Rebel Prince by Justine Davis

Author:Justine Davis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BelleBooks, Inc.
Published: 2015-01-15T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 28

SHAINA DIDN’T question him when he suddenly veered off the path and dove through the trees on the right—she merely followed. Even when she’d thought him wrong—a rare enough occurrence that he should likely prize her unwavering trust more as well—if he was determined, she would follow. Someone, she’d always said, had to protect his back.

He wondered if on some subconscious level she had known—had sensed—that protecting him would fall to her. His mind recoiled at the thought. He’d always known it was the job of the flashbow warrior to protect the royal family, but when he’d thought of it, he’d always thought of Dax. It was part of the tradition over the centuries, and he’d never questioned it.

Until now, when he realized that the next flashbow warrior, the one who might one day have to die to protect him, was Shaina.

That she would do it even now was not at issue—as he would for her without hesitation, if it came to that. His discomfort was over the idea that it would one day be her responsibility. That it would be expected because she would be the flashbow warrior, not simply because of who she was, and who he was to her.

That she would have no choice. He knew how having no choice made her feel.

That she didn’t want to discuss it right now had been made quite clear. And he understood that as well, although it was not like her to sidestep an issue.

A heavy branch whacked his chest, nearly took him off his feet, and he made himself focus on the task at hand. He pushed through the thick stand of trees. He couldn’t explain the pull that had made him change direction, but he could not deny it was there.

Something snapped. He stopped short midstride. For a moment he thought the tingling sensation was from the memory of that kiss. But then he realized it was something outside, something that had begun at his skin and shot through him.

He heard an odd, muffled sound from behind him. He whirled, hand on the disrupter they had agreed whoever was in the lead would carry. He heard the sound again, faintly, like a distant cry.

Yet Shaina was there, barely ten feet behind him.

She was darting back and forth, looking, searching. For what? And why was she looking past him even as she called out his name? And it was too distant, too far, that cry. It sounded as if it were coming from halfway back down the mountain. He started back, running toward her. Felt that tingling sensation again.

She stopped dead in front of him, looking as if he had materialized out of the moonlit air.

“You’re all right,” she said, eying him warily. There was something odd in her voice, a touch of something he didn’t recognize.

“Yes. What happened? Did you see something, hear something?”

Her brows rose. “You disappeared.”

He blinked. “I what?”

“One moment you were pushing aside that large branch, the next you were . . . gone.”

It was still there, that odd undertone, and he suddenly realized what it was.

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