Page 76 of Dark Princess: Shadows

"When the gods took human partners, the children born of such unions were immortal. But when those immortals took human partners, their children were born human. Later, they discovered a way to activate the dormant genes of the children born to immortal mothers but not to immortal fathers. Our clan continued to grow through our females. Only their children can be turned immortal. The Kra-ell experienced a similar phenomenon, but the children born to their female hybrids can only be activated by immortal males, and the other problem is that only their hybrid males choose human partners. Their hybrid females almost never partner with humans."

"Why not?"

He shrugged. "Too weak, I guess. One hybrid Kra-ell female fought off three well-trained immortals, and they barely managed to subdue her."

Morelle tensed. "Why did they want to subdue her?"

"It's a long story, but it has a happy ending. Aliya joined our clan and mated another hybrid Kra-ell. She works at the café."

"You still didn't explain why she was fighting them. I don't want to hear only the nice stories. I want a balanced view of this world."

When Brandon didn't answer right away, she feared she had offended him by speaking too forcefully. He had been so good to her, and he deserved only kind words and the warmest of tones from her, but that wasn't who she was.

She had gotten in trouble with the head priestess so many times over her attitude.

"You are not the queen," the head priestess had told her. "And you will never be queen, so learn some humility, or I will beat that haughty attitude out of you."

She had never dared to actually make good on that threat, but she had found other ways to punish Morelle, like separating her from Ell-rom and locking her in a dark, windowless room.

Finally, Brandon nodded. "I'll tell you everything you want to know except for the things the Clan Mother wants to tell you herself."

Morelle couldn't read in Brandon's tone whether he was upset or not.

"Thank you, and I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound demanding. I shouldn't demand anything and only accept what is given to me freely. I'm not being a gracious guest. Can you forgive me?"

He reached for her hand, threading his fingers through hers. "You are not a shrinking violet to be coddled, not even on yoursecond day of waking up from a coma. I should have realized that."

She was confused. "What does a shrinking flower have to do with me?"

Brandon chuckled. "It's a human expression that describes a shy and timid person."

"I'm neither."

Well, that was true for some things and not for others. She was shy about reminding him that he wanted her to kiss him and asking him whether he still wanted that.

48

BRANDON

Brandon watched Morelle with a mix of admiration and amusement. Her feminine beauty was misleading, and so was her physical weakness. Behind the elegant and refined façade that he had helped to create with the clothing he'd gotten for her, there was a fierce Kra-ell princess who spoke of vengeance and killing her mother's murderer as if she were discussing the weather.

"I know that now, Princess. I will not make that mistake again. But I hate to disappoint you. The story of Aliya, the hybrid Kra-ell who beat up three strong immortal warriors, is not bloody or vicious. It's actually nice."

She tilted her head and looked at him from under lowered lashes. "You are not going to paint it in pretty colors for me, right?"

He lifted one hand off the steering wheel. "I promise to tell you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

That seemed to satisfy her, and she leaned back in the cart's not-so-comfortable seat.

"First, though, let me show you something." He steered the cart toward the village's edge.

As they crested the gentle slope, the ocean came into view—a distant strip of blue meeting the horizon.

Morelle leaned forward. "It looks like the sky has fallen to earth."

"That's the Pacific Ocean." He parked the cart as close as he could to the bench that he intended them to sit on. "It stretches for thousands of miles and connects continents."

"It doesn't look that big, but that's because of Earth's curvature. We had seas on Anumati, but I never saw one. I never got to see even a lake."