Free The Forgotten Prince (Shifter Rebellion, 3) by Kelex Page A

a
half-sleep, where the outside world didn’t exist and there was a
future for him and the three warriors.
    He lifted his good hand, staring at it
as he pondered the possibilities. If he used his power to sway
them, to make them keep him, then they’d have the chance the three
seemed ready to forfeit. But his power hadn’t worked on Ryllan for
some reason, so there was the chance he couldn’t sway them all. And
if he couldn’t have them all, he’d have none.
    The light of his power illuminated his
hand as he stared at it. Thus far, it had been more of a curse than
a gift. It had brought him pain and torment. He almost wished he’d
never acquired it.
    “ What do you plan to do
with that?” Amaden asked, his eyes still closed.
    “ If I wanted to use it on
you, I already would have,” Aleth answered.
    Amaden slowly opened his eyes, his
lavender gaze pinning Aleth. “Where did you gain such
power?”
    “ I don’t know. About five
years ago, I was being chased by a market vendor after I’d stolen
some apples. I’d been starving and hadn’t had a meal in days. He
gave chase and when he’d cornered me, I just did it without
thinking. I’d completely wiped his memory clear without knowing
what I’d done to him.”
    “ Can you control
it?”
    Aleth lowered his hand, the light
fading. “At first, no. I damaged a lot of beings in the beginning.
There was no coming back from it. But over time, I learned to be
more careful. I can extract a single thought or give a gentle
persuasion, if I want. Or I can make someone not remember anything,
not even their own name.”
    Amaden was quiet. “That’s a lot of
power for one person.”
    “ It is,” Aleth whispered.
“Too much power.”
    Amaden frowned. “You could’ve tempted
me to do your bidding last night. You had ample time, but you never
made the attempt.”
    “ I won’t lie. I thought
about it. I could have you all eating out of the palm of my hand if
I chose to. But I don’t want to force someone to care for me.
Either they do or they don’t. If I forced you, then it wouldn’t be
real.”
    Amaden drew Aleth closer. “It sounds
like you have experience there.”
    Aleth nodded. “A guard. In the early
days, when I was honing my skills, I put the suggestion in his head
that he was my friend. He did everything I asked of him, without so
much as a complaint. After a while, I grew bored of him always
agreeing with me and his willingness to do as I asked. Then I asked
him to help me escape. When we were caught, my father eviscerated
him as I watched. His life was taken because of me, and I learned a
very valuable lesson.”
    “ His life was taken
because your father is a monster, not through your fault,” Amaden
answered.
    Aleth nuzzled into Amaden’s arms,
loving the warmth he felt there. “If I had left him alone, there
wouldn’t have been a reason for my father to kill him. His death
hangs on my shoulders alone.”
    Amaden sought Aleth’s lips, kissing
him gently. “You can’t hold on to that.”
    “ I did bad things, Amaden.
In the beginning, I wanted them to hurt after what they’d done to
me. They’d been unwilling to help a child, a homeless, helpless
child, so I’d wanted them to pay.”
    “ When I was a child, my
father had wanted to ship me off to a whorehouse to work as a
servant instead of train me to be a warrior. He was ashamed of me,
and it stung. Still does. Luckily my mother refused him and made
him train me. She was an incredible female. She found stray
children, those like us, and brought them home with us. She gave
them a home and food in their stomachs. She made my father train us
all. He pushed me mercilessly, shaming me before the others. There
wasn’t a day that went by when he didn’t go out of his way to
humiliate me. As soon as I could, I left Xhythria and pirated
through the open skies, as far from home as I could venture. The
invasion came and he lost his life fighting off a Xakarrian horde.
I didn’t mourn him. I