before rearing back with one hand and punching repeatedly.

The person’s screams added to hers as they flailed their arms and fists toward Au'revele in return.

Alexandrus began screaming and Au'revele grabbed for him, snatching him away from the person now haphazardly holding him as they tried to strike back at Au'revele.

Au'revele turned her back to the person, as she tucked Alexandrus into her body, shielding him from the blows that rained down on her back as she dropped to the floor and curled herself tightly around the baby. Not once did she stop screaming, and with Alexandrus’ cries added to hers, she could barely identify the near deafening sounds suddenly surrounding her.

Orders being shouted could be heard from inside the royal residence, and the sounds of running booted feet thundered toward the nursery.

The blows Au'revele had endured stopped, but she didn’t even notice as she kept Alexandrus sheltered tightly against her body and just kept screaming.

Doors were thrown open, and as security forces ran from every direction, she felt powerful arms lift her fully from the floor.

She opened her eyes and peeked at the person holding her through her hair as she remained hunched around the child.

“Alexandrus!” Quin bellowed at her.

She didn’t speak, just held him out a little from her body so Quin could see him.

Quin simply turned and ran with both of them in his arms back into the downstairs residence where Vivian was screaming and sobbing for her baby.

Quin plopped Au'revele onto the foot of the bed and plucked Alexandrus from her arms, then quickly handed him to Vivian.

Vivian took him from Quin and sat on the foot of the bed beside Au'revele, hugging Alexandrus with one hand and Au'revele with the other as they both cried.

“What happened?!” Quin demanded.

“Someone tried to take him. I fought them, then suddenly they stopped and you were there,” Au'revele said between sniffling.

“Who?!” Quin demanded.

“I don’t know. It was dark, and I was fighting whoever held him. All I saw were dark clothes.” As she spoke she used her hands to gesture as she usually did.

Quin reached out and took one of her hands in his, examining them. “There is blood under your nails. Blood on your thumbs.”

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