Page 70 of Her Lawless Prince

He followed the guard’s gestures through the vast halls. They took a series of turns, which Nyle assumed was meant to disorientate him.

“I think I should get a jeweled crown. Red and blue stones to match my eyes.”

Nyle barely suppressed a groan as he heard Yevgen talking.

“Will I be introduced as Prince Yevgen?” the cyborg continued. “I did not see anything in the palace database for protocol when introducing the half mated husbands of royal princesses.”

“You weren’t supposed to be in the database,” a man answered.

“Then I wasn’t.” Yevgen stepped out into the hallway. Seeing Nyle, he said, “Greetings Cysgodian Nyle, bastard son of an unknown off-worlder and Diana.”

“Uh…” Nyle frowned.

“See,” Yevgen said into the doorway. “A title.”

“Why aren’t you with Payton?” Nyle demanded.

“I was not invited,” Yevgen answered. “Did you know that this palace has—”

A muscled guard appeared in the doorway behind the cyborg. The lion cat-shifter looked as if he could punch a hole through the stone wall.

Yevgen glanced sideways and finished weakly, “—a roof?”

“I had noticed,” Nyle answered.

To the guard, the cyborg said, “You can’t prove I was in that database.”

“Computer, update access logs,” the guard stated.

“Ha! I deleted those,” Yevgen said.

“Access logs restored and updated,” a disembodied voice answered.

“And they say the future of the Cysgodian people depends on you,” the lion guard answered with a slight curl of his lip. “They’re worse off than before.”

“Don’t say that,” Nyle put forth. “Yevgen’s entire function has been to protect—”

“I’ll take them,” the cougar interrupted before motioning to Nyle and Yevgen. “We have a transport waiting.”

Nyle had a strange feeling overcome him as he followed the guard’s gesture. Maybe it was the way the man looked at him as if he expected Nyle to run at any moment.

Why would he have reason to run unless they were taking him toward something worth running from?

He had told Prince Falke he would do anything to protect the Cysgodians. If they were taking him to Shelter City, then there must be something they thought he could do.

“Come.” The guard motioned for Nyle to move.

“Prisoner transfer?” Nyle asked the guard.

The man’s only answer was to gesture for Nyle to walk down the corridor.

“There is no prisoner transfer in the computer,” Yevgen said. “I sent a communication to the coordinates Prince Roderic provided, but they must need me to verify the information for them.”

Nyle stared at the cyborg. For a smart machine, he sometimes lacked a deeper understanding.

“Me,” Nyle stated. “I’m the prisoner being transferred.”

“Because you had sexual relations with a married princess?” Yevgen asked. “My wife.”

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