Dark Princess: Shadows (The Children Of The Gods Paranormal Romance #89)

27. Ell-rom

27

ELL-ROM

E ll-rom couldn't tear his eyes away from Jasmine's face. Four days had passed since she'd lost consciousness, and despite Bridget's reassurances about her strong vitals, he could see the changes happening to his mate's body. Her cheekbones were more pronounced now, her face thinner, and her already tall frame had somehow grown even longer—half an inch in just four days, according to the doctors' measurements.

He ran his thumb across the back of her hand, noting how hot her skin felt to the touch. The fever hadn't broken yet, and though Bridget insisted this was normal for transitioning Dormants, every hour that passed felt like torture.

"Your body is working so hard," he whispered in Kra-ell, the earpieces in Jasmine's ears automatically converting his words to English. "Bridget says you're using an enormous amount of energy to transform."

He wondered how Jasmine would feel about growing even taller. She was already tall for a human female, and she liked wearing those ridiculous shoes with spiky heels. Would she give them up if she grew a few more inches?

A knock at the door startled him.

He hadn't been expecting visitors, but then people had popped in at all hours of the day to check up on him, bring him food and drink, and show their support.

It was heartwarming, but it was also exhausting.

He wasn't used to dealing with people all day long, having to smile and make polite conversation while his heart was breaking, and his mind was melting from worry.

When he opened the door, he found himself face to face with Jade, her familiar features set in their usual stern expression. A young female stood beside her, a teenager with distinctive Kra-ell features.

"Good afternoon, Prince Ell-rom," Jade said, inclining her head. "I hope we're not disturbing you. This is my daughter, Drova."

The girl extended her hand in the human greeting gesture. "Hello, Prince."

Ell-rom shook her hand, noting how her eyes fixed on his ears. "Please, just Ell-rom is fine."

"Why are you wearing earpieces?" Drova asked bluntly, earning a sharp look from her mother.

"For translation," he explained, finding her directness refreshing. "My English skills are not sufficient for conversation yet." His gaze drifted back to Jasmine's still form. "I should be studying while I sit by my mate's side, but I can't seem to focus. My mind is scattered."

"Then perhaps this isn't a good time," Jade said. "You asked me to come talk to you about life on Anumati, and I thought that Drova might benefit from the history lesson as well, but we can return another day."

Ell-rom considered the offer. He'd been consumed with worry for days, his thoughts cycling endlessly through the same fears. Maybe a distraction would help.

"No, please stay," he said. "It might be good to focus on something else for a change."

Drova was staring at Jasmine now, her head tilted thoughtfully. "Will Jasmine's earpieces still work while she's unconscious?"

"They should," Jade said. "The devices don't require conscious interaction to function. As long as they're activated, they will translate for her what we are saying."

"I will bring two more chairs." Ell-rom rose to his feet.

Jade lifted a hand to stop him. "We can sit on the floor. We are Kra-ell, and chairs were not part of our culture. We usually sit on floor cushions, but in their absence, we can sit on the floor."

Her words stirred a hazy memory in Ell-rom. His and Morelle's room had two bedding platforms and two short-legged desks but no chairs. They had sat cross-legged on large square cushions, with the tables in front of them, and copied texts.

Still, he had been using chairs to sit since he had recovered from stasis, and sitting on the bare, cold floor did not appeal to him. Reluctantly, he lowered himself to the floor, watching as Jade and Drova did the same with practiced ease.

"What can you tell me about my sister and me?" he asked. "What kind of a relationship did we have?"

Jade's expression grew thoughtful. "I know very little of you. I served in the queen's guard, and the palace was in the same compound as the main temple, but I only saw you and your sister when you were strolling through the palace gardens, and it was from afar. You were always covered in ceremonial robes from head to toe and veils were hiding your faces, and while you were enjoying the gardens, no one else was allowed to enter. But you were always together." She smiled tightly. "No one knew your names, but that wasn't unusual for clergy and acolytes."

"We weren't really clergy," Ell-rom said. "It was just a cover."

Drova leaned forward, her eyes bright with interest. "A cover for what?"

"Drova," Jade warned. "You are here to listen and stay silent."

"It's alright," Ell-rom said. "Our very existence was forbidden, and our mother was hiding who and what we were in plain sight. She made up a great story of why we should become priests because then she could keep us secluded and protected."

Jade nodded. "The head priestess was your mother's older sister, and there were rumors that she was hiding you from view because you were born deformed. Without her, you wouldn't be here today."

He hadn't known that. Had the head priestess ever told him and Morelle that she was their aunt, and he had forgotten? Or had she kept it a secret from them?

"I did not know that you were hybrids," Jade said. "No one did."

"Anumatians are bigoted and savages," Drova murmured under her breath. "Why do they despise hybrids so much?"

Jade regarded her daughter for a long time before answering. "I guess that the gods just don't want anyone undermining their genetic hegemony, and the Kra-ell are purists who want to keep their blood clean. On Earth, we bred with humans because we had no choice. We hoped to keep our kind from extinction, but I admit that I used to think of hybrids as inferior. The fact that the children born to hybrids with humans were human themselves made them useless for propagating our species."

"Prince Ell-rom is not half-human," Drova pointed out. "He is half god, half Kra-ell. That's kind of cool."

Ell-rom smiled. "Thank you. I don't know what temperature has to do with anything, but being called cool sounds much better than being called an abomination."

Drova returned his smile. "Cool means that you are okay and that I like you."

"I like you, too, Drova."

Jade dipped her head. "That's very gracious of you, Prince Ell-rom."

Drova fidgeted with the odd-looking bracelet on her wrist. "Yeah, I'm not liked by many people. Not after the stunt I pulled." She looked at him from under lowered lashes. "I'm sure you heard about the thefts and the sabotage."

He nodded. "I did."

"It was me. I compelled three kids to steal things for me and break things."

She sounded more proud than remorseful, and he didn't know what to say, so he opted to respond with a question. "Does the bracelet you are wearing have anything to do with that?"

Drova nodded. "It's not a bracelet. It's a cuff. It transmits my location, and if I misbehave, my mother can zap me with a remote."

Jade didn't look perturbed by the accusation, so Ell-rom assumed it was true. "You must be deemed dangerous."

"I am," Drova said with resignation rather than pride.

He leaned closer to her. "Having a dangerous ability does not make you dangerous. It's what you do with it. You get to choose if you want to be the hero or the villain of the story, the protector or the abuser. It's up to you."

The girl's cheeks reddened. "I was an abuser. I abused these kids, forcing them to do things they hated. But they got me back. Now they are forcing me to do things that I hate."

Ell-rom lifted a brow. "Oh, yeah? Like what?"

"Reading." She groaned. "A stack of books as tall as this bed. It's much worse than what I did to them."

"Did they compel you to read those books?"

She squared her shoulders, the look of defiance returning to her eyes. "No one can compel me. I'm the strongest compeller in the village. I'm stronger than Toven and probably even stronger than the Clan Mother."

"We don't know that," Jade said. "The Clan Mother hasn't tried to compel you."

Drova's eyes blazed red for a moment, reminding Ell-rom of the fire he felt behind his eyes every time his death ray was activated.

"Of course not. They would never try because they don't want me to be proven the strongest, but the fact that I can defy her compulsion says it all."

"It says nothing," Jade countered without much conviction.

Ell-rom was intrigued and also a little worried.

If Drova was indeed a more powerful compeller than Annani, she might release his death ray, which meant that she must never find out about it.

"What about you?" Drova asked. "Do you have compulsion power?"

"I don't think so. I can thrall, but just a little. I'm still learning."

Her eyes returned to their natural black as she looked at him. "Maybe you should practice compulsion and see if it works for you. I can help you."

Jade shot her daughter a glare. "You've done enough. Ell-rom will not remove his earpieces for you."

He frowned. "Drova speaks Kra-ell. I don't need the earpieces to communicate with her."

Jade let out a breath. "I forgot that your earpieces are for translation only. They don't filter compulsion like these do." She pointed to the ones she had in her ears.

Had Drova thought that his earpieces were of that kind?

Oh, the girl was clever and cunning. He really should be careful around her.

"I have no wish to learn compulsion." Ell-rom smiled at her. "I think its use should be severely restricted to extreme cases only."

"Yeah, you are right." Drova's shoulders slumped a little.

He turned to Jade. "What can you tell me about our mother? The queen?"

Jade's expression softened. "I was just a junior guard commander, but I vowed to protect my queen and her family, which included you. I would like to believe that the queen rigged the lottery so I would be chosen for the settler ship and offer my protection to you. There were others from the guard who got selected, but their pods haven't been found. I assume that they are all dead."

"That's regrettable. What was she like as a person, though?"

"She was formidable. Not just physically and mentally powerful but politically brilliant. She maintained order among the Kra-ell, pretending to be a traditionalist while secretly fostering progressive ideas."

"Like what?" Drova asked.

"Like questioning the rigid structure of our society," Jade explained. "The queen never openly challenged our traditions, but she had ways of rewarding those who showed independent thinking." She turned to Ell-rom. "Your mother was playing a very long game, trying to gradually change our culture from within. Regrettably, her life was cut short, but according to Aru, her successor continued her work, so not all was lost. The Kra-ell of today are doing much better than the Kra-ell of our time, but it is still a far cry from where the gods are."

He tilted his head. "Do the Kra-ell want to be like the gods?"

"Good question." Drova nodded. "What's good for the gods is not necessarily good for the Kra-ell."

"Education is critical for everyone," Jade said. "And that's what the Kra-ell are missing. Without it, they will always remain a primitive society."

As mother and daughter continued to argue, Ell-rom tried to reconcile what Jade had told him with his fragmented memories of his mother. He remembered her as distant and formal, yet there had been moments, brief flashes of tenderness when no one else was watching.

"Did you ever suspect what we were?" he asked.

Jade was quiet for a moment, considering her answer. "There were whispers, mostly of deformities that you were hiding under your robes and your veils. No one suspected that you were half gods even though everyone had heard the rumors about the queen's affair with the son of the Eternal King when she was still just the princess, but many assumed that she used him to gain information that helped her with the rebellion."

Drova's eyes widened. "The son of the Eternal King was your father?"

He glanced at Jade. "I thought that it was obvious to everyone by now."

"Drova wasn't paying attention." She smiled coldly at her daughter. "She was too busy concocting plots to undermine the relationship between the clan and the Kra-ell."

"I had my reasons," Drova said under her breath.