Jeniva felt a flicker of warmth in her chest; for the first ti since the rejection. "Thank you, Dominick," she said softly. "For listening."
"ntion not," he replied, his voice losing so of its usual hardness.
The mont of peace was shattered by a violent shudder from the engine. A loud clanking echoed through the chassis, followed by a thick plu of gray smoke billowing from the edges of the bonnet. Dominick slamd on the brakes, the tires screeching against the asphalt as the car jolted to a halt.
"Get out! Now!" Dominick commanded.
Jeniva didn’t hesitate. She scrambled out of the passenger side, her heart racing. Dominick was around the front in a second, his hand gripping her arm to pull her a safe distance away from the smoking vehicle.
"What’s wrong with it?" Jeniva asked.
"I think the engine has a serious problem," Dominick replied, his eyes narrowing as he watched the smoke thicken. He pulled out his phone, only to see the dreaded No Service icon in the corner of the screen. "And of course, we’re in a dead zone."
Dominick stood paralyzed for a mont, his brow furrowed in deep concentration. "We need to go back," he said firmly, reaching out to catch her hand. He closed his eyes, ready to teleport them both back to the safety of the house walls.
But nothing happened.
He tried again, pushing his energy harder, but it felt as though he were hitting an invisible ceiling.
"What are you doing, Your Highness?" Jeniva asked, frowning as she pulled her hand back from his grip.
"I’m unable to teleport," Dominick admitted, his voice tight with growing suspicion. He scanned the surrounding woods, his Alpha instincts on high alert. It felt sothing was dampening his abilities. "I’ve never encountered a dead zone, except one in the capital."
"I’ll try to book a cab," Jeniva said, reaching for her phone.
"There’s no signal here, Jeniva," Dominick stated, watching her thumb fruitlessly tap the screen.
"I’ll check anyway," she replied, her voice tinged with a hint of desperation. She held her phone high, moving a few steps away. "If I can’t get a bar, we’ll have to head back to the house on foot."
When she couldn’t catch the signal, Dominick decided they should go back on foot.
"Let’s go," he said, walking ahead of Jeniva. His hands were inside the pockets of his long coat, keeping his senses sharp while Jeniva stayed behind him closely. At the sa ti, she kept checking the signal on her phone and it finally showed.
"Your Highness, the signal is back. Where do you want to go? I’ll have to go to the mall center as I needed to buy a few important things," Jeniva stated.
"I wanted to go alone on a long drive. You can go by yourself," Dominick said.
"You can also co with . Buy sothing for you. Shopping gives a sense of peace," she pronounced with a smile.
Dominick thought for a mont before agreeing to her. Jeniva was quick to book a cab and stopped. "We should wait here. It shows the cab will be here in twenty minutes," she murmured.
Dominick hesitated for a second before nodding in agreent. Jeniva didn’t give him a chance to change his mind, quickly tapping away at her phone screen. "We should wait here," she murmured, scanning the road. "The app says twenty minutes."
"Hmm," Dominick humd in response.
The wait felt far longer than twenty minutes; the silence between them was heavy. When the cab finally pulled up, Jeniva slid into the front passenger seat, leaving Dominick to claim the back.
"Is that... Is this Prince Dominick I’m seeing?" the driver asked, his eyes wide as they fixed on the rearview mirror. He was young, with an energetic spark that seed out of place in the quiet afternoon.
"It is," Jeniva replied, casting a playful, sidelong glance at Dominick.
"Wow! Greetings, Your Highness! I’m Oliver!" the driver introduced himself, his voice brimming with excitent.
Dominick offered a thin, polite smile through the mirror. "It’s a pleasure, Oliver. Please, keep your focus on the road."
Oliver nodded vigorously, though he couldn’t stop talking as he pulled away. "I heard Your Highness attended the first day of the festival! The inauguration was so packed that most of us couldn’t get within a mile of the stage. I never thought I’d get to see the Prince this close, let alone have him in my own car. It’s an honor to serve you today."
Dominick leaned back against the headrest. He simply smiled at the young man’s enthusiasm.
"Are you His Highness’s bodyguard?" Oliver asked, casting a curious glance at Jeniva.
"No, I’m his executive assistant," Jeniva replied.
"Oh! That’s wonderful," Oliver bead, his grip tightening enthusiastically on the steering wheel. "Seeing Ogas taking up significant roles in the administration is truly a point of pride. For most of us, we’re pushed into nial labor unless we happen to be born into a family with influence."
"You’re right, Oliver. It is an uphill battle," Jeniva agreed, her voice softening with genuine empathy. "But I think the tide is turning. In the capital and the larger cities, the opportunities for us are finally expanding, we just have to reach for them."
Dominick sat in the back, observing the exchange with a mix of surprise and a strange sense of displacent. He watched the way they spoke with an easy, imdiate understanding, a shared language of lived experience that he, as an Alpha and a Prince, could never truly touch.
Despite being the most powerful person in the vehicle, he felt like the outsider. It was fascinating to him; Jeniva and Oliver were strangers, yet they spoke with a familiarity that suggested they had known each other for years, while he sat in the silence of his own privilege, listening to a world he was only just beginning to see clearly.
Finally, the car ca to a halt as they were outside the biggest mall in the town. Jeniva and Oliver exchanged numbers with each other.
"Call if you ever want to explore the town," Oliver said.
"Of course! Thank you," Jeniva said and waved at him. Only when he disappeared down the road, she turned to Dominick.
"You forgot in the entire ride. And you even exchanged your number with a stranger," Dominick remarked with a frown before walking ahead.
Reviews
All reviews (0)