Chapter 9 : : : : : The Sold Princess

*Ember*

I hadn’t meant to fall asleep. The last thing I remembered was lying in the strong arms of the hooded stranger, wishing that I could see his face while I traced the outline of the scar on his broad back with my fingers. But now, I found myself sitting up suddenly as somebody pounded on the barricaded door to my room, and I realized that I must have dozed off in the night.

The guards must finally have come for me, and the last thing I wanted was for them to see that I had spent a lustful night with a strange shifter. Panicked, I turned to the other side of the bed, only to find the rumpled sheets and nobody else in sight.

“Where are you?” I whispered desperately, my eyes raking over the room. There wasn’t anywhere for him to hide, other than the bathroom.

Moving as quickly as I could, I darted into the bathroom, but there was no sign of the stranger there, either.

He had left, and he hadn’t taken me with him.

“No, no, no,” I chanted, tears springing to my eyes.

Beh