Page 64 of Her Lawless Prince

She slid off the end of the bed and crossed to the wall. Passing her hand over a seam, she tripped the sensors to open a drawer with clothes. She dug through the stack and found a shirt in her size.

“What is it?” Nyle stood at the end of the bed and pulled on his pants.

The sound of footsteps stopped outside the door.

“I’m not sure.” She looked around before pointing behind him. “My pants?”

Nyle leaned over the bed and grabbed them before tossing them over. They quickly dressed in silence. There was so much Payton wanted to tell him, but what was the point? She’d said the one thing she needed to, that she loved him. The rest were just words that wouldn’t change anything.

She heard a murmuring of voices but couldn’t make out what the guards were saying.

A light knock sounded as she pushed her hair away from her face. The door cracked open, and a voice softly called, “Princess?”

“What is it?” she answered as she met Nyle’s gaze.

“Your presence is required,” the guard said. “A land craft is waiting at the front gate and will take you to Shelter City after you have a moment to change your clothing. Princess Samantha ordered a gown and a tray of food to your room. She asks that you eat something before leaving as she is sure you have forgotten.”

Payton didn’t answer the guard while keeping her attention on Nyle.

“They’re here. They’ve come. It’s starting,” she said, the statement an acknowledgment of all they had been anticipating. The Federation had finally arrived.

She couldn’t look away from Nyle. She wasn’t ready to leave him.

“Go.” He tried to smile as if understanding her inner turmoil. The expression didn’t reach his eyes. Instead, she saw sadness staring back at her. “You have no choice.”

“Nyle…”

What did she say to him? What words would unravel everything swirling in her brain?

“This is too important. Go.” He glanced at the door. “I’d come, but I don’t think those two are letting me out of here.”

Her eyes moved to the food simulator. “There’s food, clothes. If you need anything, tell them. It might not feel like it, but you’re a guest, not a prisoner.”

“Princess?” the guard repeated, slightly louder.

Nyle put his hands on her shoulders. “Payton, go.”

She closed her eyes for a second and then nodded. Lifting on her toes, she allowed herself a brief kiss before pulling away. “We’re not over. This is just—”

“I know.” He nodded toward the door.

The door opened before she reached it as if the guards had been listening for her to leave. This is what it meant to be in the royal family. For all her escaping to the forest, when it came down to it, her life was not her own. She had to help protect her people, all the people of Qurilixen—shifters and Cysgodian.

At least Nyle would be safe in the palace until she returned.

23

Anyonein her family would easily say diplomacy was not one of Payton’s strengths. The Federation proved that point and stretched her patience beyond all limits. The royal gown did not help. The layers of flowing fabric were beautiful, and she suspected her mother picked it to discourage shifting. At least the bodice was loose, and Payton could breathe.

The Federation mothership had stayed in space to drift over the planet like a threat. General Griggs and her crew had landed one ship at the palace and planned to take land crafts across the surface toward the fortress above Shelter City. Thankfully, the Federation had their own land crafts, or Payton might have shoved a few of them overboard along the way.

General Griggs had led her entourage to survey the Var palace as if they were gracing a hovel with their majestic presence. They muttered comments like, “Though it is a primitive stone, I did not expect there to be such a level of civilization here, being as it’s impossible to fly to,” and, “Think of where this planet could be in a hundred years with the right connections,” as if the people standing in front of them couldn’t understand the Old Star language.

The general then began speaking as if laying down decrees to the simple locals. Her words flowed like someone who enjoyed filling the air with the sound of their own voice. The Federation was there to gather evidence and had every intention of honoring their duty to the Cysgodians—whom they had saved from extinction, after all. This was to be a dignified meeting. The Qurilixen royals were to be reasonable and accommodating.

Then came the dreaded niceties and cosmic pats on the head. Things were said, but not really. Everything had a hidden agenda and double meaning. It had been kind of the shifters to watch out for Shelter City while the Federation made new arrangements. Things did not need to go badly as the Federation retook power and established a more permanent residence on-world.

The fake diplomacy and veiled threats were enough to make any self-respecting shifter wield their claws. Payton wanted to stand and shout, “You overstepped. You know it. We know it. If you don’t want the entire universe to know it, get the fuck off our planet and leave us alone. This is not a negotiation. Don’t let the claws stab you in the ass on the way out.”

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