Their Hidden Princess Chapter 97

Kairos

The Day Before

Kairos watched as Zora walked away from him. He huffed a sigh before mumbling to himself.

“That could’ve gone better,”

He turned away as Zora got farther from him. He’d meant it, what he told her about the snow. He figured sharing something personal like that would humanize him more. But he was left alone, nothing changed between them. The last challenge was still on the calendar.

He really, really did not want to fight her again.

Everything about her was becoming mesmerizing to him. The way she spoke to the way she moved and – Gods help him – the way she said his name.

Kairos Moonraiser never liked his name. It was an old Greek name that had been passed down across generations. His father had one too. It meant something like “perfect moment” and he thought it was utter bullshit.

But when she said his name, it was like he’d never heard anything as wonderful.

Zora made him like the parts of himself that he hated. His name. His anger. Somehow, she twisted it and made it useful to her and that made him happy.

He was so fucked, so utterly fucked. She had to be his fated mate. No woman (or man) had ever made him feel the way she did. And she hadn’t even touched him.

He ran a hand over his face. Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement. Immediately he whipped around with a growl.

Not ten meters from him was Amara. Her hood was pulled over her head but he could tell it was her from how tall she was along with the bright right red of her nails coming out from under her sleeve.

He watched her move through the shadows, across campus. She hadn’t noticed him, despite the noise that erupted from his throat. He tracked her with his eyes to the edge of the forest line, then watched her disappear into the trees.

His eyebrows wrinkled in confusion.

It was nearly one in the morning. The fact that he caught Zora so late made sense. He knew she was training and watched her leave the gym. But Amara didn’t train. Nor did she study. So, what the fuck was she doing?

Kairos thought about following her but decided against it. Knowing Amara, she was probably going to blow a first year in the opening where they taught shifting. He shivered in thought and walked back to his house.

The next day, at lunch, Kairos was stunned for the second time in twenty-four hours when Maximus came over to their table.

Maximus had all but abandoned his friends the last few months. To see him standing at the end of their table had Kairos flabbergast. He blinked at the man at the end of the table, watching his mouth move but hearing nothing.

“What?” he deadpanned.

Maximus scowled at him. “Loren? Moonbeam? Have you seen her?”

“Nah, mate,” Petyr chimed in around a mouth of food. “You want me to ask Less?”

“Yeah, please,” Maximus sat his tray down next to Petyr. Kairo watched every move, waiting for the punchline. “Zora’s worried.”

There it was.

“About what?” Kairos asked as casually as he could.

There was a beat of silence before Maximus replied. He looked at Petyr when he spoke and Kairos wanted to roll his eyes so badly, they twitched.

“Loren wasn’t back in her room last night,” he said. “Or this morning.”

Petyr frowned. Kairos knew he didn’t get along that well with his mate’s younger sister. But he also knew that family was family. Loren missing affected him too.

Kairos also couldn’t help to think it was odd that the younger Moonbeam girl wasn’t in her room last night. He’d run into Zora incredibly late. Then he’d seen Amara wandering off.

Kairos cleared his throat. “Yous hear anything about the Princess, recently?”

“I don’t see how this is related to Loren,” Maximus snapped.

Kairos shrugged and moved some food around on his plate. “It isn’t,” he said. “Just curious.”

“Why?” Max said, plainly. “I heard you broke off your father’s arrangement.”

“Doesn’t mean I’m not concerned about who else is touching her,” Kairos threw his fork onto his platter and fixed Maximus with a glare. “You’ve read the Book of the High Alpha. Protect the queen at all costs.”

“She’s not the queen,” Maximus grit out.

“Alright, we’re done with this,” Petyr said, nervously waving his hands in front of Kairos and Maximus. “Lunerly’s already up our cunts about fighting. Let’s not do it again.”

Petyr went to stand, and Kairos followed taking his tray with him. Petyr looked down at Maximus as he spoke. “I’ll send a message to Alessia as soon as possible.”

Maximus nodded. “Thanks,”

Kairos and Petyr gave each other side glances before Petyr gave a curt nod to Maximus. The two walked to put their trays by the trash. Petyr snorted unattractively. He knocked his shoulder into Kairos’s.

“Crazy what getting laid will do to you,”

Kairos said nothing as he glared at Petyr. He slammed his tray into the return pile and sulked out of the cafeteria. He could vaguely hear Petyr grumbling about Kairos’s knickers being in a twist.

They were. And it was Zora Smith’s fault.

Kairos attended his afternoon classes with less conflict but a hell of a lot of Zora Smith thoughts. By the end of his four o’clock class, he was in a terrible mood. It was further exacerbated by the fact that he ran into Amara. He nearly collided with her as he left his building.

“Watch where you’re fucking going,” he snapped. He was about to blow by her without a second thought when he noticed how utterly disheveled she looked.

Her eye weren’t caked in their usual kohl. Her pupils were pinpricks, barely visible unless you squinted. Under her yellow eyes were deep, dark circles. A hoodie was pulled up over her head but Kairos could see her usually sleek bob was a frizzy mess under there. Her hands seemed to be shaking, several of her long nails looked gnawed off.

Kairos immediately took a step back and looked at Amara with wide eyes. She seemed to be mumbling something under her breath. Kairos was trying to pick it out but couldn’t. He stepped in front of her and she barely noticed. He forcefully grabbed her shoulders and she jerked her head up to look at him.

“What are you on!?” He snapped. He shook her once. “I’m not watching you overdose on campus, Princess.”

Amara seemed completely unphased. She kept mumbled, eyes drifting from Kairos’s to behind him.

“Have…have to go…” she ranted. “Needs…needs.. blood!”

On the last word, her eyes bulged and she scrambled to get out Kairos’s grasp. He ignored her and held on.

“Who needs blood?” he snapped.

“Me! More, more, more, more!” Amara rambled, scratching at Kairos’s arms. He grunted in pain as her nails cut his skin but he held on tight.

“Why do you need blood, Amara?” Kairos pressed.

“Bring…bring…her…” she paused. “Blood….blood! More, more, moremoremore!”

She scraped at Kairos more and he lost his grip on her shoulders as she cut him. He grunted and jerked away from her, hand going to cover the thin lines of blood pooling on his wrists. Amara seemed unphased, still. She continued to walk towards the forest, shaking and twitching nervously.

Kairos paused for a moment.

Amara was going exactly where he saw her going last night. She’d also mentioned a “her” which made Kairos wary. He knew Loren was missing. Had Amara done something with her?

All of the things happening made him wary. He needed to check on Zora. Something about the situation wasn’t right. He made his way across campus and found her dorm. He walked in without a problem and went up to the floor where Maximus lived. He knew she lived next door. He gently brought his fist to her door and rapt on it lightly.

He was psyching himself up to speak to her when the door flew open. However, standing there was not Zora Smith, but the missing Loren. Kairos jaw unhinged as he stared at the blonde in front of him. She had a light smile on and looked unscathed.

“Hiya,” she said. “Can I help you?”

“Y-you were missing,” he said.

Loren frowned. “I was at home,” she said gently. “Damn, Zora really didn’t get my note.”

“No,” he snapped. “She didn’t and she’s been running wild asking people about you.”

“Well, where is she?” Loren asked.

Kairos peered over Loren’s head and into the room. No one else was in the room and Zora’s bed looked untouched. Panic washed over him. Amara wasn’t talking about Loren. She was talking about Zora.

“We have to go,” Kairos said, quickly. “I think Zora’s in danger.”