The Forgotten Prince (Shifter Rebellion, 3) Read Free

hadn’t
calmed his nightmares. Something was awry, but he couldn’t sense
just what it was. Perhaps it was simply being on the rebel moon
base, so far from his home on Xhythria. Soon he hoped to reclaim
the palace.
    And hopefully free his father from
their clutches as well.
    Why Agarri felt such loyalty to his
father he’d never known. Nothing he’d done for the male had been
enough. King Stugaati had barely masked his contempt for Agarri on
most occasions, but the male was still his father and the rightful
ruler of Xhythria.
    The Oracle would know where to find
him.
    “ Khal, I’m so glad you’re
here,” Agarri said, forcing a smile to his face. The chill he felt
increased and he sensed the news he was about to hear wouldn’t be
something he wanted to learn. Khal hadn’t turned him on the wrong
path, yet, so there was still hope. “Your predictions could help us
immensely.”
    “ Predictions?” Drayden
grumbled. Agarri’s lover glared at the oracle before looking to his
cousin, Tyron. “Let me guess, cousin, this is your supposed
oracle?”
    Prince Agarri interrupted before the
two began bickering. “Oh yes. Khal is the one who told me to expect
the three of you and that I should go with you. He said you were my
fated males. Because of him, I had no fear.”
    Drayden frowned, but he
soon relaxed. “I suppose I should … thank
you … for helping our prince,” Drayden
said to the oracle.
    Khal simply nodded, not uttering a
word in response. The oracle reached for one of his triad and soon,
the male’s eyes glowed white as he began his vision quest. “The
other comes … strong is he. The three must claim their mate, take
his anger, show him love. The enemy king holds the key.”
    The oracle began to repeat the same
stunted sentences when one of the others in the triad reached out,
seeming to wake Khal from his spell. Khal awakened from his visions
and leaned back into one of his males.
    Agarri let the words churn over in his
mind. The other? Who was the other? The three must claim their mate
… was that about him and his triad, or was this someone else? Was
it the other?
    “ Who is the other?”
Drayden asked Khal firmly.
    “ I see Prince Agarri, but
it isn’t him. This male is someone else, who appears to have
Agarri’s face. One hand is withered, broken. I don’t know how. But
he is a relative of the Stugaati clan.”
    “ Wouldn’t I have met this
relative?” Prince Agarri asked, confused. “I think I would remember
a male with my face.”
    Drayden clicked his tongue. “This is
all rubbish. We’re wasting our time.”
    “ No,” Khal said. “This
male is the one who’s clearing minds of King Stugaati’s
whereabouts. He’s being forced to use his immense power, against
his will. We need to free him and not allow the Xakarrians to use
him as a weapon, before they come for all of us.”
    “ The enemy king? The
Xakarrians don’t have a king,” Drayden asked.
    Khal looked down, seeming to struggle
with what he would say next. Agarri’s stomach turned. This was what
he’d feared. Bad news. “King Stugaati opened the doors for the
invasion. He leads them now. Our king is our enemy, which is why he
had to wipe his memory from so many minds.”
    Drayden jumped from his seat. “Lies!
What proof do you have of this?”
    Khal shook his head. “I have no proof,
other than what I see in my own head. I’ve seen Stugaati in a
silver suit, hiding who he is from most.”
    “ He is king. What reason
would he have for allowing this invasion?” Drayden
demanded.
    Agarri sensed the truth in Khal’s
words the minute they’d been uttered. His father had been
borderline mad and hungry for power. Khal had no reason to lie. But
the truth stunned Agarri to his core, and made the ability to speak
leave him as his body trembled with a mixture of sickness, fear, …
and anger.
    How could his father do
this?
    How many Xhythrians had died for him
to seize power? A power he already had?
    Why had he enslaved