Page 35 of Ruthless Monsters

“Thank the bird,” Eliza says, tipping her head to where Shade is still perched on my shoulder. “You’re only here because of the message she carried.”

“Finally, someone appreciates me,”Shade preens.

“I appreciate you all the time!”

“Yeah, but you’re biased because you like me,”she replies.“It’s nice to be appreciated by others.”

“Hmmm note to self: show Shade less gratitude so it doesn’t go to her head,”I muse, and she shoots daggers at me with her beady black eyes.

“You have my thanks as well,” Prince Mason says, his glittering blue gaze lingering on me before moving to Shade and my mates. “I’ve waited for this chance for some time.”

“Is it just me…”Shade chirps in my head,“or are his eyes dreamy? It’s hard to tell with all the hair and dirt, but I’m already starting to see why King Celzar hated his brother so much. Clearly, this guy got all the good genes.”

“Do you have to perve on everyone?”I ask her.

“I’m just saying,”she hisses,“that for a prince who’s been beaten, tortured, and forced to carry out manual labor for decades, if not centuries, he’s looking pretty good.”

I’m not sure why, but my stomach cramps at the thought of the prince being tortured for such a long time. I decide it’s because I can still picture him on the battlefield, the witches closing in around him. Scars cover the prince’s body, and I wonder just what he’s been through. When I lift my gaze again, I realize he’s watching me.

“So, you’re royalty, huh?” I blurt, not sure why I feel like I’m caught out.

Shade cackles in my head.“Guess, I wasn’t the only one who was perving.”

“Shut up,”I send back, and she laughs again.

“I was,” he replies, his expression hardening. “Now, it’s just Mason.”

Waylen and Eliza shift uncomfortably at his response, but they don’t comment.

“Eliza will see to it that you’re given clothes, supplies, and a room where you can rest,” Mason says.

“And the cuffs?” Prince Callan asks, speaking for the first time in a long while. “How do we remove them?”

Eliza lifts up one of her pant legs revealing a cuff around her ankle. “If there was a way, we would have found it by now. Only King Celzar can take them off. We do, however, have a barrier around the camp so it’s harder for the king to detect us. That’s as good as it gets.”

Dante frowns. “So, we still won’t be able to access our power?”

Eliza purses her lips. “No.” Someone shouts something behind us then, and she takes that opportunity to turn and start leading us away. “Now, let’s get you to a room.”

Chapter

Fourteen

~ Princess Blake ~

“It’s not much, but it’ll have to do. With our sudden increase in numbers, housing is limited,” Eliza says to us as she opens a door and leads us into a small room. It’s one of the spaces we’d seen along the cavern wall, and at the other end of the room, there’s a gaping hole that provides a view of the city. “I’ll give you time to rest and collect yourselves, and I’ll be back when Mason wants to discuss with you further.” At that, she disappears from the room, and I glimpse Waylen taking up a guarding position outside before the door closes.

“Well, this is pretty nice,”Shade says, flying around the space.“It’s, uh…”

“Cozy?”I suggest.

Shade perches on the back of a wooden chair.“Yeah, that.”

I take in the couch and two armchairs, small table with four more wooden chairs, and two large beds that sit the closest to the gaping hole. Lines of knotted rope stretch across the bottom ofthe hole, the only barrier to prevent someone from falling to the rebel camp below.Well, that seems like a poor design choice.

A pile of clothes is neatly folded on the table, accompanied by two jugs of water, some loaves of buttered bread, and a bowl of fruit. Prince Callan and the others stride further into the room, not hesitating to grab a pair of clothes and slide them on.

“Not bad,” Nate says, admiring his new shirt and pants, then he flops down onto the closest armchair.

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