Free The Rogue Prince by Michelle M. Pillow Page A

to have such a pretty lady aboard.”
    Jasmine nodded slightly at the man, Rick, as she stepped into the crowded lounge area. Aside from the two Var ambassadors and Dev, his was the only name she’d gotten. She remembered it from the men’s banter back on Nozando. Rick winked at her, kicking his boots up onto a gaming table. A pale man shoved them off. Rick laughed, taking it in stride.
    “Welcome aboard, stowaway.” Jasmine turned to the kind voice, recognizing the man. “I’m Evan.”
    “Hello,” she said, her voice soft. “Jasmine.”
    Evan pointed around the room, introducing the men. “At the gaming table is Viktor, his brother Lucien, Rick, who you’ve had the displeasure of meeting--”
    “Hey,” Rick growled, before chuckling. “Don’t hate me because you’re jealous of me.”
    “Uh-huh,” Evan said, rolling his eyes. “The blond is Jackson. That’s Lochlann. I understand you met Dev already.”
    “Hello,” Jasmine repeated. The men eyed her curiously, as if they expected her to say more. She nervously swallowed and didn’t move.
    “Care to join the game?” Lucien asked, motioning to the cards already on the table. “We’ll start over.”
    “Hey, you only say that cause you have a bad hand,” Viktor protested.
    “No, thank you,” Jasmine answered, before Lucien could argue.
    “Are you hungry?” Evan asked.
    Jasmine looked at him. He had kind eyes. Slowly, she nodded her head. She didn’t know what possessed her to wander into the lounge area. She’d just heard the laughter and was curious. Now that she was here, she didn’t know what to say. It had been a long time--four years to be exact--since she’d actually had an unsupervised conversation. She had no idea what to talk about or how to even break the ice. She was used to just sitting amongst people like a figurine, letting the men talk.
    “Come on, I’ll show you the dining hall.” Evan led the way from the lounge.
    The laughter automatically picked up as soon as she stepped out. Jasmine bit her lip and tried not to be jealous of it. She’d never belonged to a group of friends like that.
    “We can stop by the medical booth if you’d like,” Evan offered, nodding down at her wrist.
    “No, thank you,” Jasmine said.
    “It’s not a problem. That bruise looks like it hurts.”
    Jasmine swallowed nervously and covered it with her hand. She was so used to hiding her bruises that she didn’t know what to say. “No, it’s fine, really. I can’t use medical booths. I have an allergy to the laser.”
    “Really?” Evan said in obvious surprise. “I’ve never heard of that.”
    “It’s rare,” she answered. She really didn’t want to talk about it. “Where’s the ship heading?”
    She watched Evan closely while pretending not to. He blinked at the abrupt turn of conversation, only to grin. Chuckling softly, he said, “We don’t really have a set plan as far as I know. I believe the idea is to aimlessly make our way back to Qurilixen, stopping wherever we feel like along the way.”
    “Have you been there?” she asked. “Qurilixen?”
    “Yeah, it’s not bad. I actually kind of like it,” Evan said. “The scenery is beautiful--large trees bigger around than this ship, open skies. Though, it doesn’t really get dark except for once a year. The constant light was something to get used to. We stayed at the Var palace when we were there. Our old captain married Reid’s brother, Prince Quinn.”
    “Oh,” Jasmine said before gasping. “Wait. Did you say prince?”
    Evan nodded, leading her at a leisurely pace down the corridor. “You didn’t know? Reid and Jarek are Var princes. Their older brother is the King.”
    “I thought they were ambassadors.”
    “That too.” Evan smiled. He stopped, motioning inside an open door. “Ah, here’s the dining hall. Forgive the mess. Viktor took apart the cleaning droid to see how it worked and hasn’t put it back together yet.”
    Jasmine nodded. Without having to