Page 41 of Dark Princess: Shadows

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."