The Dark King

by C. J. Abedi

  One that I had never known was missing until now.

  “What is happening?” I whispered.

  “My Queen, you have finally come home,” Rowan said as I looked around in awe. “The trees sing for you.”

  He reached his arms around me and lifted my hands so my palms faced in front of me. I felt thousands of light electrical taps, like the wings of a butterfly hitting my hands. And this energy slowly moved around my body until I was pulsing from it. From the top of my head to the tips of my toes, I was Light.

  I was the Queen of the Light Fae.

  D

  The sun was rising as I drove along the water faster than I had ever driven. I felt as if the speed at which I passed the world would somehow erase everything that I had left behind. But it couldn’t. I had “The Cello Song” on repeat in my car, and all I could think about was how cruel destiny had been to me.

  By some divine right, I had been handed the crown to a race of people that were blessed beyond human comprehension. Commanding. Beautiful. Strong-minded. Electric. And yet, as the leader of the powerful, I was powerless over my own future. The most important aspect of my life was written in a book by the Fates, each sentence magically lighting up, word by word, as I lived my life as they had ordained. And to know what that fate was, what it would bring if I lived the way they had prophesized, was beyond anything I could handle. Beyond any pain I had ever known.

  It was hell.

  I pulled into the school parking lot, desperate to see her again. I waited for Caroline at her locker. I needed to see for myself that she was okay, especially now. How would she act at school? Any differently? I needed to know.

  But more than that I had to—I just had to see her. I hadn’t been able to sleep. Every single time I’d close my eyes I would see Caroline’s face before me, her tears, her big gray eyes staring at me like I had broken her heart. And I had. I know I had.

  But it was the right thing to do.

  It was the only thing to do. I looked around the bustling halls for any sign of her, trying to act as normal as possible.

  Where was she?

  I was going insane.

  “Hey, Devilyn,” Teddy said as he came up behind me.

  “Hey.”

  Teddy stared at my face. The stubble and signs of lack of sleep were apparent.

  “You look like crap. Are you sick?” Teddy said with his usual candor.

  I smiled. “No, just had a rough night.”

  “Ah.” Teddy nodded. “You looking for Caroline?”

  “Why would you say that?”

  “You’re kind of standing in front of her locker.”

  I had officially lost my mind.

  “Yes, I am looking for her. Have you seen her anywhere?”

  “No. But she texted me earlier and said that she’s going to ditch third period to grab a bite to eat with Rowan.”

  My heart stopped.

  “Ditch class?” I asked. “Caroline doesn’t ditch class.”

  Teddy smiled innocently. “Who knew?”

  I wanted to strangle Rowan.

  “I think my girl has a crush. That’s the only thing I can think of that would ever make Caroline ditch class.”

  My eyes narrowed at Teddy’s enthusiasm and I pushed away from her locker.

  “I’m happy for her,” I said quietly. “It’s about time.”

  I sat next to Teddy in drama, making sure that he was at the end of the aisle, ensuring that Caroline’s only choice would be to sit next to me. My eyes were glued to the door.

  Just where the hell was she?

  The bell was minutes away from ringing and there was still no sign of her. I couldn’t believe it. Was she actually planning on ditching two classes with Rowan?

  The door finally opened.

  And she walked in.

  I hadn’t realized I had been holding my breath.

  She looked different. More confident, and so beautiful. Her hair was down. She was wearing a pair of gray jeans and a gray turtleneck, which fit her small frame perfectly. She made her way up the stairs and glanced right over me to Teddy. Like I didn’t exist.

  “I think I’m going to sit up front today.”

  “Why?” Teddy replied.

  “The lecture is on method acting and I really need to pay attention.”

  I knew that Teddy was aware this was a complete lie, but he nodded at her and didn’t question it.

  “Cool. Catch you after class.”

  I was more than annoyed. I waited for her to sit down and then turned to Teddy as I gathered my things.

  “If you’ll excuse me,” I said. “Caroline’s got it right. I think I’ll join her up front.”

  He didn’t respond. I was sure he knew what was going on. As I walked down the stairs, Caroline pulled out her notebook and pen and sat back in her seat. Luckily, the chair next to her was empty. Just as Copeland walked up to the podium, I slipped in next to her, crowding her space, my leg intentionally brushing hers.

  She flushed in anger as she turned to me. “What are you doing?”

  “I couldn’t hear much from back there,” I said with a smile as I nodded at Copeland.

  She was furious with me. I could tell. But I didn’t care. I was just glad she was okay and had actually made eye contact with me. She tried to lean as far away from me as possible, but there wasn’t much space. Copeland went on for a while, then turned the lights off and pulled down the screen so he could show us performance examples from the greats. When the montage of film clips started playing, I leaned in close to her ear.

  Dangerously close.

  “I didn’t know you ditched class.”

  Her fingers curled up as she stared straight ahead at the screen.

  “I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

  Yes, my dear, it most certainly is my business.

  Her head whipped in my direction and she narrowed her eyes at me. I knew she heard me. And now she knew that she wasn’t imagining it.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” she whispered.

  “Looking out for you.”

  Caroline’s eyes widened from my look, and she turned away coldly. “That’s not your responsibility anymore. Rowan can handle it just fine.”

  I felt like a bucket of ice had just been thrown on my face. In a second I was seething with jealous rage. Yes, I had pushed her away. Told her to go and love someone else. But not Rowan. It couldn’t be him. Before I could respond, the lights went on and Copeland was directly in front of us. I was silenced.

  “How incredible were those performances, class?” he asked us excitedly as he continued his lecture.

  The remaining minutes felt like hours. I felt like I was in purgatory. I was so anxious to leave so I could corner Caroline and set her straight. I was sure she could feel how angry I had become, but it didn’t seem to affect her in any way.

  Twenty seconds before the bell was about to ring, Caroline raised her hand.

  “Mr. Copeland? Devilyn is too embarrassed to tell you that he’s a huge fan of Al Pacino and would love to see your signed Godfather memorabilia,” she said with a sweet smile. “He wanted me to ask you if he could take a look at it during lunch, actually.”

  The sound of the bell reverberated through my skull.

  “Oh, that’s great, Devilyn! I didn’t know you loved Pacino as much as I do. Please, follow me to my office. I’ll show you everything!”

  I stared at Caroline in utter shock, but she kept her gaze straight ahead and packed her books. I grabbed hold of her arm.

  “Just where do you think you’re going?”

  “To lunch. Have fun with Mr. Copeland,” she said as she shrugged my hand off and practically ran out of class.

  Did she actually think this was over?

  No, this was far from over.

  I wasn’t sure what game she was playing, but she should have known better than to think I would ever let her win.

  I followed Mr. Copeland into his office and listened
to him rant about The Godfather until I couldn’t take it any longer and decided that magik could definitely help speed up the process. I also found it necessary to erase his memory of the event so that Caroline couldn’t put me in this situation again.

  I didn’t need to use magik to find her.

  I used pure instinct. The closer I got, the more I felt her until I threw open the door of an empty history class and watched her jump up in surprise. She didn’t seem shocked to see me, but she was far from welcoming. She closed the notebook she’d been writing in.

  “That was very clever.”

  She shrugged a bit guiltily as her faced turned red.

  I took a step in the room and shut the door behind me. There was no place she could escape. Now she would have to face me.

  “We need to get something clear,” I told her. “You may think that Rowan is here to protect you, but he is only here to assist me. You are my primary responsibility. Not his. No matter what is going on between us, I take this responsibility very seriously. And I won’t have you or anyone else be placed in jeopardy because you are acting irrationally out of anger.”

  Her eyes narrowed.

  “Don’t you have a dark kingdom you need to be ruling?”

  I raised an eyebrow. There was definitely a different side to Caroline that I had not seen.

  “You come before any kingdom,” I told her more gently.

  “Do I?”

  I walked over to the windows and stared outside.

  “Always.”

  There was a long silence between us.

  “If you’re truly here to see to my safety, Devilyn, then I’d appreciate if you kept your girlfriend in line. Tell her to stay away from me.”

  “What are you talking about?” I was stunned.

  “I had a nice little run-in with her yesterday on the track. At the time I didn’t understand why she was warning me to stay away from you, but now I do.”

  Katya would be in for a rude awakening.

  “I’m sorry,” I said earnestly. “I will make sure that never happens again.”

  Katya would see the extent of my wrath.

  Caroline nodded and stood up as she gathered her things. “Great.”

  I walked over to help her. The minute I got close, her nerves kicked in and she dropped one of her notebooks. It fell open and I couldn’t believe my eyes. She was putting together her family tree.

  Her real family tree.

  Names of different Fae.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Now that I have my wings, I need to know my roots.”

  C

  “Your roots are deep and strong,” he said.

  I hated him. I hated how I acted around him. I hated what I said, especially about Katya. He was always showing up, and invading my space, and saying things that made me feel so weak. I just wished he would leave me alone.

  “You don’t need to help me. I’ve got this.”

  “Let me take a look,” he asked as he lifted the notebook and stared down at my notes.

  I’d been up all night writing down everything that Odin had told me. I wanted to memorize everything. Know my history. Understand the rules, the prophecy, how it all came together.

  “It’s really nothing.”

  “It looks like you’ve got a lot of it figured out.”

  I took my notebook from his hands. “I’m just trying to understand it all.”

  You should be the one helping me through this.

  Devilyn looked at me.

  “I know.”

  “Do you?” I asked. “The only person who is helping me understand any of this is Rowan, when it should have been you. I’m trying to wrap my head around it all, Devilyn. It’s not easy, as you can imagine.”

  “I know.”

  “I need you to just do me a favor and stay away from me. I can’t take it when you’re so close to me. It’s not what I wanted, but you made up your mind. You keeping your distance from me is the only way I’ll be able to survive it. Any of it.” My voice shook. “At least do that one thing for me.”

  I could feel the sadness creeping up over me again. I had to get away from him. I stood up abruptly. He was hurt. I could see it. I could feel it. But then, so was I.

  And it was all his doing.

  “I get that you think you need to protect me,” I went on. “But just do it from a distance. Okay?”

  The look in his eyes was so intense and painful that it was nearly my undoing. But I had to look out for myself first. Here was the boy I loved and who loved me back. But who I couldn’t have. Ever.

  So I had to step away and so did he.

  “If that is what you want,” he finally responded quietly.

  Tears filled my eyes as I nodded.

  “It is.”

  • • •

  I was grateful to pull into the diner for my shift. Keeping busy meant I wouldn’t think about Devilyn and our last conversation. I was proud of myself for being so assertive with him. It hadn’t been easy, but it was the only thing I could do to keep my sanity. I couldn’t be his yo-yo. I wouldn’t allow him to keep pulling me in and then telling me how we couldn’t ever be. It wasn’t fair, and I knew that if I let it continue, I’d be like a puppy, just waiting for an affectionate tap on the head from him. Any sign to show me he cared.

  I parked and entered the diner. Frank, our chef, waved at me from the open kitchen. It seemed like he was in a good mood.

  “Hey, doll!”

  “Hi, Frank,” I said as I made my way to the back room to change my shirt and put on an apron. I wasn’t surprised when my mom followed me in. She shut the door behind her.

  “Are you okay, honey?”

  She looked worried and walked up to me to put her hand on my cheek.

  “I’m fine.” I looked away from her quickly. The last thing I wanted was to have a meltdown in front of her.

  “Is it Devilyn?”

  Why lie?

  “Yeah, it’s him. And I’ll tell you about it later, Mom. I just—I just can’t really talk about it now.”

  “Fair enough,” she said. “Your father and I want to take you out to dinner tonight. Since we’ve both been working so much lately, we feel like we never get to spend quality time with you. Especially Dad.”

  “That actually sounds great.”

  She leaned in and gave me a reassuring hug.

  “I promise that everything will work out for the best. It always does.”

  Not this time.

  We heard the door ring.

  “I’ve got to get to work,” I said.

  “All right.”

  Impulsively I leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek and then left to go to the front of the diner to grab my check pad. I noticed a woman sitting with her back to me in a booth and I quickly made my way to her.

  “What can I get you?” I asked with a pleasant smile.

  She looked up and something about her face struck a chord in me. Beautiful wasn’t the word I’d use to describe her—more like ethereal or magnificent. She was dressed in plain clothes and her hair was pulled back. Her large blue eyes were inquisitive and friendly. And almost loving. I knew instantly that she was not human; she couldn’t be. She had to be from the world of the Fae.

  “You’ve grown into such a beautiful woman, Caroline.” Her voice sounded almost musical.

  I looked around to see if anyone was near. All the booths around us were suspiciously empty. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, and when she opened them her eyes were shining like bright blue aquamarine stones.

  “I am Dana, the Great Mother.” She reached out and took my hand in hers. I immediately felt a warmth rush through my body “I’ve waited for this day for a long time. Please, sit with me.”

  “I can’t—” I began to motion around to the other people in the diner.

  “You can, actually.” Dana smiled. “I stopped time for just a moment so that we could speak in peace.”

  A quick look around was all
I needed to know she was telling the truth. Everything was on pause. Time around us stood still. Everyone and everything frozen.

  “How did you—”

  “I am the Great Mother, a queen of sorts, if you will. My magik is different from the others’. My place is different.” She paused. “Please sit. I never like to stop time for too long.”

  I sat down and stared across the table at her. It was strange to think there was absolutely no movement around me. The Fae magik was all so surreal. My mind was still having a hard time grasping it all. I didn’t think I ever would. Dana reached out and took both my hands and gave me a reassuring squeeze.

  “You are in pain.”

  I could only swallow.

  “And your mind is reeling from all the wonder you have learned about yourself. It cannot be easy. So many secrets all revealed at once. The truth about Virginia Dare. Your blood parents’ history and their cruel demise at the hands of Alderon, Devilyn’s father.”

  I felt like I was being hypnotized.

  “All that makes up the many sides of Devilyn. And then, knowing all of this, what he still means to you.”

  I began to see images in my head. I could see myself older, in a wedding dress. Turning toward Devilyn. Taking his large hand in mine, our fingers interlaced. His smile. His eyes bright. Loving. Passionate. Caring.

  “And finally, the sacrifice you make if you choose that future with him. A future you know is necessary to unite the two kingdoms forever.”

  I gave her a sad smile. “The funny thing is that I think I would choose that future if I could. But he won’t have it. So the choice is not mine.”

  “So you must guard your heart.”

  “Yes,” I whispered.

  Dana leaned in.

  “There are certain rules we live by as Fae. Rules that can never be broken. Sacred. Cardinal. Rules. Never interfering with fate is one. What must be will be.”

  “But aren’t you interfering with fate now?” I asked.