The Princess and her Alien Rogue: Alien Romance by Harmony Raines Page B

faced Rian. “They know how much you mean to Tallia too. Do you think they will not use you against her?”
    “I … I am but her slave.”
    “Who would die for her.” His face softened. “Come with me and help fight them, from the outside. Take me to this psychic and see what she has to say. Then if you want to, you can come back here.”
    “Very well,” Rian agreed. “I will come with you and put the knife in this witch’s throat myself if she has betrayed My Princess to the Emissars.”
    He had not thought of that. For all they knew, the witch had been put up to this whole thing by the Emissars. However, he could not work out why they would want this Misha’Ha to tell Tallia to marry him. If they were going to get her to marry a fake husband as her fated mate, then surely they should have picked a man who did not know how to kill. Instead of one who was more than willing to do cut down anyone who stood between him and his wife.
    As they ran through the deserted hallway, down the stairs towards the kitchens, he heard the shouts of the guards who were entering the room they had just left. It was all he could do to summon the will not to turn around and cut them down where they stood. Only the thought that it would make matters worse for Tallia stopped him. He had to find out the truth, and from there he would be able to plan his next move.

Chapter Twenty-One – Tallia
    “What are you doing?” Tallia asked angrily as she stared at Emissar Aleck through the bars of her cell.
    “What we should have done long ago.” He smiled at her benevolently. “We should have spared you this last year of trying to find a husband. We should have sent you awayand taken control when your foolish father died. The people would have believed you too weak and sad to rule, there should have been no long-drawn-out charade. But we wanted to allow things to happen naturally, for you to realize you are not suitable to rule. But instead you married that silver alien. Now we have to act before you produce and heir and prolong this mockery. We are not willing to give power to your kind any longer.”
    “My kind? My kind came here and saved the people from zealots like you. I think it is my ancestors who made a mistake, they should have thrown you out of the palace hundreds of years ago. Instead you have been left to fester like an open wound; well, I will heal that wound.”
    “And how are you going to do that, My Princess . You are in here, and we will keep you here. When that creature is found he will be brought to justice for attempting to murder you.”
    “You are going to pin this on him? You’re going to blame him for my death, and what? Kill me yourself?” she asked.
    “Yes.” He looked at her coldly. “Before you married him we would have been content for you to live out your days in peace, away from the palace and stripped of your power. But now we are in agreement, you are not to be trusted.”
    She laughed. “The only ones around here who should not be trusted are you and your fellow Emissars. How long before the sacrifices begin again?” She gripped the bars of her cell, until her bones showed through the skin covering her knuckles. If only she could reach Aleck, she would tighten her hands round his neck in the same way, until he breathed no more.
    “Soon. We thought we would start with your slave. Rian, isn’t it?”
    “No,” Tallia said. “She is innocent in all this.”
    “Then tell us where that monster is and we will spare her life, I am sure there is a man down in the south who would take her on. She is used to obeying, after all.”
    “You are the true monster. You and all your Emissars.”
    He came close to the bars and whispered, “And so what if we are?”
    “I will see you dead.”
    “An empty threat, considering which side of these bars you are on.”
    “Things change, Emissar,” she said firmly. “It’s a lesson you and your kind have never learned. You change and adapt, or you