Captive prince, p.14
Captive Prince, page 14
“So we’re stuck with paint boy. Great,” she complained. “Now we’ll never survive this stupid ordeal.”
“So you had military training? I had no idea,” Angelo sarcastically replied.
I rubbed my forehead. “Why are you being so disrespectful to a complete stranger?” I asked Tia.
“I told you, he’s the laughingstock of our society. He got into the Academy because his second gift is turning different colors,” Tia replied. Zamire strolled into the room in full winter gear and scowled when his eyes landed on me.
“Please let me know what your second gift is. Is it being hysterical?” Zamire asked. I was so over the way he looked down on women.
“Like a man can’t be overdramatic,” I snapped, storming up to him. I poked him in the chest and he gently grasped my wrist.
“Jade, what’s going on?” he demanded.
“Aside from the fact that you think men are stronger than women, not much,” I huffed.
“Jade, when did I say that? I was just making an observation.” I couldn’t argue with his words, especially when dancing butterflies in my stomach distracted me. Our gazes connected and there wasn’t a word spoken, since the chemistry bubbling between us said enough.
Angelo walked over and gently touched Zamire’s shoulder. “You have Najorian abilities,” he told the prince. “I need to teach you how to use them.”
“I’m Nerethian,” was Zamire’s haughty reply.
“Did one of your ancestors mate with a Najorian?” Angelo questioned. “It could have been centuries ago.”
“You’re sure, soldier?” Zamire asked.
“Yes. That’s the first thing they train recruits to detect in the Academy,” Angelo explained. Zamire released his hold on my wrist, and I felt empty. Instead, I turned to Angelo.
“He teleports in spurts,” I reported.
Zamire a noise that displayed his displeasure. “Yes, Jade, trust every stranger that comes along,” Zamire sarcastically told me.
“He’s trustworthy. I can feel it,” I insisted.
Angelo grinned. “I can see why Sheena is fighting so hard to save you,” he told me.
“Sheena? She knows aliens exist? Does Lord Peirc know about her? Is she safe?” I tossed out so many questions that Zamire shot me a “you’re being hysterical” expression.
“Who’s Sheena?” Luke asked, his apologetic eyes landing on Angelo.
“My best friend,” I replied. Tia snorted and I was about to tell her off when Princess Shala entered the room, pulling an eight-foot-tall man on a chain. Angelo’s horrified gaze told me that he knew the man.
“Cordell? What are you doing here?” Angelo demanded.
“They took her,” the Janton said in broken English. “My Lynna is gone.”
“His Lynna was probably added to Emperor Tulda’s army,” Tia guessed.
“Sit,” Princess Shala ordered, and the man sat on the rug. “Now you need to try this vial that my brother is giving out to our people. I need to see what it does.”
Cordell made eye contact with Angelo, who sighed. “Sorry, I have no idea what’s in the vial.” Cordell’s friend was obviously filled with regret.
“Just show honor and drink.” When Cordell took the vial from his horrid princess, my heart sank.
Chapter 28
Jade
Janton
(The Castle)
I winced when Cordell plopped to the carpet, unconscious. The princess eyed us with suspicion. It was obvious that she still didn’t trust that her brother was insane. I eyed Zamire, whose nervous gaze was trained on the Janton prisoner. Before he teleported away, he was about to tell me something. I eyed Princess Shala, who still remained in the room. Damn, what would be a good reason to pull him aside? I racked my brain, but couldn’t conceive of a way to speak alone.
“Zamire, you—”
“It’s Prince Zamire,” he snapped in my direction, and pain sliced my chest. Though Princess Shala looked satisfied, Tia seemed downright joyful at the public slight.
Angelo walked over to me, kindness in his eyes. “Royals are very prickly about their titles, even if you’re friends with them,” he told me.
“Don’t take any advice from paint boy,” Tia warned.
“Did I personally do something to you?” Angelo asked.
“Yes. You were born,” Tia hissed. Now that was enough. I couldn’t stand bullies and wouldn’t allow someone so nice to be disrespected.
“You’re one to talk. The reason why we’re in this mess is because of you. Instead of teleporting to your village to see if I was lying, you threw a hissy fit. Then, when you saw that I was right, you drew attention to us and tried to attack the emperor. If it wasn’t for me and my quick thinking, you would have been parts in a lab,” I reprimanded.
Angelo frowned. “Parts in a lab?” the soldier slowly asked, his eyes going wide.
“Yes. That’s exactly what Emperor Tulda said,” I replied, sweat coating my neck.
“What color were Emperor Tulda’s eyes?” Angelo confidently inquired.
“What does the color of my brother’s eyes have anything to do with this conversation?” Princess Shala demanded.
“Milky white,” I rasped out.
“Mental clones,” Angelo breathed out.
“No way, those abominations were eradicated by the military might of five planets centuries ago,” Tia protested.
“For someone that thought that I was inept, you sure drew the wrong conclusion,” Angelo quipped.
Zamire nodded. “I suspected something along those lines. But I need to talk to my father. He’ll know for sure.”
Unfortunately for us, a weary Emperor Tulda strolled into the room, wearing aviators. Princess Shala eyed him with a thoughtful expression.
“Tully, why are you still wearing that contraption on your face?” she demanded. The possible clone ignored his sister and walked over to Tia. He held his big palm out.
“You have something that belongs to me, Najorian,” he said.
“Tulda, where is your wife?” Shala demanded.
“I don’t have a wife,” Emperor Tulda replied.
“This can’t be,” the princess whispered.
“Go on, Najorian, hand me the vial,” the emperor ordered.
The princess whistled, and a long sword appeared in her hand. The emperor didn’t even glance at his sister. His hungry eyes were all for Tia.
“Give it back. You stole a prototype,” he shouted.
“Prototype,” we all shouted in unison.
“It was purple,” Tia said. “I took the right one.”
Angelo groaned. “He tricked you. There’s clearly no prototype.”
I was going to let out a denial until the emperor dove for Tia at such a speed that none of us could do a thing. He grabbed Tia’s cloak and yanked, part of it escaping in his hand. Then he tossed a knife right at her chest. I let out a scream. Angelo teleported away so fast that my eyes didn’t register that he was suddenly on top of Tia, the knife floating an inch from his arm.
The emperor did one of those dreaded slow claps. “A Najorian with telekinesis ended up on my planet. How was I so lucky?” he wondered.
“You ordered my imprisonment, sir,” Angelo said, his tone hard.
“What for?” the emperor inquired.
“For blowing up the Kigor Port,” Angelo replied. The crazed emperor laughed and did the annoying slow-clapping thing.
“Tulda, you were truly a madman. Eleron was right to select you. Oh, Najorian specimen, you’ve gotten it all wrong. Chaos blew up the Kigor Port to upset the greedy Nerethian lords. Your charges won’t stick for long.”
Tears streamed down Princess Shala’s face, her sword arm shaking. “No,” she whispered.
“Yes,” the emperor said, mocking his sister. “Thank you so much for keeping all of my specimens safe, dear sister. I’m afraid you are no longer useful to chaos. Your obsession with vanity won’t suit my cause.” I needed to think quickly. If Emperor Tulda killed Shala now, then the Janton government would be toppled. That meant vulnerable innocent lives would be ripe for the picking. I stepped in front of Shala, my heart nearly cracking from fear.
“No, you don’t want to kill her, Prince Eleron. You want her for your army. She’s a great warrior,” I lied. Princess Shala let out a curse, but I ignored her.
“Her mind is strong. Chaos has been drugging the water supply for years. The serum is only the last step. It will wear off too quickly on her.”
“You can create another serum with her help,” I offered.
Prince Eleron shook his head. “I already have a group of Janton in mind for that. Chaos has voted, and she must die,” the clone shouted. Moments later, black-clad Janton soldiers charged us. Oh, crap.
I eyed Princess Shala, who eyed the ten vacant-eyed opponents with fear. I couldn’t blame her. Most of the guards were middle-aged housewives clutching red rods, while the other three were teenage boys. He pulled a black box from his pocket and fiddled with it.
“Kill everyone accept for that Najorian boy and the human girl,” he ordered. It was apparent that Angelo and I could sit this fight out, if we were dishonorable enough. I almost wanted to back out and run in the other direction. But then my heart reminded me that I could never leave Zamire to fight these people alone. To no one’s surprise, Tia and Luke teleported from the room, obviously not down to face battle with us. I eyed Angelo, wondering if he would do the same. But he teleported beside one of the women and snatched the rod straight out of her hand and shot a beam of light at Emperor Tulda. His skin sizzled for a moment, but then he burst out laughing.
“I’m immune to those rods, foolish Najorian,” he taunted. One woman backflipped over me in an effort to get to the princess. I faced Shala and shot a ball of light at the woman’s back, her body crumbling to dust. Guilt pounded into me at the sight of her remains, knowing that I just executed an innocent victim. But I had one objective: I needed to get the princess out of here.
I eyed Zamire, who commandeered his own rod. He looked so pissed off at me that I swore his look could slice me in half. Seriously, it wasn’t like I conjured up a mental clone that had a mentally controlled army. I ignored him and eyed the eight brain washed fighters with confusion, since they weren’t making a move. But then I realized that I was in the way of getting to Shala, and Angelo was hanging onto Zamire. From what it looked like, Zamire was struggling to get away. That was odd. Angelo’s tactic was working.
The bones on the floor scraped the bottoms of my bare feet on my way to the princess. I held onto her arm, and Emperor Tulda sighed and took off his shades. His milky white gaze glanced in my direction, then he snapped his fingers.
“You’re right, Prince Eleron, fight to injure, not kill,” Emperor Tulda said.
“Jade,” Zamire shouted. His desperate cry made my gaze land on him, and then he vanished, Angelo going with him. Now it was down to the princess, me, eight guards, and a crazy clone. What could go wrong?
Chapter 29
Sheena
Earth
(The Gemini Compound)
“Lift your arms,” Rawson coached. I was about to fall on my butt, tired of punching and blocking.
“I don’t think I can feel them anymore,” I grumbled. A week later, and I still felt like I’d run a marathon whenever the end of my training drew close. Rawson shot me a patient look.
“One more time, and you can stop for the day,” he said. I raised my hands, prepared to jab at my trainer, when an arrow of pain slammed into my forehead.
Jade rested on a lab table, a tube in her arm. Her head was shaved bald, and she was missing one of her eyes. Emperor Tulda walked in, pushing a cart full of vials. He eyed Jade with a hopeful expression.
“This better work,” he said. “Drink up, Jade.” She obediently sat up and sluggishly reached for the vial. She chugged it down, then began convulsing. The emperor shook his head, disappointed in Jade’s bad reaction. He didn’t lift a finger as Jade continued to flop around on the table. When her body stopped moving, blood oozed out of her nose and mouth.
“That was annoying. Now I have to find another specimen,” the mad emperor muttered in English. He rubbed his forehead, clearly stressed that his experiment failed to yield positive results.
I was lying on the mat, a concerned Rawson sitting beside me. My headache was so intense that I swore my fingernails were sore. My entire body was sensitive, my skin feeling like it had been scrubbed too vigorously by a loofah. I tried to talk, but my dry mouth wouldn’t let me produce any sound.
“What happened, Sheena?”
“Water,” I croaked out. This was my first time having a vision of the future, and it was taking a toll on my body. I sure hoped that I could do something to change that horrid outcome. Jade was the queen of castors, the figure that would finally unite the covens. I couldn’t afford for anything to happen to her. Maybe she could change the stifling rules so I could be with Deric. I didn’t want to give him up.
Mandy walked over to us, followed by an annoyed Amber. Torman wasn’t able to spar with Amber, so she was subjected to Mandy’s constant chatter and bossy nature.
“I told you, Rawson. Sheena is only a human. She can’t handle our training regiment,” Mandy scolded.
“Vision,” I rasped out. Amber thankfully ran to the water station and came back with a glass of water. Rawson and Amber helped me sit up, and Amber held the glass to my mouth. I took a sip of the refreshing liquid, my throat grateful for the hydration. As soon as the glass was drained, I eyed Amber.
“I had a vision of the future. Jade ends up in a lab with Emperor Tulda experimenting on her. It was horrible. She lost an eye and—” Two strangers, Deric, and the king and queen suddenly teleported into the training center. The couple was dressed in what looked like bearskin clothing. They were clearly exhausted and barely able to hold themselves up. Deric ran to me, his eyes widening when he got a whiff of what was in my mind.
“In Sheena’s vision, Emperor Tulda has milky eyes. Tia and Luke reported the same thing” Deric said.
King Rayon let out a curse. “Clones? I thought we eradicated them five hundred years ago,” the king protested.
“Clearly, you didn’t. Angelo is no liar, and Sheena’s visions are accurate,” Deric defended.
The male stranger rubbed his face, clearly stressed out. “I get that none of you know us, but I can honestly say that Emperor Tulda has gone off the rails. Before we left, he was about to kill the crowned princess and the rest of us. He called Jade a specimen,” the man I assumed was named Luke explained.
“Jade? You know Jade?” I cried, my heart doing flips in my chest.
“Unfortunately,” the female stranger grumbled. Oh, hell no! Did this broad want to get backhanded across the room? I would fight her if I had to. I would—
“Sheena, focus,” Deric softly told me. His beautiful eyes drew me in, discouraging me from speaking violence against that cranky witch. Instead, I gently caressed his cheek.
“Right, I’ll fight her later. How are we going to help Jade?” I asked.
King Rayon rubbed his eyes. “We need to get King Relex involved. Earth is too far away from Janton for us to do anything,” the coward said. I shot a hostile expression at the king.
“If you hadn’t interfered, I would be on Janton right now, protecting my best friend. Now, I’m stuck in this stupid compound, unable to help,” I shouted. The horrified gasps didn’t stop my mouth from moving. “From day one you have been a coward. You’re nothing more than a weak-minded king who won’t do anything because you can’t. You’re going to let Janton burn. What about your people that live there? Can’t they fight?” I demanded.
The female covered her mouth while the blond looked like he would have a heart attack.
“And you thought that Jade was bad, Tia. At least she’s nice,” Luke quipped.
“King Rayon, I’m sorry for her disrespect,” Deric said as he got to his feet. “Sheena’s latest vision has clouded her judgement.” That idiot. I wasn’t going to apologize to that coward. He needed to hear what I had to say. A distant part of me knew that he was kissing the King’s butt to keep me safe. Deric was kind, thoughtful, and supportive of me. He would help me if he could. Suddenly, emotions slammed into my gut, making it overwhelming to keep my eyes open. I forced myself to concentrate on the problem that made me so angry. I reached out to Deric, my intention on stopping him, when I heard a loud gasp, followed by agony.
It was like my entire body was splitting apart. I tried to breathe, but I couldn’t get in any air. My vision was covered by a blindfold of darkness. I couldn’t even feel my fingers. If I could, maybe I could rub at my eyes. My entire body was nothing more than a block of pain.
My sense of smell was the first thing that seemed to work. I smelled pumpkin-scented candles. My hearing picked up a battle cry. Frigid air hit my skin, then my feet landed on a hard surface. The blindfold vanished from my face, and I was suddenly in an unfamiliar room, surrounded by enemy soldiers. Jade threw a ball of light at Emperor Tulda, and he lifted his arm and absorbed it.
“Eleron taught us a lesson when that half-breed sister of yours killed him. Chaos learns, adapts, and destroys,” he shouted.
“Sheena, where did you go?” Deric mentally asked me.
“Janton. I’m in the middle of a battle, and I can’t even move. I’m screwed,” I mentally told Deric. I was just lucky that no one had noticed me yet. A seven-foot-tall woman wearing a black uniform charged me, a long rod in her hands. I dropped to the hard ground and rolled, my body nearly crashing into...Cordell?
“Cordell,” I cried. “Help me.” The assassin roared and lumbered to his feet, a choker connected to a chain wrapped around his neck. He jumped in front of me and punched the female soldier in the head before stealing the rod from her. Then he pressed a button on the side and the female became nothing but ashes.
