Page 70 of Maid for the Alien Prince

It wasn’t difficult to figure out what Ges hoped to gain. He’d been prevented from taking Rayaw’s wealth and so he had decided to get it a different way:

By sneaking into the palace and stealing it. I wondered how he had managed to get inside when there were guards stationed around the palace all night.

Probably the same way I had, I realized, when I first came and met Rayaw. With the use of the secret passageways.

How he had learned about them, I didn’t know—it was possible he could have gotten it out of the staff, forcing it from Emma’s lips—perhaps there was another reason she had so many bruises that didn’t have anything to do with the Steyatt.

I attempted to shout but my voice only came out as a soft murmur. Ges tightened his grip further around my mouth, clamping it shut tight.

It was painful with him forcing my jaw back as far back as it would go. Any harder, and I thought he would snap the bone.

He seemed to feel the pressure and murmured gently again in my ear: “Don’t test me, slut.”

A clanking noise like metal grinding against leather scabbards rubbing harshly filled my ears.

“The guards are making their hourly check,” Ges whispered in my ear. “If you’re smart, you won’t make a noise or try to get their attention. If you do, I cannot promise what will happen next. I might kill the guards. Or I might kill you. Or I might slip into the darkness and return another night to slit your beloved’s throat while he sleeps.”

It wasn’t an empty threat. An Ulsen was capable of anything with their immense strength, especially during an unfulfilled Steyatt.

The guardsman drew closer and stepped into the doorway. He peered at the room, from one shadowy recess to another. It seemed strange that I could see him standing there so clearly while he couldn’t make out me or my captor at all.

I considered struggling with the hope of making a noise and getting his attention but decided against it. The last thing I needed was a broken jaw.

The guard, seemingly satisfied that there was nothing in the room, turned on his heel smartly, clicked his heels, and marched away.

Then it occurred to me. Ges wasn’t going to harm me. If he did, I would be worth nothing to him. He was here to steal items he could later sell… but how much more was I worth than those things?

If he broke my jaw, how did he know I wouldn’t end up bleeding to death? Then he would have to find a doctor or hospital, and he was unlikely to do that with a hostage!

Yes, I was certain he wouldn’t want to take that risk. Suddenly, my most dangerous moment became what might become my moment of salvation.

I pulled my wrist back—although I had full control of my hands, my elbows were fixed firmly to my sides by Ges’ powerful arm. I hurled the glass forward and it smashed on the floor, the water pooling across the wood.

The guard that had left immediately stopped and turned back around.

Ges, as I expected, didn’t crush my jaw—as much as he might have wanted to. I was much too valuable for that. Instead, he growled under his breath.

I felt his body tense as he turned sideways and shifted his body weight. My body flopped like a ragdoll.

The guardsman gingerly peered around the doorframe at the glass inexplicably smashed in the middle of the room in a puddle of its own water.

He seemed confused as to where it might have come from, even glancing up at the ceiling, as if it might have fallen from there.

We’re here! I’m right here! I wanted to yell at him.

But he didn’t hear my muffles.

Ges threw me into the moonlight, and I landed hard on my ass.

The guard’s eyes widened as he rushed toward me.

Ges leapt forward with far greater purpose in his movements as he launched himself at the guardsman.

I heard the guardsman grunt under his breath as Ges seized him and did something to him that made a horrifying crunch sound, before the guard’s body collapsed in a heap beside me on the floor.

His eyes fluttered open and shut, his body shaking. He was already dead. His body just didn’t realize it yet.

If I had expected the guardsman to save me, I needed to think again. I needed to save myself.

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