Page 52 of Alien Prince's Claim

But she wasn’t there.

Had she left?

Had she gone somewhere to—

My breath caught in my throat.

There, caught on an uneven floor tile that jutted up on one corner, was a tiny piece of cloth.

By the Creator, please no…

I hesitated before bending down to retrieve it.

I didn’t want to touch it, didn't want to know what it was…

But I had to know.

I had to know how I had failed her.

I tugged the shard of silk away and rubbed it between my fingers.

It was from a negligee.

Hers?

It had to be.

I didn’t believe many other females had been down here, certainly not recently.

“Emily…” I said in a voice a little louder than a croak. “No…”

I clenched my fist around the tiny fragment and brought it to my nose.

I breathed in her scent.

It was her.

There was no doubt about that.

She had been here and she had been taken — how else could a shard of her clothing have gotten snagged on a jutting floor tile?

My fist crushed the fabric, squeezing so hard it made the muscles in my hand hurt.

I swore by the Creator I would not rest until I had torn out the throat of every Goblar I got my hands on.

There would be no safe place they could hide, nowhere they could seek refuge.

I would take up the throne and launch an all-out war against the hideous little beasts and hunt them down to the point of extinction.

Without knowing which one was responsible for her disappearance, they were all guilty.

I knew all about their sordid little natures, that they would have all done what the guilty party had if they had the option.

Scrrrrrreeeee—

My eyes bolted open, recognizing not just the scream but the throat it’d come from.

Emily.

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