Her.
Now he needed to check her out up-close, because opening his mind shields to an influx of emotions just wasn’t happening.
A familiar prickle slipped down his spine, alerting him to a fellow Empyrean approaching. Dammit. He might not have notified the others about his arrival on Earth, but they sure as hell knew.
Never a moment alone.
Neither here nor on Empyrea.
The blood oaths all denizens swore to the royal line were a damn pain in his ass.
“Good evening, Your Highness.” The enormous Kalasderian, an enforcer to the warlord of Kalasder, stopped at his side.
“It’s just Aerén or Ren in this world, Thrase.” His attention remained on the coffeehouse, restlessness coursing through him to get moving.
“Yes, of course, Prince Aerén.”
“I don’t need a guard.”
“It’s the last thought on my mind,” Thrase countered, stepping out of the path of heavily swathed humans hurrying toward them. He frowned. “I’ve been here a while. I still find it difficult combing through the mass of human females for a Chosen.”
“And you’re complaining, why?”
A smile glimmered in his amethyst eyes. “Alas, I’m not my sibling. Though being surrounded by females is not totally disagreeable.”
Aerén laughed, pushing his hands into his jeans pockets. “So, any more Chosen discovered while I was away?”
“Aye. Just not by us. Word is the Darkreans found another.”
Of course, they had. Thosefosserson the other side of his kingdom were arrogant bastards, but as long as the females were on Empyrea, it was all that mattered.
“This place feels different…” Frowning, Aerén glanced around him, retrieved and switched on his cell. The date appeared. “Shit,March—I lost five months?”
“Next time, use our portal in Kalasder when crossing back into this realm so, time-wise, it isn’t so vast.”
Hell, their entire realm’s magic was skewed and weakening. Even their portal traversing was affected. It cemented his growing conviction that Élendium was deteriorating faster than any other realm without a Chosen.
“I’m heading downtown,” Thrase said, dragging Aerén out of his troubled thoughts. “You coming?”
“Later.”I have a suspected Chosen to hunt down.
“By the way, if you need a place other than Eve and Reynner’s apartment, the cabin upstate is empty. I’m the only one there if you’re interested.”
With his roiling powers and throbbing head, residing in the noisy city didn’t help. He needed quiet, and better yet, Thrase wasn’t glued to his ass like the guards of Élendium. “Thanks. Thiorr, my enforcer, will be joining us.”
The warrior nodded. “I’ll text you the coordinates and address. Later.” Thrase gave a half bow, probably to tick him off, and strolled away.
Aerén didn’t care, his attention back on the coffeehouse.
Now, to weed out the female in the blood-red coat and bring hope back to Élendium.
CHAPTER2
The night airseeped through Leya’s clothing with icy fingers, and she shivered as she hustled for the coffee shop in the Village. “C’mon, summer, get here already!”
She skirted a group of snickering girls, her tote slung over one shoulder, bouncing against her back. Tension streaked across her nape, heck, her entire being, and she regretted working late this evening instead of taking up her student-employee Embry on his offer for an hour of sword training.
She didn’t mind the physical labor at her family’s small garden center business, but her father still hadn’t replaced the full-time staff who’d left months ago, because money was tight. So, the workload fell on her.
