“Hey, you’re a prince, right?”
“Unless something has changed in the law since I woke up this morning.”
I huffed a laugh.
“Can’t you just tell them I’m not kicked out of archery school? They’ll have to listen to you.”
“I could do that.” Ezah nodded, making my friend beam. “But I’m not going to.”
Nuni lost her smile. “How come?”
He jabbed his thumb to the right. Nuni and I looked in that direction and saw where her arrow was still sticking out of the entrance gate to the pen. I cringed when I looked at Nuni, and she had the good grace to look embarrassed.
“Fine.” She sighed. “Maybe almost killing someone is a good enough reason to kick me out.”
Ezah didn’t blink. “Maybe just a little.”
“This was stupid anyway.” Nuni fixed her hair. “I didn’t even like it to begin with.”
“Didn’t even like what?”
I looked over my shoulder when the voice spoke, and when I saw it was Nero, I felt my cheeks burn. My mind replayed him asking me to be his intended and me rejecting him just three days ago. Luckily, Nero didn’t seem upset with me. He was smiling too wide to be anything other than happy. That calmed me slightly, but still, I inched closer to Ezah just so I didn’t give off the wrong vibes to Nero. I didn’t want him to think I had changed my mind because I definitely did not.
“Hello, baja,” I said. “How is your mother?”
“Alive and well, thanks to you.”
I flushed further. “I’m happy to hear that.”
“What were you three discussing before I arrived?”
“Nuni let loose a wild arrow that almost—”
“It is none of your business, baja.”
I felt my eyebrows dart upwards when Nuni sneered at Nero, whose smile slowly fell from his face. His liquid gold eyes honed in on my friend, and the male hardly blinked as he stared her down. I felt fear on Nuni’s behalf as she was openly glaring at him. I had no idea what was going on.
“Did your stray arrow cause something to loosen in your mind, Nuni?” Nero lightly growled. “Watch your tone when you speak to me, female.”
I backed away from Nero until my body meshed right against Ezah’s. I couldn’t breathe until his hands touched my shoulders. I didn’t think Nero was a bad male. I thought he seemed lovely, but he didn’t look like his happy self as he slowly stalked towards Nuni. My mind screamed that he was going to bite her. Nuni was challenging him, being rude and forcing his instincts to make her submit to him.
The very thought of it made me panic.
“Please, don’t bite her.”
“Easy,” Ezah murmured to me. Then he snapped, “Nero. Calm.”
Nero growled once more in Nuni’s direction before he turned and stalked away.
“Asshole.”
I jerked my eyes to Nuni. She was watching Nero storm away, and she looked pissed.
“What the hell was that, Nuni?”
“Nothing,” she answered. “I bumped into him the other day, and he was very rude to me. I don’t like him.”
She seemed to be really riled up over her interaction with Nero, but I had no reason to doubt her, so I nodded, accepting her words.
“I’m going to go home and wash,” Nuni said to me. “I feel dirty.”
With a bow to Ezah and a small smile to me, she was gone. I watched her until she was out of sight.
“You care for Nuni greatly, don’t you?”
“Yes, my prince,” I answered. “She has worked her way into my heart.”
“Good. You need to surround yourself with good females.”
I turned and looked up at Ezah, but the bracelet on my arm beeped and vibrated before I could say a word. I tapped on it, and I felt the familiar bone-chilling sensation of fear wrap around me when Nicah’s voice screamed.
“Levi! It’s time. Help me.” She sobbed. “The baby is coming!”
Chapter Twelve
Ezah
Reaching Homestead 972 felt like it took intervals when it really only took ten to fifteen minutes. Levi was in a state of panic and trying to calm her down was a huge priority of mine, but nothing I tried seemed to work. The female Nicah was one she cared for greatly, and her fear that something bad was going to happen to her made her lose all reason. When we reached the homestead, Levi sprinted into the home with me hot on her heels.
“Nicah!”
“Levi!” A pained cry came from upstairs. “Levi, please!”
Levi took the stairs two at a time and barrelled into the first room on the right. Outside of the room were four human females; two had dark brown skin, one had light brown skin, and the other had skin as fair as Nuni’s. The four of them looked terrified.
“We’re Nicah’s homemates,” one dark-skinned woman said. “But Vorah won’t let us inside or near her. He keeps growling at us. It isn’t like him at all.”