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

Carol.  I could tell by the unique perfume she always wore.  It was a mixture of lavender and vanilla.  It was a welcoming scent.  “Are you ok, dear?” she asked, bringing her hand to rest on my lower back in a comforting gesture.
    “Yeah, I just don’t know what I ever saw in him.”  My eyes were still focused on the door when I answered, my mind reliving all the happy times we had shared, opting not to think of the bad at the moment.  I had loved this man at one point and I knew some part of my heart would always beat for him whether I wanted it to or not.  His eyes had told me just how much he was missing me, just how much he cared.
    Two men walking through the front door brought me back.  They grabbed a small table in my section so I picked up a couple menu’s and headed for them.  “What can I get for you guys?”  I was relieved to hear my voice come out pleasant and not as exhausted as I felt.
    “Just some coffee please, Tessa.  Regular, I think,” the older of the two said with a smile.  It always unnerved me when people I didn’t know called me by my first name despite the fact that my nametag displayed it to anyone caring to look.
    “Sure thing, I just brewed a fresh pot.”  They looked antsy and didn’t talk to each other while I was filling their mugs, not something I was at all bothered by.  Some people just liked their privacy.  They both smiled so I headed back to the counter to return the pot to its home.
    “Zolera.”
    It was just a whisper, but I heard it.  I froze, my fingers loosening around the coffee pot until a loud crashing noise echoed around the room.
    “What the hell is wrong with you, Tessa, clean that mess up,” Gus, one of the busboys, said and it jarred me enough to regain composure.  “Think I got some bacon grease on the handle, sorry guys,” I said loud enough to get everyone’s attention off of me.  It worked.  Gus handed me a broom and a dustpan and I thanked him for it.
    There was no way I heard what I thought I heard, but I had to be sure.  As I swept I kept my ears as open as I could.  After a minute or two I caught the voice again and snuck a glance at my two new customers.
    “We’ve been looking for weeks and we haven’t found any.  At this rate they’ll be on to us before we find out where they’re meeting,” the older one protested.
    The other male nodded.  He was much younger than the first man, probably close to my age where the other guy looked old enough to be his father.  Then he spoke, and the words took my breath away.  “The Boru King won’t be pleased if we come back empty-handed again.”
    The room started to spin and darken before my eyes as my legs gave way.  I dropped to my knees, breathing hard but feeling as if no oxygen was entering my lungs.
    Dekem was the former ruler of the Boru, a species long since purged from Kortis.  My father had killed Dekem with the weapon that now belonged to me.  The other three kings of Kortis had banded with my father to banish the rest of them to this earthly plain.  They had no King.  This was common knowledge among my kind.  They had been cast out with no way to return, and were forced to live amongst the humans.  They had chameleon abilities which helped them to blend in with the human population.  The Boru would love to see all of my kind dead for sealing their expulsion and executing their King.  But since they were no longer able to get to Kortis they were quite content with killing any of my kind that they could get their hands on (i.e. those of us who decided to cross over).
    The sound of chairs scraping on the floor brought me back to the present, and when I looked up, the table where the two had been sitting was empty.
    Damn!  I should have paid more attention to what they were talking about.
    I knew that they were trying to find a group of Zolera that were meeting for some reason.  From what I knew, the few of my kind that came to this realm tried to blend in with