The Burden of Trust

by Nikki Frank

  I flopped back against my pillow, gripping my head. “Dear God. The night I got drunk. Can that night ruin anything else?”

  Iya had gone so pale his skin shifted from red to pink. “Nurse,” he bellowed. “Get my mother for me. I want to know for sure she’s pregnant from a source I trust.” He bit his lip for a moment before muttering, “It’s been a little over a month since we went to the club . . . I think.” He ticked off the number of days on his fingers, then clawed his fingers down his face. “How could one night do this?”

  He threw the question into the air, panic taking over his expression. His mother entered the room hesitantly. He turned pleading eyes on her.

  “Mother, is this true? How long until . . .?” He swallowed hard.

  Without saying anything, she crossed to me and put her hands over my stomach. A prickling sensation filled my belly, then faded. The expression on her face staying constant, she turned and took Iya’s hands.

  “Son, don’t overreact at what I’m going to tell you.”

  He barred his fangs and hissed at me.

  “Iya dear, you’re going to be a father. The baby is about five weeks along. It’s definitely half-akuma, and its magic feels exactly like yours.”

  Anger, confusion, and finally disbelief ran across Iya’s face. “Akuma are pregnant for eleven months. There’s no way she could be showing signs.”

  Her grip on his hand tightened. “And implings are born only four and a half months after conception. Your baby is a unique combination. We’ll just have to see how long gestation takes. But as an imp, Olivia’s baby could be a quarter of the way grown in those five weeks.”

  When she let go, Iya faltered back, shooting her a desperate look. “I can’t have a baby. You should know better than anyone. It’s in there plotting to take my throne.”

  Zhiami laughed. “Unlikely. You have a few years before you have to worry.”

  Iya bit his lip. “Olivia can abort it.”

  “No,” Zhiami and I said together.

  “That’s my grandchild you’re talking about.” Zhiami tipped his face up and gazed at him with tears filling her eyes. “You’re bonded now, so I know you can understand how hard living without your partner is. Since Olivia collapsed and we discovered her pregnancy, it’s been easier for me. I want to see my grandchild. It’s a privilege very few akuma ever get.”

  Iya shot a pained look in my direction, but I shook my head and hugged my belly. “I’m not killing an innocent baby. We’ll have to find a way to talk him out of taking your throne.”

  “You can’t talk a demon out of that.”

  “He’s only half-demon, remember?” I rubbed at my stomach. “And like you’ve said from the start. If he has to have a throne, we’ll train him to take mine once he’s old enough.”

  Iya whimpered and shied away from me. New tears stung at my eyes. “Iya, are you really going to be like this? You still have apologizing to do―”

  “Ahem . . . I’m sorry to interrupt.” A soldier dressed in Feéroi’s uniform stood in the doorway. “Lady Olivia, Lord Iya. You are both under arrest, pending a trial by the other demon lords.”

  “On what charges?” Iya leaped off the bed, looking furious.

  “Attempted treason and conspiracy to take over the Borderlands.”

  Iya balled his fists, ready to fight the soldier. I scrambled from the bed and took his arm. “Please don’t make trouble. We saved the Borderlands. They’ll see our motives and let us go.”

  “If they saw reason, then why are we being arrested?” His voice was bitter.

  “My orders are to simply put you under house arrest if you come willingly,” the soldier offered.

  I put a hand over Iya’s mouth. “We’ll go willingly. Can it wait until after I’ve been discharged?”

  “Your release is already taken care of.” He glanced behind him. “You’re being placed under dragon guard. Your own dragons have been sent back to your palace for the time being. From here on out, you will be in the custody of Ferika, personal dragon to the Lord High Governor Feéroi.”

  He turned and held the door open for us. Iya snatched the blanket off the bed and tossed it over my hospital gown. Keeping me close, he followed the soldier, and Ferika fell in behind us.

  “Feéroi can’t be that mad,” I told Iya. “He knows Ferika and I are friends, and it’s only house arrest. This must be a formality of some sort.”

  He hugged me. “I hope you’re right.”

  We were taken to the guest wing in Feéroi’s palace and given a room together. Large enough to be respectful, but small enough that I knew we weren’t in a place of honor.

  “Your meals will be brought regularly.” The guard bowed. “Your trial is the day after tomorrow to give Lady Olivia time to compose herself.”

  The door shut with a click, and uncomfortable silence settled over the room. Katriane already waited for me inside. At least they weren’t separating me from my vessel. But Iya and I had unfinished business. Ferika and Katriane’s presence made things awkward.

  “Can I get you anything?” Ferika asked softly.

  I shook my head. “Are things really so bad? With the other lords?”

  “Some of the other demon lords are genuinely afraid of you now. They think you did this to raise yourselves above them and rule as overlords.”

  “Lord Feéroi?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

  “He wants to believe in you. But you have to admit, the evidence looks bad. Your district sits alongside Iya’s province. You bonded in secret. You’re carrying an akuma child . . .”

  “Ferika,” I whispered. “I would never. As for the baby,” a tear slipped, “Iya wanted me to get rid of it. He doesn’t want children. This isn’t some master plan. It’s a mess.”

  Ferika rested her face on the floor. “You’d be rid of the baby?” She heaved a huge, dragon sniff.

  “No.”

  Ferika gave another sniff, and a steaming dragon tear rolled down her snout.

  I hugged her. “What’s the matter?”

  “I laid a clutch of eggs,” she whispered. “They were duds, not a single egg hatched. Omri and I ca . . . can’t,” she wailed.

  I snuggled my face against her wet snout. “I heard. I’m so sorry.”

  Ferika gave a little sniffle, followed by a steaming sigh. “I wanted the chance to thank you for sending the baby sphinx to us. I think she’s the only child Omri and I will ever have. She means the world to me.”

  “I’m just glad to hear some good came from this mess. What are you going to call her?”

  Ferika’s eyes grew soft―for a dragon. “We’ve called her Zada.”

  The warm fuzziness stayed in my brain for a few more moments before my reality intruded. “Is Talon here?” I asked quietly.

  Katriane nodded, stepping to where her shoulder touched mine. “You know he wouldn’t miss your trial.”

  My stomach churned at the thought, both of my trial and Talon witnessing my humiliation. Some noble sacrifice we’d made. I scrubbed away a tear.

  “Stay with Talon,” I told her. “He’ll take good care of you. I’m not sure how safe the other demon lords are right now. Until they believe we’re not trying to take over the Borderlands, I’ll feel better knowing you and Talon are watching out for each other.”

  “What if―”

  I waved a hand to cut her off. “If you have worries, ask Talon. I know they put you here with me, but you’d better go. Before I collapsed, I would have said to trust them.” I waved my hand around the room. “But you can see how far trust extends between us. Talon will see you’re safe no matter what happens at this trial. You don’t deserve to go down with me if it comes to that.”

  She nodded with wide eyes and slipped out of the room. As soon as she left,
Iya put his arms around me from behind.

  “Sending Katriane to safety is sweet of you. As always, you think of others.”

  I put an elbow in his gut. “I’m still mad at you. We never finished.”

  He sighed and dropped his forehead, resting it on the top of my head. “I’m sorry I accused you of plotting against me.”

  Fresh tears dripped. “You hurt me.”

  He squeezed me to him. “Livy, if I knew any magic to take back my words, I’d use it. I somehow need to find a way to rebuild your trust. I promise to think of one. Until then . . . what are we going to do about the baby?”

  “Get a nanny?” I suggested.

  “No, seriously.”

  “I am serious. We’ll put the nanny with the baby on the opposite side of the palace. I’m not ready to do feedings all night long. But we’re demon lords. We can afford a nanny.”

  “You’re going to insist on keeping it?”

  I threw him a dirty look.

  “Because you know, right now, it’s leaching magic and food off you, and it’ll keep sucking you dry until it’s big enough to kill me and take my throne. It’s essentially a parasite. A quick dose of demon power and we can be rid of it. How do you think Tomi is over three-hundred with no kids? Or Shandian over five-hundred? Standard practice until you’re ready to die.”

  I shot a sharp look at him. “So, you’re saying your dad had you because he was tired of living?”

  Iya shrugged. “Must have been. First me, then the ridiculous magic which killed him—”

  I shoved him back, scowling. “Never mind. Single parents do it all the time. You stay in your palace, and I’ll stay in mine.”

  “Livy!”

  “It’s Olivia,” I hissed at him. “Only people who actually care about me can call me Livy.”

  I stomped to the far side of the room, tears burning my eyes. Ferika stopped me on my way by. “Is something wrong?”

  “Iya still wants to abort our baby. He’s got some stupid, ingrained fear the baby’s already plotting for his throne. He’s been completely insensitive about the whole thing. A little support would be nice, especially since I’m as unprepared as he is.”

  I hissed in Iya’s direction. “Whatever. We’ll pretend the pair bond never happened.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Two days later, the same guard came back to take us to our trial. Ferika kept watch at our backs as we walked to the Synod’s meeting hall. At one point, she stuck her snout forward and rubbed my shoulder. “Don’t worry about things. We’ve got your back.”

  I patted her nose but didn’t take much comfort from her words, particularly when the doors opened, and the entire fairy Synod and all the demon lords waited for us. It looked less like a trial and more like a sentencing. Lord Feéroi stood as we reached the center of the room. Ferika coiled around us and pinned us.

  “We have spent the last week,” the Lord High Governor addressed the assembly, “gathering evidence and questioning witnesses. Each of the lords will be allowed to speak their final thoughts before sentencing.”

  We weren’t at a trial, after all. We had come to our sentencing. If they’d found us innocent, we’d be free right now, so . . . fear began to claw at my insides.

  Agma leaped to her feet before Feéroi’s butt even touched his seat. “I hold to my original position. Nothing said in this court has dispelled my fears that this union is designed and implemented for the sole purpose of creating an overlord. An overlord the imp is currently carrying—the inheritor of double demon magic. I say we vote on replacement lords. Let the replacements execute them, and we can save their powers from corruption and abuse.” She sat with a triumphant gleam in her eyes.

  Lord Feéroi rose and cleared his throat. “I’ve known Olivia the entire time she’s been demon lord and even before that. She worked tirelessly and selflessly to keep my daughter safe and then to save as many people as she could. I see nothing but benevolent intent in her actions and think we should all be far more grateful for the services she and Lord Iya performed for us. We owe them a great deal.”

  “And if the price for their services is our own submission?” Shandian asked. “I have personally witnessed some very abhorrent behavior from Olivia. Iya is a young akuma, newly come to his rights as demon lord. It is easy for such power to go to a young man’s head. I know we demons have our flaws, despite working to control them. It would have been easy for him to get caught up in her plans of greed and domination. Such things appeal to us demons on a very base level. I suggest breaking the pair bond. Send Iya home in disgrace. He may yet grow into a decent akuma lord. Olivia is your citizen, and while I would recommend her death, I can be satisfied with her permanent exile to Earth.”

  Drix stood, scowling. “You’d have mercy for the demon but not for the imp? What was Lord Iya doing while supposedly healing her demon powers? I, too, have worked with Olivia on many occasions, and she is a kind soul. I feel it far more likely the demon influenced her during this alleged healing and used her to his own ends. Now she’s stuck carrying his spawn. Split the pair bond, banish the demon, kill the demon spawn, and let Olivia go back to the way her life should be.”

  This time Tomi rose, looking exhausted. “I’ve given my evidence in this case, but I can see my words fell on deaf ears. I was aware of all these events as they occurred. I, also, find the pairing of a demon and an imp distasteful, and it’s shameful they decided to breed. However, we’re not talking about that. The issue at hand is the motivation behind their actions. All along, their motives seemed pure to me. A lot of starry-eyed naiveté, but noble nonetheless. Leave them alone. They saved us and screwed up their own lives in one blow. If we can’t support them, the least we can do is let them figure out how to clean up their own mess.”

  He’d been assigned the desk closest to me, and he muttered as he sat. “Good lord, they’re fighting with each other already and who knows what kind of care a half-demon, half-imp needs. Where’s the little creature even supposed to live?”

  Kessit rose, his eyes darting around the room. “I uh, have to say I’m against this . . . pairing. But I don’t think we should put them to death,” he said in a rush. “As you know, I am currently without a bonded partner. I had toyed with the idea of seeking Olivia as a mate for myself but pushed it aside for the very reasons we are debating here today. Olivia isn’t even a legal adult yet. Nor has she been a demon lord for very long. It’s quite possible she didn’t even know to consider these things in making her decision.

  “Iya is also young, and youth can make foolish choices. He probably had a better idea of what the consequences might be, but with stars in his eyes over the idea of saving the world, consulting an older, wiser demon lord may not have occurred to him. We should break the pair bond and send them both home to finish growing up. I, too, believe their intentions were good, and they accomplished a lot. Given correct nurturing, they may turn out to be fine demon lords. Oh, and get rid of the spawn.”

  He sat in his seat, and Lord Feéroi rose again, addressing the Synod. “So, you have heard the minds of the lords. It is time for sentencing.”

  A fairy with a black hood covering its face rose and spoke to the room. “The lords have presented a full spectrum of opinion on this matter.” His dark-blue antennae twitched. “My fellow fairies have weighed in as well. We believe the pair bond should be broken, the spawn destroyed, and replacements chosen for both lords. The danger of a repeat incident is too great. We must control the threat.”

  “No.” A new voice rang through the hall. Elita stomped up the center aisle looking livid.

  “Elita, child, this is not the time―” Lord Feéroi started.

  “Then when is the time? Their execution? Their funeral?” She glared at the assembled demon lords. “You consider this a fair trial? Did you talk to any of the other creatures involved?”
Her question was met with silence. “I figured. You got the opinion of six lords who have never worked together and have huge biases against each other. You also never heard the opinion of the accused. What kind of trial happens without them getting to tell their story?”

  Murmuring ran through the room. She looked smug. “Good. I’ll present the rest of the testimony and call the remaining witnesses. I’d like to call Talon Puck, first.”

  My stomach bottomed out as Talon entered the room. He kept his eyes on the Synod, shoulders drooping. Even his skin had paled to a mere approximation of its usual bright green.

  “Please state your name and occupation for the Synod,” Elita ordered.

  “Talon Puck. I’m the guardian and regent for the minor demon lord, Olivia.”

  “And how did you come by such a position being so young?”

  “I’ve taken the place of my father, who was appointed by Lord Feéroi and died in the line of duty.”

  Elita asked him question after question about me, about our relationship, about what he’d done for me in an official capacity. I chewed the inside of my cheek and ordered my tears back. His voice still carried hurt as he answered. The questions dragged up many issues which had only recently healed.

  Elita put her hands behind her back below her wings, which fluttered intensely. “Finally, Mr. Puck. Since you obviously are very familiar with Olivia. Why do you think she would choose to bond with another demon lord? Does she have . . . schemes?”

  A flush spread across Talon’s cheeks. “Olivia has never had a scheme in her life. She didn’t even want to be a demon lord in the first place. She killed Zaemon only because he destroyed everything she held dear. She thought she’d die when she did the magic to stop him. She would rather have given up her life than live without those dear to her. That’s what Olivia does. She sacrifices herself to save others. She chose a bond with Iya because she would do anything to keep her citizens from being scattered and killed.”