Royal Affliction (The Anti-Princess Saga) Read Online Free PDF Page B

intuitions had been right about that gaze of his at least.
    He stared at me and I knew he was seeing me in my Zolera form.  It was an oddly intrusive feeling, but how was he doing it?  My ring was supposed to protect my identity from everyone, even my own kind.  I said nothing but continued to stare at my feet.
    “It’s alright, Tessa.  I’m not going to hurt you and I won’t tell anyone your secret.”  I caught his eye, my face fixed in an expression that must have been humorous since he let out a small laugh.  “I have a secret of my own: I am half-Zolera.  My mother was Zolera and my father was Boru.”  He stated this as though it was a normal union.
    “A Zolera and a Boru cannot be together, it would be a death sentence as neither side would allow it.”  I knew it couldn’t be true, but part of me believed him.  It did explain a lot, one of which was his appealing aroma of oranges and of the sea, a mixture of both sides.
    “That’s why I was raised in a human orphanage,” he continued.  “My mother and father were married on June 13 th , 1981, and I was born in July the following year.  We kept hidden, moving from place to place so that no one would find us.  I was five when they did.  My mom knew that it was a group of Boru.  She had some special gifts.  She grabbed me by the arm and dragged me upstairs, hiding me in her bedroom closet.  Before she left she placed a coin, the one that I gave you, into my hand and told me to stay put while she took care of something downstairs.”
    A lone tear slid down his cheek.  My eyes followed its progress until it landed with a small splash onto his thigh.  He didn’t need to finish.  “I heard everything: the high-pitched, horrible screams and the long silence that followed.  I stayed in that closet for hours before I came downstairs.  There was blood…everywhere, and both of my parents were…in…pieces.”
    I placed my hand on his thigh to comfort him and his tears hit the back of it.  He looked into my eyes and gave me a shallow smile before going on.  “The police found me walking down the street, covered in my parent’s blood and in complete shock.  They called child services and I was in foster care until I was eighteen.  I knew that I was different.  Knew that I wasn’t human.  I was five, old enough to remember at least some details about my parents.  The coin was my only solid evidence of what I was.  I thought it would help me to find out more, but I found nothing.  Zolera and Boru are the only words that have stayed with me all this time.”
    I wasn’t sure what to say.  Clifton had had a most traumatic life, and I felt bad for him.  I doubted that he wanted my pity, maybe he just wanted someone to talk to about it.  He had no one to talk to about his life in this world.  Though surrounded by people, we were both alone.
    “And then you came into my life, Miss Tessa Turner.”  He placed his hand on top of mine and the touch sent tingles up my spine.  “When I saw you, I saw my home.  I’d never felt surer of anything in my entire life.  It’s been torturing me whenever you tell me that you won’t come over.  You have only lived here for a month and already I have started to go insane from lack of you.  You have no idea what you do to me, do you?  Tessa, you make me feel alive, and whenever I’m around you I feel wanted, despite your actions and words that prove otherwise.”
    “I have avoided you, Clifton, but not for the reasons that you think.”
    “And now that I’ve told you about me, are you still going to avoid me?”
    “I…don’t know.”  It was an honest response.  He was like me, if only half, but I still wasn’t sure that I wanted to open myself to another man after Brent.  I did want him, which was something that I couldn’t control.  “It’s kind of complicated.”
    “I’d settle for you not running off every time I try to talk to you, at least at first.”
    His fingers