Chapter 806

"Get out of here, Elias," Gabriel snaps, keeping his eyes on me. "I need a moment alone with my Luna." I go stiff and so does Pippa, both of us staring at the cruel, blue-eyed prince leaning against the door. My eyes flash between him and Elias, noting their remarkable similarities, though Gabriel is...broader, a bit, and more muscled. And with none of the mobile kindness of a face used to smiling.

"Sorry," Elias says, light, ignoring his brother's command. "I'm not finished my breakfast." Casually, he reaches for a bread roll.

"Out," Gabriel snarls, taking three steps forward and kicking Elias's chair.

"Highness," Pippa says, her voice softer and more tentative than it was before. She hangs her head slightly, not meeting Gabriel's eyes. "It's not appropriate for you to be alone with the Princess -"

"Oh, shut up, Pippa," Gabriel snaps, vicious. "No one asked you." Pippa's face colors and her head dips more.

"Watch yourself," Elias snaps, spinning to his brother, a very real threat in his voice. "Don't you ever speak to her like that. Besides, she's right, as usual."

"Sanctimonious frauds, both of you," Gabriel says, rolling his eyes before turning them back to me and giving me a lurid little smile. "Besides, I'm just trying to play things on Moon Valley's terms. Where women are alone with men they're not married to all the time. To do...whatever they wish.'

His eyes snap with precise deliberation immediately to Luca's mark on my neck. I flush but fight, hard, the urge to cover the mark with my hand. I don't say a word, just staring up at my mate, wondering how the hell I'm supposed to manage this.

Because I believe Elias when he said that Gabriel knows things about me - from Jesse's mate turned spy, apparently. So, playing dumb isn't going to help me here, is it?

But perhaps playing afraid...

I immediately give into the impulse, my wolf huffing her agreement, and cringe away from Gabriel in my chair, looking up at him with wide and vulnerable eyes.

A slow smile grows on Gabriel's face and I wonder, again, just how this horrible man can be my mate. What the hell did my grandmother see in him?

"I won't ask you again, Elias," Gabriel says, not looking at his brother. "Take your little pet pigeon and get out of here.'

"Good thing you're done asking,"

Elias murmurs, beginning to pour a cup of coffee and adding cream and sugar, pushing it my way across the table. "Because I'm finished telling you that I'm not going anywhere. If you want to have breakfast with us, take a seat. If not, continue lurking in the doorway like some ridiculous vampire who hasn't been invited in yet."

My eyes dart to Pippa when I see her shoulders twitch with a laugh, see her flick her eyes to Elias, who

gives her a calm wink. And to my surprise, Elias's quiet composure...works.

Gabriel scowls but he moves into the room and shuts the door behind him. And then he moves to take the little chair next to me, effectively joining our party.

Avoiding the very real impulse to

shift into my wolf and bite his stupid face, I turn slightly towards this new mate, still shrinking away from him a bit, playing up my fear. Because, after all, I need information above all else right now. And I have a better chance of getting it if he doesn't see me as a snarling threat. noveldrama

"What, Ariel?" Gabriel says, smirking at me as he lounges back in his chair, crossing his leg casually and resting his ankle on his knee. "Trying to burn me up with your pretty flames? Finding that a little difficult at the moment?"

I force my eyes to go wider, as if the idea is terrible to me. Even though I'd do precisely that if I had access to my powers and any way out of the Atalaxian palace alive.

If, even, that's where I am.

"Where...where has my magic gone?" I ask, my voice tremulous. "I feel so...naked without it."

Pippa blushes at my phrasing but Elias just continues to eat, buttering his bread, staying steadily at the table and letting me work.

Gabriel's dirty little smile grows. "I took it away." He waves a hand around at us. "I'm in complete control here, Ariel. Control of you, of your magic. Of everyone's magic."