Princess of the Damned by Dahlia Lu Read Free Book Online Page A

There was always an overwhelming feeling of anxiety when she tried to remember. Her heart would ache agonizingly. “I don’t want to remember at all!”
    She had fainted in his arms.
    Sayan picked her up and carried her to the tent the soldiers had erected for him. The bright sun would not help her condition. The soldiers assumed that she fainted from dehydration, but Sayan knew it was from shock.
    He didn’t know what had happened to her after she left him, but he could guess it was traumatic enough for her to reject it entirely. She knew that man, that creature, and she was frightened of him. The Nala he knew was never afraid of anything, so he was stunned when he felt her shaking hands on his back. She never showed a hint of fear, much less screamed out like that. Nala was always curious about her past, but why did she say she didn’t want to remember? This girl was not the Nala he knew at all, but eight years could change anyone.
    Is that how long it had been since they parted?
    He was dumbfounded at the realization. She must be in her thirties by now, but she didn’t look a day older than adolescence. He reached for her face, sliding his fingers down her cheeks. He was surprised at how soft she was. There was not a flaw on her face that could reveal her actual age.
    He placed her on the cushions and made sure she was breathing properly. The fingerprints on the side of her neck made him mutter a curse under his breath. He didn’t think he had used that much force, but the marks were hard evidence. Why didn’t she cry out or beg for him to let go? Other women would have.
    Her dark lashes fluttered opened. Her pale green eyes looked up at him, soft and vulnerable. Of all the years he had known her, she had never looked more vulnerable.
    “ Is he gone?” she whispered the question.
    “ Long gone,” he replied. He had questions about that man, but he decided it wasn’t important. “You truly don’t know who I am?”
    “ You are the prince of the Northern Kingdom,” she replied.
    “ Besides that,”
    “ You are a notorious warlord?”
    “ Besides that too,”
    She looked up at him with a confused expression. “I couldn’t possibly know another prince.”
    Sayan lowered his gaze. “When we get back to the Northern Kingdom, we’ll get you some real clothes.” He changed the topic. “I don’t have enough tunics for the both of us.”
    “ I just want to bathe. This is the longest I’ve ever gone without a bath.”
    “ Sometimes I wonder why you like to bathe so often.”
    “ I like to be clean.”
    “ If you were any cleaner, you wouldn’t have any skin left.”
    Two soldiers entered the tent. One was carrying a small table and the other was carrying a tray of food. They placed them on the ground next to the cushions, bowed, then left. There was a roast chicken, bread, fruits, and a kettle of wine.
    “ I know it doesn’t look appetizing to you, but I promise there will be better food once we returned to the palace.” He pulled out a drumstick and handed it to her. She shook her head, refusing to take it. “You need to eat.”
    “ I like fruits.” She reached for the green grapes.
    Sayan stared at his reflection in the silverware. Had he changed so much in the eight years that she couldn’t recognize him? Surely his voice had changed, but his appearance hadn’t changed that much, had it?
    “ Are you meaning you say that you would recognize me if I were a shepherd and not a prince?”
    Nala dropped the grapes onto the floor. She stared at him with an incomprehensible look in her eyes.
    “ You said that I look like someone you knew, but it couldn’t be because of my status?”
    “ The person I know is only a shepherd.”
    “ Are you in some sort of denial or are you just used to strange men whisking you away?”
    “ The person I knew would never talk to me like that.”
    “ Be damned with the person you used to know!” He flipped the table over with a kick. “I will never be so gullible