The Day Human King

by B. Kristin McMichael

  When Devin appeared outside of Randolph Manor, he was exactly where he planned to arrive. There were very few trees he could picture on the estate, but luckily there was one that he could remember which was close to the house. He still had not a clue how the tree travel thing worked exactly, but it did, and for that he was grateful.

  Quietly, Devin walked the few feet to the backdoor that used to be his home. It was the servants’ quarters, but Devin had always felt more comfortable there than up above in the main part of the house with Arianna Grace, the heir to the Randolph estate. This was the normal section of the manor, and Lord Randolph—and now Arianna—lived in the extravagant part. Devin wasn’t avoiding Arianna, but rather knew where he would find the man he needed to see.

  Devin entered the empty hallway and made his way to his old quarters. It was strange to be back. It still seemed the same, but in reality it was different. Home, but not quite home anymore. Devin paused outside of the door to the apartment he’d shared with Arianna’s protection team. They would be wherever Arianna was, so they were not home … at least not everyone. He knew Mori would be around. There was no way Mori would be anywhere but with his computer. He essentially lived in his room.

  Crossing the front room, he only stopped briefly to look around. He had spent years here, but it just didn’t feel the same as it once did. Devin knocked on the closed door off the living room, but no one answered. Devin knocked again. Still there was no answer.

  Devin slowly pushed open the door and let the light from the living room creep into the dark bedroom. He wasn’t about to barge into the room. Mori was still a night human, after all, and not worth startling to the point that he instinctively attacked. A young Asian guy glanced up from the computer, the only source of light in the room. Startled, he pushed back his headphones and grinned.

  “It’s been only a few days. Missed us that much that you rushed back? It’s too bad Arianna isn’t here,” he responded. “That didn’t take long at all. Guess Nessa was right about knowing how to break a bond. Always thought she didn’t have a clue, but guess not, huh?”

  “Not quite,” Devin replied. Confused, Mori stared at Devin.

  “Not quite what?” he asked. Mori was one that liked puzzles, but he liked having direct information just as much.

  “Seems like you can’t break a bond that works,” Devin replied with a shrug. There wasn’t much more of an explanation he could give. Devin was bonded to Nessa, and the bond was for life.

  “Then you’re not back?” Mori asked, sounding a bit disappointed. Devin was the only one that Mori regularly spoke more than a few words to at one time.

  “I don’t think I’ll ever really be back,” Devin replied, putting the news out there as quickly as possible.

  “Not coming back? Like ever?” Mori asked.

  “Like short-term visits only,” Devin replied. “I’m kind of stuck there now. I’m still human, yet kind of sidhe.” Devin let the late kings’ power flow through his veins, and the swords appeared on his back. Mori would like that one. He was a wealth of knowledge and always wanted to learn new things. Devin was a new thing.

  Mori stood up and scurried over to Devin, inspecting the swords. When he came back to face Devin, he looked directly at where the dead king had placed the stone inside of his chest cavity, making Devin like the sidhe. Mori had already used his night human senses to analyze Devin.

  “What is that?” Mori asked, pointing to the spot.

  “No clue. Some sort of power transfer that lets me use all of the late king’s powers. It makes me one of them; technically, I can do anything a sidhe can do. I have no clue how it works, and I doubt anyone there knows, either,” Devin explained, letting the swords fade away.

  “And instant blades? How cool is that?” Mori asked, watching them fade with a hint on envy in his voice. Devin was unsure if he was referring to the swords, which would be silly as Mori never left this room beyond going to the lab, or for the knowledge as to how to bundle night human abilities into one small thing and place it inside of a day human. It was probably the latter.

  “I didn’t come back to stay or say good-bye,” Devin stated, restarting the conversation to keep on track. By now Nessa had to be fuming because Devin was taking too long. Even with hundreds of miles separating them, Devin could feel the bond. She wasn’t at the point of exploding, but she was mad. “I came back to see if you can do me a favor.”

  “Sure, anything,” Mori replied, still staring at the spot in Devin chest, as if it would give him answers.

  “I need these samples analyzed.” Devin held up the vials of poison he had removed from the various people in the past twenty-four hours. Mori took them and began to uncap the first one. “Be careful with those. They are a poison, a quick-acting one.” Mori didn’t finish uncapping the tube. Instead, he held them up to the light of his computer and stared at them some more, stopping on the last one.

  “And a toe?” Mori asked.

  “Couldn’t get the poison out of it,” Devin replied.

  “So these are different poisons?” Mori asked, glancing between the vials.

  “I’m not sure. I thought they were the same, but something is different with the last ones. They were harder to get out of the people, and the toe one I couldn’t remove any of it. Rolf said it was a poison called clauthau, but he has no clue what it is, or where it comes from. Any information would help. I pulled the first sample from Nessa yesterday,” Devin explained, which clarified why he was there now.

  “I’ll take it to the lab right away,” Mori replied. He understood the urgency of Nessa’s poisoning. Devin was bonded to her, and if she died, then Devin would die also.

  “Thanks,” Devin replied, turning to leave.

  “It should take about two to three hours,” Mori added. “You might want to call in a friend to help track it.” Mori was always quick to come up with solutions.

  Devin paused. “Who would you suggest?” Devin didn’t know anyone else he should ask for help.

  “I know of a particular hound-like person who’s bored out of his mind now that he isn’t needed. Andrew is more than capable of protecting Arianna on his own, and it’s not like she’s let out of his view ever. The rest of the guys are a bit bored.” Mori followed Devin back into the living room, squinting from the bright light of the dim lamp in the room.

  Devin nodded. That wasn’t a bad idea. Once in the hallway, Devin moved to the door exiting the mansion, and Mori turned to walk further in. Devin felt he should say something. It wasn’t like he was leaving them behind forever, but it would be different. Things were changing.

  “You may be one of them now, but that doesn’t mean we still aren’t family. If you need anything, we’re here for you,” Mori called as he walked away. Mori was strange. He was as introverted as one could get, but somehow knew exactly what Devin needed to hear.

  He smiled at the retreating dearg-dul. They had been his family since he was a child, but Nessa had grown on him. There was something special about her, he just couldn’t pinpoint what it was that he liked about her. There wasn’t one big thing, but rather a lot of little things. He couldn’t leave her now—even if the bond was broken—she was his family.

  Devin made it back to the tree and traveled to the parked car he’d left outside of the sidhe village days ago. His baby was sitting there, gathering dust. Being inside of the spacious dearg-dul manor had been strange, but now even his car seemed a bit out of place. He had gone days without any modern technology, and now he was back to it. He could understand Nessa’s confusion and awe of the outside world. It was different, but that didn’t make it wrong. It would have been a lot easier to walk into a fully functional lab in the village and have his samples analyzed rather than traveling across the country to get Mori to do it. There had to be a middle ground.

  As he opened his car door, he pulled out his cell phone. It was still almost fully charged. At least that was a good thing, since it wasn’t like there was electricity anywhere ne
arby, and he didn’t want to have to sit in his car and wait to get a charge. Nessa was already nearing her breaking point waiting for him. Devin flipped open the phone and made his call. He didn’t doubt Turner would come to help. He had been Devin’s only friend over the years, and the best guy to call for a bit of danger. Turner loved an adventure, and the sidhe would provide exactly that.

  Nessa hit the bubble once more. She didn’t have time to waste sitting around in a bubble. There were still more complaints she had to hear today, and she had to deal with Fiona … or rather, Maureen. Nessa still had no clue about what to do about that. Nessa had no doubts that Fiona was carrying her dead brother’s child, but she couldn’t validate that without losing the throne herself. Nessa didn’t want to be queen, but she really didn’t want Maureen getting control of the sidhe, either. If Maureen was willing to kill Nessa for the throne, Nessa didn’t want to see what she’d be willing to do to the sidhe people who didn’t follow her orders, or to her unborn nephew. Nessa was caught in a hard situation. Either way, she couldn’t win. Deny the child, and never know her nephew; acknowledge the child, and lose the throne to Maureen and her evils.

  ‘Where are you?’ Nessa finally complained. It had been over fifteen minutes already.

  ‘Coming back now,’ Devin replied, not answering the question.

  Devin walked out of the same tree he had left from. Nessa was shocked, but covered it with her anger. Every tree on the palace grounds had been stunted to not allow travel, since they couldn’t have people able to travel by the trees into the palace; it would make the palace unsafe. How could Devin travel without using a tree? Nessa was sure none of the trees worked for leaving or coming, as she had tried all of them herself over time when she wanted to get away. It wasn’t until she followed Rhys once that she learned she could leave by one gate entrance in particular; never had she seen him use the trees. She had no clue how Devin could.

  “Your grandfather planted this tree,” Devin told her, answering her thoughts. Nessa pouted. She didn’t want answers. Well, she did, but she was still mad, and still sitting in a bubble. “He made it so that only he could come and go through it. Since I have his powers and your blood, I figured it would work for me as well. Guess it does.”

  Devin reached forward and broke the bubble. Nessa immediately stood and slapped him.

  “Stop doing that to me. Have you ever thought maybe I’d need to go pee or something?” she scolded him.

  “You could have told me. I said I could come back at any moment,” Devin replied with a smile. That wasn’t the true reason she was mad, but the thought had crossed his mind. If she did really need to go, she would have been even madder once he arrived.

  Nessa hated that smile. It made her forgive him, and she didn’t want to.

  “So did you figure out what you needed to do?” she asked, curious to where he went, but not about to ask. She didn’t want to be feeling all of the conflicted feelings she felt.

  “Yes,” Devin replied, not giving any more information. She hated that about him. He could be tight-lipped if he wanted.

  Nessa stormed ahead and shoved open the door to her room. Catching a glimpse into the side room where Gemma and Ronan still slept, she paused, seeing her uncle was still sitting with them. He stood as they entered and nodded to both Nessa and Devin. His fear of Devin seemed to have faded away somewhat since Devin had saved his children.

  “What are we supposed to do now?” Nessa asked as Rolf joined them. “We can’t have the other sidhe come here for the coronation if there’s someone shooting darts that kill in minutes.”

  Rolf nodded. “If we lose any of them in our village, there will be war between the clans.”

  “You war amongst yourselves even?” Devin asked.

  The dearg-dul clan Devin had come from was a more of a standard monarchy where Lord Randolph ruled over them all. No one would go against his will, and his say was final. There were never wars between the dearg-dul clans. Even though Nessa would soon be queen, Devin wasn’t sure how much power she actually had.

  “While our family might be the rulers, each village is governed by one of the head families,” Rolf replied. “Fighting between villages is as common as fights here in the palace. The families have never gotten along. Any excuse to battle is one that everyone agrees to play.”

  The situation was bad, but her uncle’s description was making it worse. Not everyone got along, but every visit she’d ever had to the other villages was never one of danger. She enjoyed seeing all of the other towns. Nessa was beginning to see just how sheltered she was. She was stuck, and not prepared to handle it all. Nessa again realized how strongly she didn’t want to be queen, but what options were left?

  Devin reached over and took her hand. Her emotions leaked through the bond because she didn’t bother to try to hide them from him. What was the point? They were in the center of it, and she was sure this was just the beginning. They were never going to have a quiet, peaceful life, but that didn’t matter to him. She was strong enough, and they would make it through it all together.

  “We take this one problem at a time. I have someone helping on the poisons and tracking down the person making it. If we stop it being made, we stop people dying. If we are lucky, we can even find the person using it. Right now I think we need to change and get ready for the day. You still have more on your list to listen to, right?” Devin asked.

  Devin was calm and confident, which was exactly what Nessa needed. It didn’t seem to rattle him at all that their lives were in constant danger. Nessa had no clue how he could be peaceful in this situation; it was beginning to wear on her. What sort of life had he lived before she met him? Had his life always been like this?

  Rolf nodded at Devin’s words. He was ready to let Devin take charge, and knew that Devin was who they needed. He was strong and wouldn’t waver. Nessa could see it, too. Devin seemed to thrive under pressure.

  “You stay here in case either of them wake,” Devin told Rolf. “I’ll be with Nessa.”

  “But what if we need help?” Nessa asked. “It’s not like I know the laws too well, and I doubt you’ve had time to study all of them all.”

  Grinning, Devin pulled her back to the bedroom, away from her uncle. Nessa didn’t understand why, but she went along with him.

  “Why would I need to know the laws when I can tell if someone is lying?” Nessa’s mouth hung open. She was unsure if he was kidding or not, but that wasn’t something she wanted him to be able to do. “And if I need any law advice, I’ll just ask your uncle. I can talk to any sidhe mentally, just like I talk with you.”

  “How?” she asked, suspicious of the lying bit. She already knew he was connected to the sidhe like she was, and that she didn’t need to have her uncle present to ask him questions, but his physical being was nice to have around to draw on, as he was almost as confident as Devin was in public.

  Devin shrugged and shut the bedroom door. “It was one of those powers of your grandfather’s. Not quite sure how it works, but I do know. When people lie, I can just tell that it’s not true.”

  “Not possible,” she whispered. She hoped he was kidding, because she didn’t want him being able to tell when she was lying. That would make life much more complicated.

  “I can prove it,” Devin replied with a grin. He took a step back and Nessa finally noticed he had her trapped with the closed door behind her.

  “How?” she squeaked. He was making it impossible to be mad at him when he gave her the sultry look he was giving now.

  “Do you want me to kiss you?” he asked.

  Nessa wasn’t prepared for that question. Did she? Yes, of course. Would she admit that? Not a chance. She was supposed to still be mad at him. “No,” she answered, keeping her features calm and straight-faced as she had been taught.

  “You’re lying,” Devin replied, stepping closer. One arm looped around her waist and pulled her to him, positioning his face beside hers. “Do you want me to ask another question?
Was that one not fair?”

  “No,” she quickly replied. If he could really tell when she was lying, then she wasn’t sure she wanted to answer anything he asked.

  “See? It’s not that hard to tell the truth,” he whispered in her ear, sending tingles down her legs.

  Devin slowly pulled back slowly. When he gazed into her eyes, Nessa held her breath. She wanted him to kiss her, and it took all of her restraint to keep from throwing herself at him. It wasn’t fair. Devin could read her emotions and her thoughts, and if she tried to lie he would know that, too. She was completely on the unfair side of the equation.

  “You better get dressed. They should be expecting us,” Devin said as he walked away.

  Nessa stood in shock for a second. She was sure he was going to kiss her, but he hadn’t. Guys were too confusing. Why did they have to be that way?

  Turning around, Devin grinned at her. “If you want me to kiss you, then don’t lie about it,” he added before walking over to his bag of clothes to get ready to meet with the elite sidhe.

  Heading over to her own clothes, Nessa picked up one of his shirts that was lying over the chair next to her. She threw it at him and huffed as she walked into the bathroom.

  “Thanks,” he called after her. “That was just the one I was looking for.”

  CHAPTER 7

  After another five “fun-filled” hours, Nessa sat and stared at the audience that was still waiting in the amphitheater. All of her cases, beyond Fiona’s second chance to speak, were done. There was no need for everyone to stick around, but the drama of Fiona’s case would keep them all glued to their seats like day humans when they watched reality television. Unless there was more that Maureen had found overnight, there was nothing that would change with what Rolf had already said. Maureen needed a miracle at this point. Even without new details, Maureen was going to show up. She never backed down from a challenge. Just spreading the rumor alone, that the late king had an heir, would damage Nessa’s claim to the throne. Nessa didn’t want to deal with the headache the Ferguson family brought, but it was her last case. She needed to be done with it in order to move on with preparations for the coronation. She didn’t want to sit in the room listening to complaints any longer.