The Dark Prince (The Dark Prince Trilogy #1) by Autumn Winchester Page B

Marcel, the Marcel Prince, entered his oversized family kitchen. He was dirty from head to toe, but what ten-year-old wouldn’t be? He had been outside playing with Trent and Jackson in the water sprinkler, and ran in to get a drink. He skidded to a stop, seeing his mother talking to a woman with a scared girl clutching to her leg. The woman was about the size of his own mother, but had a determined look about her. She was running from something. Chase had seen many people come and go, so it was nothing new. But the little girl caught his attention.
     
    Sure there had been other children to pass through, but none that looked like this one before him. She was covered in hand shaped bruises up and down her arms. And one side of her face looked like a fresh bruise. But her brown hair was high up in a messy ponytail, a number of strays falling all over the place. He couldn’t deny she was a cute girl.
     
    This little girl was so . . . . tiny. He went to school, so he knew that girls shouldn’t be so thin that the skin was almost transparent. Her pale blue eyes were sunken in with dark circles under them. It sort of looked like a mask was covering her eyes with how dark the circles were. He was tempted to call her raccoon because of it.
     
    Either she was sick with something that Chase couldn’t understand at his age, or she was born into the wrong family. Kayla was well known for helping the abused.
     
    “Please, Emma, I can help. We can help,” Kayla said, almost begged. “We have connections. We can get you both somewhere safe. Never to be found again by anyone.”
     
    “He’ll find her. I have no choice but to let him have her,” the woman was in tears, running a hand through the messy brown locks of the girl. Chase met her frightened blue eyes, and knew that her life was different than his. Her mother felt she had no options in keeping her safe.
     
    The little girl’s eyes will filled with fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of the past. His heart hurt just looking at her, knowing she, of all people, had to go through the hands of fate such as this.
     
    “Oh, Chase,” Kayla said, seeing her son peeking his head around the corner. He was hard to miss with crazy hair and his bright green eyes that were framed with dark lashes. “Would you mind taking Summer outside while I talk to her mother?”
     
    “Sure, mom,” Chase said, happy to maybe make a friend. Maybe he’d even come up with a way to get the little girl to not be so afraid. His mother always told her was the smartest boy alive.
     
    “Go on,” the girl’s mother urged, patting her back gently. The girl nodded her head before slowly following the older boy out to the back yard, his drink forgotten.
     
    “So why are you here?” Chase asked, wanting to know everything about the girl. She looked so small in the oversized clothes she had on. Clothes that were once his, even. But he didn’t care. For such a pretty girl, he’d happily let her have anything of his. With just one look, she already has his heart.
     
    “My daddy wants me, and mommy doesn’t want me to go to him,” she answered with a shrug, her voice sweet. “I don’t like daddy. He hits me.” Her chin trembled at the thought.
     
    “Daddy’s don’t hit,” Chase said, sure the girl was making up stories.
     
    As they got outside, Jackson waved at them, a happy smile in place. But Chase only had eyes for the sad girl. He took note that as the bright, hot sun touched her hair, it glistened with red highlights.
     
    “He does. He doesn’t like it when I talk, or make noise. So he hits me when I’m too loud,” she said, tears gathering in her eyes. “He told mommy that if she didn’t let him have me, he was going to kill me and make her watch.”
     
    “Well, you know what? I’m a Prince and one day when I take over for my dad, I’ll make your daddy pay. Pretty girls like you shouldn’t be hit,” Chase promised, seeing how her cheeks tinted at his praise. “Or taken