Page 84 of Royal Captive
An electric shot nailed both of us.
“Fuckingshit!” The fae dropped me like I’d burned him. He covered his mouth with his hands, eyes screwed up with pain.
Oh great, now he’d get pissed and hit me. “I don’t know what that was—”
“Get the fuck away from my human, Quarros.”
Alihandro himself rounded the corner of my cell like an avenging angel, leaning against the bars casually as though he’d been here the whole time, lurking and watching me.
And maybe he had been. Dick.
The fae spat on the ground. “How was I supposed to know you marked her? Stupid fucking humans. Not worth the trouble.”
Alihandro’s head tilted to the side. “Your parents are nobles, aren’t they?” He gave the other fae (Quarros) a brief glance from head to toe. “Odd that their only son is a prison guard, of all things.”
Quarros flushed red. “I have more fae blood in my veins than you, according to the rumors flying around the court. Someone must take the shit jobs when the king forces all his bastards into the good ones. I got what I could.”
Rather than get angry, Alihandro just smirked. “And it had nothing to do with your piss poor exams, I’m sure. Dismissed.”
He turned his back on Quarros as the fae looked fit to burst, instead focusing his attention on me. Quarros mumbled something in the fae language and fucked off, leaving us alone.
“Have you found out any useful information?” Alihandro asked with a no-nonsense tone, though his eyes fixed on the mark on my neck.
To say I was a bit surprised at this abrupt change in topic without addressing what had just happened would be an understatement.
“I … uh … well, Ellis seems convinced Hayida is the head rebel, but—”
Alihandro snorted. “Of course. Hayidawasthe head rebel, technically. When you get deposed and forced off your throne, you aredefactothe head rebel, whether you wish to be or not. Why do you think he’s in prison? Of course that means there is now anewhead rebel. Not him, of course.”
My brain ground to a halt, and my heart sank. Ellis had been right, but so, so wrong.
Hayida was the deposed king; the one who supposedly made Fennis look like a teddy bear.
Fennis’s father.
Oh my gods.
Alihandro leaned in, and I took a half-step away, which pushed my back up against the cold stone wall of the corridor. His head dipped down as his nose brushed the place where he’d bitten me with his fangs, sending a jolt across my skin. I should punch him for that. I—
His tongue swiped across it, and the electric jolt turned into a surge of need that shot straight to my core. My knees went weak, but Alihandro already had an arm around my waist, holding me up.
“Why did you give me this? It hurt,” I growled at him, still feeling betrayed. “And you taunted Ellis about us being together in front of everyone.”
He snorted against my neck, the warm puff of air tickling my throat. “I do what I must so Fennis doesn’t suspect me.”
My heart nearly stopped beating in my chest. Suspect him of what? Did that mean what I thought it did?
“You’re the head rebel,” I breathed out.
Alihandro threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, Princess. This is why I like you. So inquisitive, yet also jumping to so many wrong conclusions faster than an arrow in flight. I am in the rebel faction, but I am not the head rebel. That’s much too serious work for me.”
I sucked in a breath. Alihandrowasa rebel, but not the one Fennis was interested in. Still, wouldn’t that be information important to Fennis? That his own blood was conspiring against him?
“And don’t think about turning me into Fennis,” he warned, popping my idea like an inflated pig’s bladder.
“One tug of my magick on the little mark on your neck, and you drop dead. And that would truly be a pity.” He leaned down and kissed me before I knew what was happening, slipping his tongue between my teeth. It was a full few seconds before I realized he’d just threatened my life and I pushed him away, my hands ineffectively shoving against his chest.. It was laughable since his strength was superior to mine, but he backed off, smirking.
“Why so glum, Princess?” he mocked.
