Reign or Shine

by Michelle Rowen

  Why wasn’t the pain medication Elizabeth gave him working? Was it too late?

  When he settled down he met my gaze again. “I’m sorry, Nikki,” his voice rasped. “For all of this.”

  I shook my head and clutched on to his hand tighter. “Don’t be sorry.”

  He turned to Elizabeth. “May I have some more water?”

  “Of course.” She poured more and brought it to him again, holding it up so he could drink. He was so weak he could barely swallow.

  I knew then that Elizabeth was right. He had only hours left. Perhaps not even that long.

  Michael’s expression was tense. “I’ll get more water.”

  “No, I will.” Elizabeth absently touched the small bottle she wore around her neck and I took a good, close look at it.

  It was the same bottle as yesterday. I was sure of it. Why would perfume and pain medicine be in the exact same bottle? Why would they be the exact same color?

  My thoughts churned together in a big confusing mass as I tried to make sense of everything I’d seen and heard. It felt like there was an answer there—something I was missing. Something that would make sense of everything.

  Michael, I projected telepathically. Does my aunt control everything that my father drinks or eats?

  There was a pause. ::As far as I know. After she sent the rest of the servants away, no one else was here to do it. And she doesn’t let me do anything.::

  She sent the servants away? She told me that my father did that.

  ::No, it was her decision. I was only able to stay because the king insisted.::

  Does she have another boyfriend or is it just the prince from the Underworld?

  ::It’s just him. She’s very devoted to him. I’m surprised she even came back to the castle since she had to leave his side to return.::

  It was right before my father got sick?

  ::Yes, that’s right.::

  My aunt turned to me then and gave me a kind smile. “I must go get more water. Have a few more minutes with your father, but then he needs his rest. Before you leave, however, I must insist that you drink the potion. As you have seen for yourself, there is no other solution to this unfortunate situation. I will have to take the burden of becoming queen. There is no other choice.”

  I nodded and watched as she took the tray and left the room. My father closed his eyes and I watched him, sensing how close he now was to the end.

  My head was spinning, my brain swarming with information that I knew was important but that I couldn’t quite piece together. Things that Kieran had told me only added to my confusion.

  He made it sound as if Elizabeth wanted to be queen more than anything, but she’d told me she was only doing it out of duty. That it was, as she’d just said, a burden.

  He hadn’t given her perfume even though she said it was a gift from him. And now what I thought was a perfume bottle held medicine that she mixed into my father’s drinking water.

  My aunt had returned to live at the castle, leaving the man she said she was in love with, just before my father became sick.

  I started breathing very fast then as it all began to click into place and my heart pounded twice as quickly in my chest.

  Michael, I thought and turned to look at him. Michael . . . I don’t think my father is really sick. I don’t think he’s got an illness at all.

  ::What do you mean?::

  He’s . . . he’s not sick. It’s Elizabeth. She wants to be queen. She wants me to drink the potion so I don’t get in the way of her taking the throne. That has to be it. It has to be.

  He frowned at me. ::Nikki—::

  Oh, my God, Michael. She hasn’t been giving him medicine, has she? It’s poison. Elizabeth has been poisoning him slowly, hasn’t she? He isn’t dying at all. He’s being murdered!

  Panic clutched at my throat. I had to be wrong. She couldn’t do something like this to her own brother, could she? It was impossible.

  Michael didn’t think anything for a very long time and I looked at him and waited, wanting him to tell me I was crazy, that I was overreacting, that I was grasping at straws and seeing clues when there were none. His expression was unreadable. And then in the back of my mind, I heard him project two small words that changed everything for me right then and there.

  ::You’re right.::

  17

  I was stunned.

  How do you know? I thought frantically. Why didn’t you tell me?

  But before he could answer me, Elizabeth returned to place the tray next to my father’s bed. Her hand curled around my shoulder.

  “It’s time, Nikki.” She glanced down at my father. “He’s sleeping now. He falls in and out of consciousness. It makes it easier for him that way.”

  I just stared at her.

  Then I heard Michael’s voice in my head.

  ::Nikki, say nothing. Don’t let on that you know anything. Please, trust me.::

  “This . . .” I tried to breathe normally. “This has been very difficult.”

  She shook her head. “Did I mention how beautiful you look today? That dress is lovely.”

  “I . . . I was at a dance before I came here.”

  “And that’s how it should be. Sixteen-year-old girls shouldn’t have to worry about these sorts of things. You should think about dances, and friends, and boys. It’ll be fine, soon. Everything will be back to how it was meant to be. I promise you.”

  I just looked at her. How could she seem so nice, even now? Even when I knew the horrible truth? Maybe I was wrong, maybe Michael was wrong.

  But no. It was true. I felt it deep inside of me.

  “You said that Darklings die before they’re eighteen,” I said quietly. “But you didn’t say how they die.”

  “That part of history is quite vague. I searched for as much as I could find, but the details are sketchy. I would assume that their hearts stopped working during their change to Darkling form. Or perhaps their poor little bodies simply gave out. It’s impossible to expect human and demon forms to blend together. It’s like oil and water. They can’t be combined.”

  “But are you just guessing that, or do you know for sure?”

  The edge of Elizabeth’s mouth tightened almost imperceptibly. “For something that happened so long ago, it’s difficult to say for sure, of course.”

  I looked down at my father. My hand hadn’t left his for the whole time I’d been in the room and now I clung to him like I would never let go.

  Did he have any idea what his sister was doing to him? He shielded the human and faery realms from anything that might do them harm, stopping evil from crossing the Shadowlands, but he had no idea that evil was already there. He protected everybody, but nobody had protected him.

  Elizabeth pulled me away from my father’s unconscious form and hugged me tightly. “It’s good that he’s sleeping now. I fear that Desmond will be in horrible pain right until the end, just like our father was. My only solace is that the end is very close now.”

  Had she poisoned her father, too? If this was the same way her father had died, the similarities seemed too coincidental.

  She took my hand in hers and brought me over to the entrance. “He’s been so strong. He’s fought to live, Nikki, and I think a great part of that was learning of your existence. My father passed on much quicker. Desmond is strong, though—he’s a fighter. But fighting is only prolonging his suffering. He needs to let go now, and I think that when you drink the potion, he’ll be able to.”

  “Where do demons go when they die?” I asked, trying to stall for time. Trying to figure out what to do next.

  “Where do we go?” she repeated. “We are not like humans. We have no immortal soul that must be divvied up between Heaven and Hell. All the more reason we should never coexist or fall in love with humans, you see. When a demon dies or is vanquished, we are gone. We refer to it as the Void—our place of eternal rest.”

  Elizabeth looked over at Michael then. “Please take Nikki downstairs,” she s
aid. “I must stay with my brother to see if he needs anything. He isn’t usually asleep for long periods. I will join you momentarily.” She turned back to me and took my cold, clammy hand in her warm, dry one and squeezed it gently. “Then you’ll drink the potion and Michael will take you home. Does that sound acceptable to you?”

  I nodded stiffly. Michael came to my side and our eyes met for a moment before he looked away.

  As I took a last glance at my father, I felt Michael’s fingers close around my wrist and he began walking me away from the room.

  “Oh, I almost forgot,” I called back to Elizabeth. “Your boyfriend showed up on your gazer after you left.”

  “He did?” She looked surprised. “What did he say?”

  “Lots of things,” I replied, just before Michael and I disappeared around a corner.

  He picked up his pace, my hand now in his iron vise of a grip.

  “I never should have brought you back,” he said. “I’m so stupid.”

  “So it’s true? It’s all true? Elizabeth is—”

  “Shh, not here. It’s too dangerous.”

  We reached the spiral staircase and began to descend it so quickly I nearly slipped a few times. When we finally got to the bottom, Michael pulled me right toward the front doors, which immediately opened for me. I picked up my shoes from where I’d left them for safekeeping.

  “Michael, talk to me.” My voice shook. “Are you in on this? Are you helping Elizabeth kill my father?”

  I still couldn’t believe what I was saying. Finding out my father was dying was one thing. But poisoned? It was too horrible to contemplate.

  He stopped walking and spun around to face me, the expression on his face distraught. “Of course not.”

  “Then how do you know?”

  “I’ve been suspicious of her motives for some time and you just confirmed it for me. When I came back last night after seeing you home, she asked me questions about you. She wanted to know everything. She wanted to know if you’d drunk the potion and I told her you weren’t ready yet. She wasn’t happy about that. I didn’t know why, but the way she was acting was very telling. When I guessed, she nearly . . .” He blinked. “She nearly killed me right then and there. But she didn’t.”

  I could barely breathe. “Michael—did she hurt you?”

  He shook his head. “No, but I wouldn’t put it past her.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me around to the right side of the castle, away from view. “You need to leave. Right now. You need to go back home. Drink the potion. It’s the only way you’ll be safe.”

  My head was spinning. “I can’t do that.”

  “She might not look like it, but Elizabeth is very worried about you, and not in a caring-aunt kind of way. She is afraid that you won’t drink the potion and when the king dies you’ll become queen and ruin her plans.”

  “But I don’t understand. What are her plans? She’ll be trapped in the castle when she’s queen.”

  “It’s Kieran. Elizabeth has always wanted power, but he’s the one who’s in charge. He’s convinced her that now is the time to completely join the Shadowlands with the Underworld. Because she loves him, he’ll be able to manipulate her. He’ll control the barrier that separates Hell and the Underworld from the faery and human realms.”

  I put a hand over my mouth in shock. “And my father has no idea?”

  “She puts on a good act. She’s probably been putting on the same act her entire life. She fooled me. She fooled you. She comes across as so nice but she isn’t, Princess.”

  I thought about how I’d also been fooled by Chris, who seemed so popular and great to be around, until he attacked me in the back of a limo.

  Appearance means nothing. It only hides what’s underneath—be it good or bad.

  I blinked slowly. “She’s the one who sent the guy with the knife after me, isn’t she?”

  He nodded. “She isn’t playing games. When the king found out about you, he was very happy to learn he had a daughter. She pretended to be, but I could see that she wasn’t. I couldn’t imagine why at the time . . .”

  “She prevented you from coming to see me today, didn’t she? That’s why you weren’t around earlier?”

  He nodded again. “She wouldn’t let me leave. The king is weakened, so she was able to steal some of the kingdom’s energy to let her thug come after you. Twice now.” His jaw tightened. “When he failed, she allowed me to see you. To try to convince you to drink the potion once and for all. And if I failed . . .” He swallowed hard. “She wanted me to kill you.”

  My eyes widened at that. “What?”

  “I wouldn’t do it. I’d never hurt you, Princess. But I knew I had to make her think I was willing. It’s the only way I could protect you. Then when you wanted to come here again . . .” He rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand, his face haunted. “I couldn’t refuse you. But I thought maybe if you were here and drank the potion in front of her, then she’d know for sure. You’d have your peace of mind at seeing your father again, and Elizabeth would have her proof that you weren’t trying to stop her. If I told you, I would have been putting you into even more danger. You never should have figured it out.” He touched my face then. “You need to leave. It won’t be long before she realizes you’re not downstairs waiting for her.”

  “Why didn’t she just try to kill me when we were alone upstairs?”

  “The moment you returned to the Shadowlands, the king would have sensed your presence. He’d know if she killed you here, so that’s stopping her. She’s still uncertain how weak the king is. He’s incredibly powerful when he’s at full strength—much more powerful than she is. If he had the slightest inkling that she would hurt you, he would be furious.”

  I tried to think clearly but it was a struggle. “Elizabeth . . . she said that for every potion they make in the Underworld, they make an antidote. Do you think there might be an antidote for the poison?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know. But there’s no time for that. Princess, you have to go now.”

  “I can’t leave my father. I can’t leave you.”

  “You have to.”

  Have to.

  I grabbed my potion bottle and squeezed. “I don’t have to do anything if I don’t want to.”

  “Princess, now is seriously not the time to be stubborn.” His expression softened as he looked into my eyes. We were talking so closely that we were nearly hugging. His arms were around my waist.

  The castle doors opened up again and Michael moved a bit so he could look around the corner. When he turned back to me his expression was even more tense than before. “It’s Elizabeth’s thug.”

  “The one who tried to kill me?”

  He nodded. “She’s sent him to find you. She must know you’ve already left the castle.” He pulled off his sweatshirt and wrapped it around my shoulders to keep me warm. “Go. Run to the clearing and go through the gateway. I’ll hold him off for as long as I can.”

  “He’s going to hurt you.”

  He touched his amulet. “Not if I hurt him first.”

  “Michael . . . you can’t—”

  “Am I interrupting?” a deep voice asked.

  I slowly looked to the side to see the brute standing there, a smile curling up the corners of his mouth.

  “Princess,” he said, “it’s time for you to come back inside. Elizabeth wishes to talk with you.”

  “Just talk, huh?” I could barely breathe.

  He grabbed for my arm but Michael pulled him away from me and pushed him up against the wall. The brute backhanded Michael across his face and he went spinning, but the moment the creep came at me again Michael grabbed him hard around his neck.

  “Nikki!” He used my real name then. “Go now. There’s no time. Run!”

  The thug was fighting to get Michael off him, and since he outweighed Michael by at least sixty pounds it wouldn’t take long.

  “Just go!” Michael yelled at me and his words finally broke through my sh
ock.

  Elizabeth wanted me dead. She’d poisoned her brother, more than likely her father as well, and I was the last thing standing in the way of what she wanted.

  Fear trumped anger this time and, with a sob, I turned away from the castle and ran as fast as I could.

  I ran until my bare feet began to bleed from stepping on the rocks; until I felt the cool grass under my feet and the temperature immediately warmed up as if by magic. I held my shoes by their straps in one hand and my little purse in the other and I ran faster than I’d ever run before. I tried not to think of Michael fighting to give me a chance to escape, but it was impossible. I had to get home where I could hide. I’d figure out what I had to do next once I was there.

  “Stop!” A deep voice bellowed from behind me and I took a quick peek over my shoulder. It was the thug and he was running after me. What had happened to Michael? My heart twisted and I nearly tripped from losing my concentration. But I kept running.

  The gateway shimmered and swirled its kaleidoscope of color as I made a beeline toward it, my heart drumming wildly in my chest.

  But just before I reached it, the gateway . . . disappeared.

  18

  One moment my escape route to the human realm was there in front of me and the next it was gone. I skidded to a halt, craning my neck from side to side, looking all around the grassy clearing.

  Where did it go? How was I supposed to get back home without it?

  I couldn’t, that’s how. It was impossible.

  Elizabeth’s henchman was still thundering across the field toward me and I only had a split second to figure out what I was going to do next.

  Panic shot through my entire body and my head screamed out in pain. I welcomed it this time, though. Maybe I could bring out my Darkling. The creep hadn’t fared so well against demon-me before.

  But nothing happened. No sparkling sensations under my skin. No energy balls to throw to protect myself. No horns. Just plain old Nikki Donovan, barefoot, wearing Michael’s dark blue sweatshirt over my borrowed lavender designer dress.