Warrior (Princesses of Myth #2)

“What’s a gray area?”


“There are certain parts of No-Man’s Land the Sol tribe can’t access. Or I should say, we can but our skills are ineffective there. I’m still learning about my Sol–” He scrunched up his neck, his eyes rolling until the whites showed, and he slithered to the floor.

“Maslin.” I reached for him as Silas jumped over his prone body out of nowhere and whipped a hand over my mouth.

“Shh. Don’t scream.”

Not a chance. I bit his palm and he released me. I glared. “What do you think you’re doing?”

He blew on his hand, running his thumb over his palm. “You have sharp teeth, and don’t go drawing attention to me, to us.”

I looked in all directions. “There’s no one around but us.”

“There’re others on the other side of this homestead. I checked.” He crouched and pressed two fingers to Maslin’s neck.

“Did you kill him?” I dropped to my knees then pressed an ear to Maslin’s chest, checking for a heartbeat.

“No,” he said, pulling me back to his side. “But I wish I had.”

Another warrior lay across the floor of the sitting room’s entrance a bare five feet away.

I gasped. “That’s Saunder’s father. Did you kill him too?”

He followed my gaze with his. “I had to knock him out to bring him here. Neither of your warriors are dead.”

Kneeling, I tilted Tawson’s face toward me. “Oh my.” I touched the man’s bristly beard. His skin was sallow, his jeans and shirt torn, ragged and hanging from his gaunt frame. But he was back. “Don’t you feed your prisoners?”

Silas drew me to my feet. “We have to keep them weak.”

“I can certainly see that.” My gaze bounced between Tawson and Maslin.

“Look at me.” Silas caught my face between his hands. “I’ve kept my end of our bargain.”

“I knew you would.” A strange heaviness invaded my mind. Weird.

“Hey.” Silas brought my attention back to him. “Maslin Sol is not to touch you again. I heard you both speaking and came to investigate. He has intentions toward you.”

“You released me.”

He rubbed his thumbs over my cheeks. “I’m asking this of you because I can’t have a visual in my mind of the man you choose. Surely you...”

His words were lost to me. My head felt like lead.

“Did you hear me?”

“Maslin’s considerate and kind. He’s my friend. Because of our bond, you hold my soul. I can never have more than a friendship with him, but I will take what I can.”

“As you hold my soul.” His blue eyes made my heart ache for what couldn’t be.

My mind splintered, pushing outward. I clutched my head at the burst of pain. My mind reached for his and connected.

Mind-merge, Faith’s skill, the one Dad had spoken of, the one which ran through the Sol line.

Oh hell.





Chapter 3




“What did you just do?” Silas stumbled back.

“Ah, I couldn’t stop it. My mind wanted to merge.”

He scrubbed both hands over his face, mumbling under his breath, “That didn’t just happen. No, it didn’t.” He marched from one side of the wide entranceway to the other. “Damn it. I should have left the prisoner in your room and not come searching for you.”

“Obviously.” Although right now this mind-merge didn’t feel deadly like he’d said. Merging within his mind felt sweetly calm, quite at odds with his current state of being.

He snorted. “There has to be a way out of this. I can’t have your life tied to mine. This is your skill, not mine.”

“I know so little about it. Can we undo what’s been done?”

“We’ll speak to Davio. He’s mated to your sister and used to her mind-merge. He’ll know more.”

My legs wobbled. “I have a skill.” I should have been elated, only I sighed. “I have a crappy skill.”

“The worst possible one.”

My mind stirred and stretched within his, wanting to deepen its hold. “This can’t be real.”

He groaned. “I think it is. I can certainly feel you merged within my mind.”

“I can’t believe I’m going to ask you to take me to Loveria, but we should go and seek more answers.”

“He’ll be in the castle’s rec room at this time of the evening. Or if not, he won’t be far away.” He gripped my arm. “Are you ready?”

“Yes.” Dark encompassed us then we were there. Loveria Castle, the last place in the world I’d ever thought to be.

The rec room, around fifty feet long and wide, housed a pool table set with colorful balls and an assortment of pool cues hung in a wooden frame on the wall. The polished floor gave way to thick cream carpet and four white leather couches faced each other. Centered between them was a chunky wooden coffee table.