Changeling (Black Petals Book 2)

by Marie, Tarisa

  I repeat the speech I used with the last lady about Aiden being unable to speak. Adison seems happy to speak to me instead of Aiden. What a creep. He reminds me of some creepy pedophile from a movie I watched once.

  “Very well, I have been notified not to assign any guards to anyone. Not even the royals. I am not to replace any. I've heard this information from a changeling and I'm sure this isn't the word of Aiden himself. It can't be.”

  I'm not sure what this man’s question is exactly so I say, “the guards are need elsewhere for the time being for the better safety of all. It is Aiden’s order. The exact reason is his business. The order came directly from him. I'd hope you're not questioning his ability to rule,” I tell him a little ignorantly. I regret being so harsh until his look of smugness fades into surprise and regret, fright even.

  “Of course not, ma'am. I am loyal to Aiden completely. My apologies,” Adison says quickly and scampers off. Maybe this won't be so hard after all.

  Terry finds me in the hall speaking to a woman about the newspaper article she's about to print about the events that have occurred at the castle. I play it down as nothing so the lady doesn't publish anything that scares the people.

  Terry waits for me to finish with the lady. He eyes me skeptically and then he smiles. “Very good,” he approves. A curious smirk plays at his lips and I don’t understand it. Terry looks down the hallways as if to see if anyone is listening in, then he whispers, “Aiden would like to see you.”

  For whatever reason, my heart picks up pace and I find myself sprinting down the hall towards where I last left Aiden. I find him sitting up to my relief.

  “There’s the queen of hell,” Aiden jokes lightheartedly.

  I scowl at him playfully. “Just doing what the king tells me to,” I promise.

  His grin widens. “Terry’s told me you’ve been doing an excellent job with the people, that you’re a natural. I told him I already knew that much.” Aiden moves a little, shifting his weight. He winces as if the movement causes him a mass amount of pain. I feel bad for him and approach him quickly to help, but he holds up a hand to stop me. “No, I’m fine. I’m just a little sore.”

  I step back from him and position my hands behind my back casually.

  His grin falters. “It’s getting late. The castle doors will be closing soon for the night. Why don’t you come in so we can talk alone? Close the door.”

  Somehow today time escaped me. It doesn’t feel as late as Aiden claims it is. “The doors close at night?” I ask. I didn’t even know this. There’s so much I don’t know.

  “Yes, we need a break from constant disturbances now and again,” he explains easily.

  I shut the door and take a seat on the bed beside him but about a foot away from him. I find myself toying with a button on the sleeve of my blouse as I wait for him to speak first.

  In Aiden’s business voice, the one not filled with warmth, he says, “Megan, I am truly sorry for everything you’ve been through. You were torn from your life and thrown into this world where, because of who I am. You were not even given the choice you should’ve been. You had to give up your soul because of me and become something that I knew you never wanted to become. For this, I am terribly sorry. I take full blame, and I don’t blame you for moving on when I’ve barely seen you for an hour in weeks. In fact, it’s better this way. I’m no good for you and I’m glad that you realized this before you became miserable with the life I could give you.”

  I think he’s about to say more, but I can’t let him. Pain tears through my chest. He blames himself for me moving on? “Aiden, no, stop. It’s no one’s fault. Let’s be real. You didn’t choose to be who you are. You didn’t choose this.” I motion to my surroundings. “You didn’t choose any of this either. It’s just life.” That’s when a pang of understanding hits me hard in the gut. Aiden didn’t choose this either. He didn’t choose to throw his life away for the demons just like I didn’t choose to give up my soul and become one. Yet, he isn’t sitting around pouting about it like I am, he’s doing the right thing and accepting life as it comes.

  “You may be right, but that doesn’t change the fact that if I hadn’t come into your life, you wouldn’t be a demon right now,” he reasons.

  A terrible sickness invades my stomach as the truth surfaces in my mind. “Aiden, as a halfling, I wasn’t sure if I could be strong enough to let go of my life, even if it meant I’d return in another one day. I was playing with the possibility of becoming a demon anyway. I’ve just used actually becoming one as an excuse for my misery. This likely would have been my choice anyway. It’s just easier to blame other people for my problems.”

  A small smile edges onto his face as he listens to me. “That makes me feel a little bit better, but now I’m concerned about your mental health.” He says this jokingly but I wouldn’t blame him if he weren’t joking. “You’re really young, Megan. The choice given to halflings is a choice that’s impossible to make, especially given their age. At your age, you shouldn’t be making the decision you must and you definitely shouldn’t be cooped up in a castle with a bunch of arrogant royals in hell. It’s all that which will eventually break you and knock that spark in your eyes straight into oblivion. It’s that spark in you that I fell in love with. I need the spark to stay put.”

  Guilt takes me on a roller coaster ride once again. He cares so much about me and I ripped his heart out.

  “I’m honestly just happy that you decided to kiss Mason and not Crispen,” Aiden teases.

  “Why were you on the island? How did you know we were there?” I wonder.

  He sighs and rubs his hand across his clean jeans. “Landon seems to have some sort of need to follow you around and make sure you’re alright. He didn’t seem that upset or worried that you were missing when I told him. He also didn’t bat an eye when I said Forrest, Terry, Crispen, Aria, and Mason were all missing. On a whim, I checked the tracking device I hid on Terry’s plane years ago. I traced it to the ocean where an unmapped island sat. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have thought you’d all crashed in the ocean and were incapacitated by the salt water, but I know where every single portal goes to in hell. As you know, I have a lot of books. I enjoy reading and learning. A book I read when I was younger contained an old map of the portals. I wasn’t supposed to read it. It was one of my father’s books, but I read it anyway, memorized it for future reference. I knew Terry would know about this portal and island because he was the one who made the map years ago with my father.”

  I guess Terry doesn’t know everything like he seems to. Did he not say he was the only one who knew where the island was?

  “So I stormed over there ready to knock off half their heads. Thankfully, it was you and Mason I came across first. When I saw you two, instead of becoming jealous and angered, the darkness slipped away for a moment as raw human emotion penetrated me. Regret hit me immediately and I gripped onto what little humanity I could grasp in that moment and I have yet to let it go though it has been tempting. I left the island soon after, but not before speaking to Terry and Forrest. I told them to keep you there with Mason and to take Aria and Crispen back to the mainland as soon as possible.”

  “You weren’t going to let me know you weren’t a psycho anymore?” I ask him incredulously.

  He looks away from me. “No. I was going to let you live in safety on the island and be a normal person for a while. Then I was going to have Terry take you back to the mainland and help you start a new life there with Mason. I didn’t want you coming back here to the society that ruined your life.”

  This angers me but I have another question. “What set you off anyway?”

  He considers this, his lips parting slightly as he thinks. “We were attacked a few days ago and I lost a lot of guards, some who had been serving my father for centuries. I knew them three hundred years. Many humans were lost too and there was just so much going on. Grief overwhelmed me and I thought that maybe if I shut off my humanity for only a m
oment so I could think clearly and make a clear, sound decision, then it would be alright. Only, once I let the darkness in, I didn’t want to let it go in fear that all the pain would return in full force. The darkness is addicting to me, luring and instead of overcoming it and being a man, I cowered away from the light and humanity. I just let go and it felt amazing until I saw you with Mason and I realized all that I’d done.”

  “I don’t understand why you think that giving into the darkness would make you a better leader. How can you make sound decisions when you have no humanity, no empathy or guilt?” I demand, he’s brought this up on more than one occasion and I just don’t get it.

  He laughs a laugh without humor. “I thought that humanity made us weak. It does but it also makes us strong. It gives us a real reason to fight for what we want. Instead of the darkness giving me the power to make a decision untainted by my feelings of loss, it made me act rashly and stupidly. Now my world is in tatters because I called war on the rebels. A war that I now have obligation to fight because it is too late to take back my words. They struck first. Tomorrow we strike back with all we have.”

  I swallow. I’m confused because I’m unsure if this is a bad thing or a good thing. “Why should you not have called for war?”

  He wets his lips. “Because many more will die. When I made this decision I didn’t care. There is an easier way to stop this madness. There has to be. Maybe I can strike a deal with the rebels. There must be something that I can do.”

  I’m not so sure. They don’t seem like that reasonable of people to me.

  We sit in silence as we both submerge ourselves deep in thought.

  An idea comes to me though I know it’s probably nothing. I debate even mentioning it to Aiden, but the silence is killing me. “Aiden, what if you gave them a representative in council? They clearly want their views heard. I mean it’s unlikely anyone is to listen to them or agree with them and of course you always get the ultimate say, but it might make them feel more important. They’re basically a bunch of rogue changelings that feel like outcasts. Maybe they just need to be heard. It might at least satisfy them for a little while until you figure something else out. I mean people are sure to be mad that a rogue changeling is on the board but it’s better than the rebels attacking and killing all these people.”

  To my surprise, Aiden looks like he’s thinking about this. He looks straight ahead at the wall across from him, looking to be very deep in thought. This gives me will to continue. “You could also add a demidemon member and a human member and a halfling member and whatever else. Or if you think that’ll cause too much uproar, create a second council mainly for outside opinions and bring everyone together in a room where they can openly discuss thoughts and ideas without being killed for their opinions. It might do everyone some good really.”

  Aiden's look of thought turns to intrigue. “You think that work?”

  I fiddle with the button on my blouse again. “I don't know it's just a thought.”

  He blinks a slow blink and says, “Megan, you might be onto something here. Of course a lot more thought would need to go into it, but you might have something. It's time for change. The human world is modernizing every day and we remain stuck in old ways from millennia ago. It's just how to convince the royals that this is a good idea.”

  He looks to me as if I might have a solution. “They seem arrogant enough. Just make them think it's their idea,” I offer.”

  A smirk lights up Aiden's face a second later like he knows just the thing that'll work. He looks at me as if he's never truly looked at me before and grins a toothy grin. “Megan, you're not all good looks. You have brains too,” he teases.

  I punch his shoulder and roll my eyes. “Just an idea. Obviously I'm in no position to actually know what to do. I have no experience.”

  Aiden chuckles and raises an eyebrow. “And you think I do have experience? I'm basically just spit balling.”

  “You have training,” I point out.

  Aiden scoffs. “All the training in the world couldn't prepare me for this. I didn't think I'd have to take on my father's position for millennia or at the very least centuries.”

  He has a good point so I don't answer. He plays with a seam on one of the blankets on the bed he lays on.

  “So we're good?” I ask him.

  He nods and smiles kindly at me. “Of course. As long as we can continue to be friends.”

  I agree of course. Aiden is my best friend and I can't lose him. Plus, who doesn't want the king of hell as their best friend?

  When I exit the room shortly after, Mason is standing out in the hall waiting for me pacing. When he sees me, he stops and rushes towards me hastily. “Megan! Oh, thank god!” he bursts, wrapping me in a long hug. “I was so worried. Terry sent Forrest to tell me where you'd gone. I'd thought something happened.”

  For the millionth time today, guilt sinks in. I left the island without explanation. I snuck away. I feel bad for doing so but then I don't because I ended up helping Aiden.

  “I'm sorry,” I whisper into his ear and pull away from the hug.

  He doesn't let me finish because he mutters, “I understand what you did and why you did it. I just wish you would've asked me to come along.”

  “Would you have let me go even if I'd invited you along?” I wonder, eyeing him.

  Mason grimaces and bites his bottom lip. “I wouldn't have liked it, but yes, I would've. You're a free person, Megan. You're an adult, not some child and especially not someone I can or want to control. I'm not that kind of guy.” Something washes over me that sends me into a whirl of confusion. He would've let me go? More guilt hits me just when I think I can't take any more.

  “I'm sorry,” I repeat. “It won't happen next time.”

  He cocks his head and his eyes turn to slits as he scrutinizes me. “Next time? You're planning on doing something insane again?”

  I shrug. “You never know. You have to do what you have to do.”

  Mason lights up and a small laugh escapes him. “Yeah, I just didn't see you as being the kind of person to risk your life doing so.”

  I did risk my life to come here through that portal. I didn't know where it was going to send me or who or what I would face there. I also didn't know what Aiden would think or what he'd do in his unstable state if he were still in it. I shrug.

  “I guess you're braver than I thought is all,” he says quieter.

  I realize that I’m braver than I thought I was too. I'm stronger than I thought as well. What does that say about me?

  Mason nods to the room I just came from. “Terry said you were in there with Aiden and he didn't expect you to come out for the rest of the night. I thought…” Mason trails off and understanding clicks in.

  “You thought I was spending the night with Aiden?” I ask. “You thought I went back to him?”

  “You haven't?” Mason asks hopefully.

  I shake my head. “Of course not. Were you just going to wait out here until morning when I came out?”

  He nods. “I needed to see for myself that you were okay but I also didn't want to bother you and Aiden. Terry told me I shouldn't.”

  Terry has no idea about us. He has no idea that Aiden and I aren't together any longer.

  “We were just talking about things. Mason, Aiden knows about us. He saw us,” I explain.

  Mason's eyes widen. “And he wants my head on a stick.”

  I can't help but laugh. “Of course not. Aiden isn't like that.”

  Mason's face goes red. “I just keep on stomping on his life like some sort of asshole. I can't imagine that he doesn't want to kill me. I don't understand why he hasn't already.”

  I stick my hands on his hips. “You're his family.”

  Mason looks uneasy.

  “He's managed to win against the darkness and you know what brought him out of it? Us. When he saw us together it brought him back. Even if weren't pleasant for him to witness. He can't be mad about that.”

&nbs
p; Mason still looks unsure. “Want to bet?”

  I roll my eyes. “Aiden has wanted better things for me since his father died and he had to come here. It was me being the stubborn one.”

  This seems to shift Mason's attitude a little. He clutches my wish but releases it when he hears footsteps.

  I eye him wearily.

  “Mason, can you-” a man starts as he comes towards us. The guy seems to see me and stops. “Oh, madam Megan.” He bows. A changeling guard. “Sorry to bother you.”

  “Not a problem,” I assure him. “What do you need of Mason?”

  He hesitates. “Oh, nothing important. I will fetch someone else to do it since he is clearly busy.” The man saunters off.

  Mason grabs my hand.

  “Why did you let go of my wrist when you heard him?” I ask him, knowing I sound hurt. Is he embarrassed to be seen with me in that way?

  “Megan, you're a pure. It's against the law for changelings to be with pures. And anyway, you're not just a pure, you're a royal and not only that, the fricken princess of hell. You're the second most important demon alive.”

  His words hit me hard. The second most important demon? I almost collapse in surprise. Oh god. He's so right. Since Aiden wrote my name down on that paper, I am the second most important demon alive after him. It's not like I'm dog sitting his dogs. I'm watching over his goddamn kingdom for heaven sakes. I wince. I realize that Terry must've filled Mason in on everything that's happened or Forrest maybe.

  “If I'm the second most important person in hell, then why can't I date whomever the hell I want?” I demand.

  Mason looks down at his shoes as we walk. “You'd have to talk to Aiden about that one.”

  “He never mentioned such a law when I just talked to him,” I reason. I'm starting to discover that no matter whom I'm with, there's going to be struggles. With Crispen it was the fact that I was part demon and he was a hunter. With Aiden it was that he had no time for me because he was running a kingdom and my life was constantly at risk. With Mason a law punished by death of the changeling party is what separates us. I want to scream. Can't something just be easy and simple for once?