Page 39 of Forsaken Royals

“Good.”

I gave him a peck on the lips.

“What, you’re going to feed him, but not me?” Jagger put his hand to his chest in mock-hurt.

“Fine, you big baby.” I grinned, feeding him a bit of cheese instead. I watched him chew and swallow, his dark eyes glittering in a way that filled me with anticipation.

“Now no kiss? You’re killing me, Little Flower.” Jagger pulled me to him, planting a passionate kiss on me that made my head spin.

“I won’t leave you out, Lex,” I said once I recovered from Jagger’s kiss.

Lex got the same treatment, ending with a kiss that was right between Jagger’s and Flint’s in its intensity. I turned to attend to the potatoes, but a knock on Jagger’s door broke my focus.

Jagger let the fae in. He wore the uniform of their enforcers—a dark red jacket over black pants—but with a gold trim. Maybe higher-level enforcers? I’d seen them around, giving the others their orders. His expression was grave, flipping the energy in the room in an instant.

“Your Highnesses, we’ve had another incident with an orphanage. Our enforcers were able to rescue all the children and bring them to temporary housing on the palace grounds, but many were injured,” he said.

“We should go,” Flint said, standing. “Come on.”

Lex and Jagger went after him, looking back at me. I followed. I wasn’t sure what I’d do, but I wanted to help out.

Chapter23

Flint

Iwas glad we’d built temporary housing on the palace grounds for displaced victims, but I hated that we had to use it so often.

The orphans that we’d rescued before had been placed in foster homes or sent to different orphanages, so all of the kids in there were new. They were everywhere, older ones than before, in their early or late teens, sometimes more than one to a narrow bed. Between the healers helping the injured, the kids, and my advisors, the main wing was claustrophobic.

The building was massive, as large as a warehouse. They should have had more room.

“We need another wing built immediately,” I said to Lucas. “They’re older and can’t be stuffed in here like this.”

“We’ll start on it right away.” Lucas bowed his head and left.

“They rescued so many kids,” Arden said, her voice low. “How did this many end up in such a bad situation? How did they all get kidnapped?”

“I’m not sure.” I ran my hand through my hair, looking across the large room. Jagger and Lex had split off from us, talking to our other advisors and the enforcers who had completed the rescue mission. “Sleeping spells, probably.”

“Even though they’re older? When I was fourteen, I’d come into my powers enough to fight someone off.” Arden frowned. “And I didn’t even have an elemental power or a shifter form.”

“It’s the only way I can think of the kidnappers pulling it off. Maybe they snuck in at night, put everyone to sleep, and loaded the kids up?” My chest tightened. I hated any situation where children were harmed, but this felt different. More foreboding. “Come on, we should get the other two and talk with security to figure out what happened.”

We passed through the main hall. I checked over what each of the healers was doing. All fae had the ability to heal themselves from minor injuries, but younger fae whose powers hadn’t reached their full strength needed the aid of a healer to enhance their regenerative magic.

“What happened to him?” I asked one of the healers, who was kneeling next to a very sick-looking pre-teen. All the color had drained from the child’s face, making him look gray. If it weren’t for the slow rise and fall of his chest, I would have assumed he was dead.

“He reacted badly to a spell they were put under. We’re still trying to figure out what it was,” the healer said. He held his hand above the child’s forehead, a faint glow illuminating his skin. “He’s doing better, though. I’m still working on him.”

“Good. I don’t want to lose a single one of these children.” I walked on, though Arden hesitated before following. “What’s wrong?”

“All of this.” She gestured around, her green eyes filled with too many emotions to name. “How is this happening?”

“I don’t know,” I said, as much as it made the pressure in my chest intensify. “We’ve had to rescue more and more kids lately. Mostly ones like them—orphans, foster kids, kids with troubled pasts. At first, it was just a handful of kids who came off the streets, like runaway teens who’d been hanging around rough neighborhoods. Then smaller group homes reported kidnappings and runaways. Now it’s situations like this and the last group of kids we rescued.”

Arden swallowed, looking away. At first, I thought she was angry, but when she looked back at me, she was blinking back tears.

“You don’t know who’s doing it?” she asked.

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