The Lost Prince - Sara York Page 0,2

be stupid. Add to the fact he wanted this guy. He wanted him like air. But people made fun of his name, and no doubt this guy would, too. He should have changed his name to something more reasonable, but changing it would open up other questions he couldn’t afford, like who he was and why he had been left in the forest to die.

“Nonja,” Crave said.

The guy’s eyebrows pinched together tightly. “What?”

“None of your damn business. I am who I am.”

Devin scowled at him again, but Crave took off, racing into town. Jesus, hadn’t he been careful? Why was some pencil-pushing jerk from the government looking for him? And it had to be him they were looking for. Fishy activity—what else might they be searching for? Mutants who had undocumented powers were hunted down and imprisoned for existing. Iris had drilled the warning into his head time and time again.

“Trust no one and always be aware of those around.”

He had to be better at keeping track of the people around him. He knew better than to stumble around out here after sliding from the ground. The last thing he wanted was the capital’s attention or the Municipal in Dulibre coming to look at him. They would torture him for sure.

Iris and Bran had drilled into him how dangerous people from the capital were. They weren’t to be trusted. Only Iris and Bran were trusted with his secrets, and even they didn’t want to know the full truth of it. They put up with him, but love had walked out years ago, around the time they realized the tiny infant they’d taken in to raise as their own wasn’t worth the trouble he brought by ground sliding around the countryside. And Crave knew he was trouble because no one else dove into dirt and traveled along the underground paths made by groundhogs, moles, and other creepy crawlies. His abnormality had been shunned, along with him, and if he was caught using it, bad things would follow.

Crave would have to watch his actions or risk being jailed or worse. Though, if there were any cracks in the jail’s floor, he would escape. Of course, there were always the drains leading out of every room, but Crave didn’t like swimming with the sewage.

No one needed to know exactly how powerful he was or how easy it would be for him to infiltrate or escape any building in the land. The less people knew about him, the better. And now, with the capital searching for him, his time was running out.

Chapter Two

Devin stared after the young man, a tingle from their touch still zipping through his veins like hot peppers in his favorite dish. He should follow, not because he was interested, but work. That was the reason. Work, not the lust making his tongue curl.

Why was the young, sexy man out here? Could he possibly…no. The lead he was tracking had something to do with the disruption of the ground, not some cute young thing sashaying through the forest on some soul quest.

Devin sighed. The man wasn’t interested. His biting remark about his hair, or lack thereof, had been a hit to his ego. Failure at young love, failure at being a royal, failure at everything. Not that he minded being out here. At least he wasn’t in an office pushing papers, but he should live in the capital, enjoying his life, not sitting out in Dulibre while working for the Municipal. Hating his job was a bit strong for how he felt, more like he wasn’t happy he had to provide for his family. It made him sound petulant. If his father and mother had jobs, he wouldn’t mind, but they were happily residing in their estate, playing the Count and Countess of Dumtsteed, while he earned money for them to play with. He wanted to spend time with his peers, but they were all zipping around the country, performing cool tricks with their supo powers while he was working for the Municipal tracking down illegal power users.

Devin rolled his eyes as he kept his distance while he followed the guy. The Municipal wanted to keep tabs on individuals who used unregistered powers. Though they were starting to relax those laws, it was still illegal for anyone who hadn’t registered to use a power. It created a hierarchy the country needed. He guessed it was how his parents still had their title, even though it was basically useless.

The political winds at