Why do I have doubt?
“Oh, look, it is solemn Ramsey,” the princess calls.
I stand in wait as the men move to the side, but instead of seeing the princess’s soft blue flesh, I see her skin is now painted a bright cream color.
But that is not all that is different. Her silver-gray hair is now the color of an alpha sun, bright and shining under the dim lights.
I take a step back, blinking in hopes of clearing my head.
A smile curls on her now pink lips, her blue eyes sparkle with mischief.
Her eyes should be silver…
Is this some new fashion I was not made aware of? I think not, because there would surely be a hint of my princess if it were.
“Where is the princess?” I demand.
“Do you not see me?” She shoos away a man rubbing her foot and gets up from her seat. She walks across the room to me, her garment flowing eerily behind her.
“Am I not how you remember me to be?”
My throat goes suddenly dry at her question, because I am lost.
She looks over her shoulder, and the men rush to her side, kneeling and rubbing her legs and back, taking her hand into theirs and nuzzling the palm.
And though this is clearly not the princess, I am more angry than I have ever been. More jealous than every other time I have seen the great princess with another.
Because whoever this woman is—she is mine. Somehow, I know this.
“Does it gladden you to see that I have been well cared for while you have been away at battle?” the pinkish woman asks. She steps closer, the men trailing her.“Or are you jealous?”
“What is going on?”
“You have finally come back from serving under the Great Warlord Manatrix. Do you not remember?”
I hardly remember anything.
Except that she is mine.
One of the men presses his face to her thigh, and blinding rage grips me.
“Get away from her,” I snarl.
She brings her hand down, cupping his cheek and keeping it pressed against her thigh. “You do not get to tell me who I keep.” She takes another step forward, lifting her hand from the man and bringing it to my own cheek. “You have disappointed me, Ramsey.”
“I have brought great honor to Tempest in my battles.”
“And yet my womb did not quicken with your seed.”
My teeth clench, and I look down, shocked by what I see.
Her flowing robes settle, falling flat on her rounded stomach.
The pinkish woman smirks.“Guards.”
Hands grab me, pulling me away from the pinkish woman, deeper into a nightmare.
12
