Page 2 of Jon’s Desert Prince Dream

A stir went through the Tennoan staff, all of them turning and touching forehead, lips, and heart with fingertips before bowing. Oh, someone important was coming.

I started praying for mercy although even I couldn’t explain to which god.

A deep voice rumbled out in disgust, “What is going on here?”

Oh? He clearly hadn’t known we were coming, and he didn’t sound too pleased by it. I tried to get a peek, but he was too obscured by everyone else standing in my way. I stood at the very back of the line and cursed it. I couldn’t seeee.

Another, lighter female voice made a growling noise. “I can’t believe them. We’re arguing about their disgusting use of enslavement and their reaction to that is to send us a—is this a dozen? A dozen people?!”

Oh, this sounded promising. Right now, their reaction was to our benefit. Well, maybe, unless they chose to just send us all back. Oof, really hoping they didn’t. That wouldn’t end up well for us.

They were walking and talking, and finally came in close enough that I could see.

And by all that was holy, there was a lot to see.

The striking woman was tall and lithe, her brow high. The intricate white dress she wore made her chestnut skin all the richer, and dark curls tumbled over one shoulder. But what caught my attention was how she shone. Her meridian lines made it clear she was an incredibly good person and someone I would instinctively befriend—not that I’d likely get the chance. The golden circlet around her forehead proclaimed her a princess of this land.

The man next to her, though, he took my breath away.

He towered over everyone else in the room, incredibly strong and muscular, with interesting scars wrapping around his shoulders and forearms. I saw the lines of them and winced. Acid? How had he managed to come across acid? They were old lines, the injury several years old, and it clearly didn’t affect him now. He was a handsome man, sharing his sister’s gorgeous looks, but what made me lift my head and stare was how fundamentally good this man was. He shone as powerfully as the sun itself, and I instinctively wanted to run to him, burrow myself into his arms, and plead he not let go. If there was anyone in this world who would protect me, it would be him.

A sharp yank on my collar jerked my head down and I winced. Dammit, that smarted.

“Keep your damn head down,” the guard hissed at me.

Fucking twat. The second I was free of this collar, I’d punch this asshole.

“Do not do that,” the prince snapped at the guard.

I knew he’d intervene. I just knew it. My head swam with giddy anticipation because I could read from the prince’s meridian lines that he was fuming. I just didn’t know what he would do about it. I couldn’t read that.

Gentle fingertips raised my head again, and I looked up into golden-brown eyes and found myself fixated all over again. He glowed so incredibly bright to my Sight; my eyes kept protesting and wincing, but I couldn’t seem to look away.

“I am Donovan of Havili,” he introduced himself, tone gentle. “What is your name?”

“Jon. Jonathan Bane.”

“Why do you look at me so, Jon?”

“Because you’re the most amazing man I’ve ever seen,” I blurted. Truly, I was in awe of him, I’d never seen someone whose soul shone like twin suns. It was hard to focus on his individual lines. “Your soul is so bright it’s hard to look at you directly.”

His eyes narrowed a little. “Are you blessed by the gods, then?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Do your eyes see more than most?”

“Oh, that’s what you meant. Uh, yes, I can see everything about a person if I look at them long enough. Animals too, in a more limited way.”

“And what do you see when you look at me?”

He was genuinely curious and I had to prove to him that what I said was real, so I started rattling off information. “You’re thirty, not married, sister and brother, brother-in-law who is married to your brother and someone you’re very fond of. Both parents still living. You’ve lived in this desert most of your life, but I see you’ve traveled quite a bit as well. The acid attack was from a dragon? I think? Something like that, anyway. You’re incredibly upset about our situation, mad enough that you want to punch someone over it. Um, I can keep going?”

The delight dancing along his lines was mostly azure blue and chartreuse—surprise and happiness, respectively. “You are indeed blessed by the gods. I do not like how you came here, and how we met, you are correct on that. What would you have us do?”

“I think I speak for everyone when I say we’d rather stay here with you.” I wanted to seize his hand so badly, latch on and not let go, but I resisted the impulse. “Everyone here is psychic. We were handpicked by Ambassador Solomon. He seemed to think you would like it if you had enslaved psychics.”

The princess made a noise like a cat snarling, keening and high, the hot pink of her disgust mixing with the bright coral of outrage in a color-clashing mashup. Hopeful desperation flooded me.