Page 4 of Dark Princess Emerging

The sooner she learned Earth customs, the better.

He shook it lightly and then exchanged greetings with Brandon.

The redhead opened the back door for her. "My lady?" He offered her a hand as if she needed help getting inside the vehicle.

Striving to be polite and abide by Earth customs, she accepted his hand.

When they were all seated in the vehicle, she glanced at the Odu who was sitting behind the wheel and offered him a smile through the small mirror mounted above him.

Morelle was no longer anxious around the Odus after spending four days at Annani's and being served by them. She'd also met Kian's, Amanda's, and Alena's Odus at the family dinner on Saturday, and they had all been perfectly pleasant and accommodating.

The entire family had been just wonderful, welcoming her and Ell-rom with open arms. It was enough to melt even her cynical heart and make her experience profound gratitude toward her mother, who had sent her and Ell-rom to Earth to find their father.

But, even though she would have loved to know Ahn, Morelle was grateful to Ani, the queen of the gods, for sabotaging the settler ship and having it arrive on Earth seven thousand years later. If they had arrived on time, they would have most likely perished with all the other gods, and even if they had arrived after the bombing, they wouldn't have been welcomed by such a loving family.

Kian, who was sitting across from her in the roomy interior of the vehicle, regarded her as if trying to guess what she was thinking about. "If you are wondering why Amanda and Syssi are not here, they have gone ahead to prepare the lab. They are also going to stay and finish the rest of their workday after we leave."

"I wasn't wondering that at all. But what do they need to prepare for me? Amanda said that the tests are very simple, and the lab is set up for them."

"They're clearing the space," he explained. "The lab usually has quite a few people working there—researchers and research assistants, as well as volunteers and paid participants. We thought it best to have your testing done privately."

The unspoken implication hung in the air. They didn't want witnesses to whatever might happen in case she exhibited a deadly talent like her brother's.

Morelle's stomach tightened.

On the one hand, she yearned to have an incredible gift like his, something that would indicate that she was also remarkable, but on the other hand, she was terrified of what it could be.

"Are you concerned about what Amanda might discover?" She leveled her gaze at Kian.

"There is that," he admitted easily, "but we are also a large group, and none of us look like the average human."

"In what way?" she asked.

The redhead leaned forward. "We are better looking by a lot."

"Oh." She smoothed her hand over her head. "I guess that’s the gods' heritage that's apparent in your visage and my bald head standing out."

Kian crossed his legs. "Even without hair, you are a very striking female, Morelle. You will draw attention because you are beautiful, not because of what is or is not on your head. Be prepared for curious looks as we walk from the parking area to where the laboratory is located."

It was nice of him to say that she was beautiful, and it was also good that he warned her about the looks she would get. Morellewould have thought that they were directed at her because of her baldness.

"Thank you for telling me. I would have felt very awkward otherwise." She shifted in her seat. "I'm excited about seeing the place of learning where Amanda works and also about visiting the nursery, but I'm afraid that the visit will be a waste of time. I don't have any talents. After all the tests that the head priestess put me through, I will be very surprised if Amanda finds that I do."

The head priestess had always been disappointed when nothing she'd tried caused Morelle to manifest a talent. But what if she'd been looking for the wrong things or used the wrong approach to reveal them?

As the vehicle began moving, the windows turned opaque, and Brandon took her hand. "The vehicle drives autonomously until we reach a certain distance from the mountain entrance. It's one of our security measures, so the entrance to our village remains a secret."

"Is it because of me?" Morelle narrowed her eyes at him. "So I won't know where it is?"

"It's standard protocol for everyone living in the village," Kian said. "If one of our people gets captured, the information cannot be tortured out of them."

"By whom?" she asked. "The Doomers or the humans?"

"The Doomers," the redhead said, "but also the humans to a lesser extent."

Morelle still didn't know much about those terrible enemies who had been mentioned on several occasions, and every time sheasked Brandon about them, he found a clever way to change the subject, which was starting to annoy her.

Although she had to admit that when the method was kissing, she didn't mind as much.