Dark World (Book I in the Dark World Trilogy)

by Q. Lee, Danielle

  “What’s wrong with you?” Fate asked, startled.

  “Do my clothes fit you alright?” A velvety voice inquired from behind her.

  As Fate spun around, her eyes settled on the loveliest demon she’d ever seen. Not that she’d seen many, but she was certain that this one would pass for the most beautiful.

  And her scent!

  Upon realizing she’d removed the mask and was vulnerable to the intoxicating aroma of the demon, she quickly slapped it over her nose and lips. Though her mouth still watered, she was immediately relieved of the intense ache building in her chest.

  Drawn again to her beauty, Fate couldn’t imagine a more enchanting creature. Surrounded by feathery white lashes, her eyes shone with the same blue brilliance as Kane’s, but her skin was fair as fresh fallen snow. Pure ivory horns wrapped elegantly around her head, starting at her temples, then tapered into an elegant swirl just above her pointed ears. Her hair, the same luminous hue as Fate’s, draped like a shawl to the backs of her knees, thin golden strands woven into a few dangling braids.

  Around the same height as Fate, she was puzzled as to why this particular demon was so petite compared to the others she’d seen.

  “Yes…thank you,” Fate said, finding her voice.

  “You’re welcome.” She walked so gracefully, she nearly floated into the room, her long, creamy robes trailing behind her. “I’m Ever,” she announced, extending a pale hand adorned with sharp, white talons.

  “Ever,” Fate began, shaking her heated hand. “That’s a lovely name.”

  “Thank you. My father tells me you are unlike other shades,” she started, a flicker of doubt moving behind her eyes.

  “Oh? And who is your father?”

  “Prince Kane,” Ever offered bluntly.

  As she took a moment to absorb this information, Fate tried to determine how someone as young-looking as Kane could have a daughter that appeared to be the same age as herself. And—prince?

  “How could he be your father? He looks so…young?”

  Ever replied with a soft giggle, “Young? Why, he’s over three hundred years old!”

  Her eyes widened. “Three hundred! How old do demons live?”

  “We used to be immortal, but when the Crystal Pyramid went dark, we began to show our true age.”

  Fate suddenly found herself feeling dizzy. The hunger pierced her innards, gnawing and begging for sustenance.

  “Are you okay?” Ever asked, taking a step toward the shade.

  With Ever standing so close, her delicious scent taunted her. “Please, don’t get too close…I can’t…always control myself,” she warned.

  Ever nodded and backed away, a wave of fear skimming the ocean of her eyes. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize.”

  “Ick?” The little gargoyle popped up from the far side of the bed, tilting his head at Fate.

  “Oh! How sweet!” Ever gushed, her regal composure all but forgotten as she hurried toward the tiny beast and scooped him up into her arms.

  Fate positioned herself at the far side of the room, the furthest from Ever’s intoxicating scent. She watched as the demon princess lifted the gargoyle into her arms and proceeded to cuddle him.

  “What is he?” Ever asked, her eyes sparkling.

  “What do you mean?” Fate began, confused. “Haven’t you ever seen a gargoyle?”

  “No,” she replied, tickling Ick under his chin and listening to him giggle. “I haven’t been outside since I was a newborn.”

  “That’s so sad,” Fate replied, staring at the floor. “Why?”

  Ever paused, issuing a sad smile. “To protect me—from my grandmother.”

  Revelation

  Deep in thought, Kane wandered the labyrinthine corridors of the palace. He felt so powerless. He couldn’t just leave Malus to reign over Dark World with her genocidal tendencies. As far as Kane knew, all shades were under her command. It was only a matter of time before she descended upon them.

  His thoughts then drifted back to the Oracle’s statement. She’d said there was another stealing the scrolls. But who?

  It would have to be another shade…wouldn’t it? Or someone that had help from a shade.

  Only shades could handle the pages of the Devil’s Bible, it was his father’s greatest error—or was it?

  What if someone had found another way?

  Regardless, he knew Malus had at least one. That had been confirmed by his spies, the demons she still kept as slaves. And he had to get it back, but how was he going to fight an army of shades with a village of demons? His gaze fell upon his broken palace. The ivory walls veined with cracks and arched ceilings buckling in on themselves, the product of sustaining heavy damage.

  How much longer will it last?

  He would have to move his people to safety—soon.

  But where?

  The topside of Dark World was a harsh environment for even the most hardened beasts. A literal gift from the Surface, the palace had housed them in their time of need. Had it not fallen through the chasm so many eons ago, Kane wondered what their fate might have been. In some ways, he felt cowardly, hiding from his mother’s tyrannical hold over Dark World, yet it was the only way to protect what remained of his race.

  Protect my race, that’s what I should be doing.

  Yet he’d brought a shade into their hidden lair. Was she really so different? Wouldn’t her hunger get the better of her or was it possible that Fate maintained a sliver of her human spirit when all the others were nothing but soulless killers?

  Maybe that is what’s so special about the ceremony with one rather than three.

  As he passed a female demon in the hallway, Kane nodded in greeting. While she returned the gesture, he couldn’t help but notice the hint of uncertainty lurking behind her eyes. It saddened him that his people did not have faith in him.

  I am not my father…unfortunately.

  The king was a fearless leader. A bold demon, he led his people with passion—and they respected him for it.

  It wasn’t that Kane didn’t want to make his father proud and take hold of the reigns, he just wasn’t sure he was the demon for the job. How could he lead a weakened army into battle against unfathomable odds?

  Malus had the crown. She was the Devil of Dark World. With an army of undead soldiers outnumbering his own ten to one, how was he going to reclaim his birthright?

  And how can I kill my own mother?

  “Why don’t you have shackles on your wings?” Fate’s eyes lingered on Ever’s back as she coddled Ick.

  “I was born after the great escape,” Ever said, stroking Ick under his chin. “Almost everyone here was once a slave. Malus’s slaves. The flying restraints were placed on them then.”

  Ick purred loudly and nuzzled his cheek against the princess’s hand, then flipped onto his back, exposing his soft, white stomach and awaited a tummy rub.

  “Why can’t they just take the shackles off?”

  “Only Malus can remove them. They have an enchantment placed upon them.”

  “This Malus sounds awful.” A flicker of recognition lit within Fate as the name ‘Malus’ tumbled out of her mouth.

  “My daughter…come home.” The voice was so intoxicating. So alluring.

  The demon girl nodded, her eyes filled with sadness. “She’s responsible for the slaughter of thousands. It was—a culling.”

  Fate shivered. “But the demons seem so strong.”

  Ever set Ick onto the bed. He curled up onto the pillow, his white, furry wings wrapped around his tiny body, and began snoring immediately.

  With a wistful sigh, Ever explained, “When my grandfather decided to seal the great chasm leading to the Surface, he knew it would weaken the demons, but he must not have known it would make them mortal. When Malus discovered his error, she sent her army of killers out to find and destroy all demons. Including my mother.”

  “Killers?” Fate swallowed.

  Ever’s sapphire eyes hardened. “Shades.
”

  “Do you know how the shade entered?” Kane questioned a guard on watch the evening the scroll went missing.

  “No sir.” The guard’s jade eyes darted about the room where the sacred page once resided. “One moment it was there, the next…gone.”

  His brows knitted together, Kane probed further. “If you didn’t see anyone, how do you know it was a shade?” He knew the answer, of course, being that only shades were capable of touching the scrolls, but he was growing irritated with the guard’s incompetence.

  The guard swallowed and glanced around, avoiding the prince’s stare.

  “I…don’t,” the guard finally admitted, a line of sweat protruding above his dark temple. “I just assumed because…”

  “Never assume.” Kane cut him off and exhaled sharply, rubbing his forehead with his palm.

  How did he get in? Or out?

  He gazed about the solid chamber, pausing on the empty glass container in the center. Once perched upon a stone pedestal, encased by a translucent cube of glass, the scroll had lain safe for almost a century.

  With only one entrance and four sentries stationed around the scroll at all times, it seemed impossible that anyone, even a shade, could infiltrate the room undetected.

  The guard then surrendered, his voice low, “I saw…a black mist.”

  “A black mist?” Kane repeated, narrowing his eyes at the demon sentinel.

  He nodded eagerly. “Yes, it seemed to…whisk in and out, fast, like the wind.”

  “Why didn’t you say this before?”

  Why was he not receiving straight answers? Were his people so afraid to tell him the truth?

  The guard simply lowered his eyes to the floor and shook his head in obvious shame.

  With a final scan of the room, no explanation evident, Kane stormed away. The theft of the scroll was a devastating blow to the demons, and he now had to decide on his next move.

  He knew what he had to do. Question was—would Fate help him bring down her own kind?

  The ivory princess led Fate and Ick through a labyrinth of carpeted hallways, an endless, meandering red river flowing in all directions. Fate wondered how the demon girl could find her way to the dining room night after night, but concluded that after spending over one hundred years in the submerged castle, one would come to know the place like the back of their hand.

  Finally, after passing dozens of entryways, the princess paused before a set of French doors. She grasped the handles of gold and pushed them open to reveal a large, lavish room. A long rectangular table draped with a cream cloth held a bevy of elegant china dishware, several candelabras and gleaming silverware. A dozen sleigh back chairs upholstered in ruby velvet, sat stoic at either side of the table, just waiting for someone to set themselves upon them.

  An enormous crystal chandelier dangled overhead with hundreds of clear quartz teardrops affixed to it. Like a diamond crying tears of glitter, the fixture hung in perfect stasis casting a soft glow over the room.

  Fate was in awe of the palace, she wondered how such a structure could have come to be underground.

  “Please, have a seat,” Ever offered graciously. It seemed to please her to have a guest to dote on, even if it was a shade. “My father should be here shortly,” she added, seating herself.

  Choosing a chair across from Ever, Ick bounced between four different seats before he decided on one beside the princess. Fate settled in, absorbing the atmosphere.

  She was certain she hadn’t been anywhere this fancy when she was human, she would have remembered seeing something like this, or at least recalled the sensation of being mesmerized by a mere room.

  As if on cue, five demon servants moved swiftly into the room, four carrying plates of food and one with a clear, glass pitcher containing some kind of green beverage. One of the servants moved cautiously to Fate’s end of the table, dropped the plate before her and exited the room hastily.

  Friendly, Fate thought sarcastically.

  Kane then entered the room and sat beside his daughter. Fate’s chest fluttered and a knot gathered in her stomach. Glancing at him, his eyes focused firmly on his plate and his shoulders stiff, she again wondered if she should stay at the palace. He didn’t seem too comfortable in her presence. Occasionally, his gaze would lift as though to look at her, but would immediately drop it when he came too close to meeting her eyes.

  Fate lowered her own eyes.

  He hates me.

  Fate pushed the fried blue mushroom medley around with her fork, eyeing the lump of heated flesh lying next to them with disgust. She apparently had no use for carnivorous activities. While it was a familiar activity, her new body simply wasn’t interested.

  Still wearing the black mask, she was thankful that no one seemed to notice her lack of appetite. It had been two days since she’d consumed the sphinx’s soul and she wondered how long it would take before she felt that unquenchable need. One day? Two? How long before her self-control diminished and she became some kind of fiendish monster?

  Both Kane and Fate avoided eye contact. She was certain that if their auras were visible, they’d be dodging one another like two incompatible gases.

  Ever seemed blissfully unaware of the discomfort within the dining room. She was content to nibble at her food and giggle as she watched Ick devour his meal, burp profusely, and then lick the plate clean with his tiny, black tongue.

  Taking a deep breath, Fate distracted herself by getting lost in the beauty of the space again. While awe-inspiring, the dining room appeared to be in as much disrepair as the rest of the palace. There were fantastic woolen tapestries draped along several of the walls, but apparently in attempts to conceal various fractures.

  In an effort to begin a conversation, Fate asked, “So, how many of you live here?”

  Ever looked over at her father, expecting him to answer, but he maintained his aloof behavior. “Um,” Ever began, shooting a glare at her father. “Just over five thousand demons, I think.”

  “Why are there so many human references here?” Fate blurted suddenly, surprising even herself.

  The demon princess smiled like she knew a secret. “I think I’ll let my father explain that one, he has an obsession with human history,” she said as she stood, retrieved Ick and exited the dining room.

  Left alone, the air stiffened, rebelling against any flow. Fate frowned, wondering if Kane was upset with her, or just simply couldn’t stand her. She watched him finish eating, and after several minutes of silence, she decided she would head back to her room.

  Upon her standing, he suddenly spoke.

  “This palace was once on the Surface.” His voice was taut. “It belonged to an ancient civilization. Human. Do you remember much of human history?” his voice warmed with the question.

  She bit her lip, the memories seemed to be there, but they hovered just out of reach. A sliver of annoyance rose inside of her. Why was her amnesia so darned selective? She could remember the most mundane of things: the color of grass, that she hated pickles and what a car was, but a lot of the knowledge she yearned to access simply wouldn’t surface.

  She reluctantly shook her head.

  Again, awkward silence loomed.

  “Would you like to see my favorite room?” he asked suddenly, meeting her eyes.

  A strange quiver ran over her as she allowed her gaze to settle on his. His burning sapphire stare, so full of torment, moved straight through her soulless body.

  Beneath the black mask, a smile graced her black lips. “Yes—I would like that.”

  Kane led Fate down a darkened corridor illuminated by candlelit sconces. He didn’t look back to ensure she was still following him, he could feel her presence well enough. The energy she exuded was formidable. It was as though she radiated pure black magic. Her aura extended from her body, reaching for him like the gentle fingers of a wanton lover.

  He clenched his hands into fists.

  What the hell is wrong with you, Kane? She’s a shade!

/>   Did female shades have some power of seduction that he was unaware of? Granted, he’d never spent any amount of time with a shade, especially female, but he’d never heard of such a thing.

  An uncomfortable silence possessed the space between them. He didn’t want to appear rude, but he honestly didn’t know what to say to her.

  Just talk to her. Ask her something.

  He searched his mind for something intelligible to query her about. Something about her life on the Surface.

  “So—Fate,” he began, his tongue tripping over her name. He thought it ironic he’d named her yet his nerves prevented him from speaking it properly. “Do you remember anything about the Surface?”

  “Very little,” she replied, her voice somewhat quiet. “I remember some very beautiful things—and some that are not.”

  He stopped walking and spun around. “If I may ask, what were the…not so beautiful things?”

  Kane’s heart picked up pace when he realized how close they were. His eyes slid over the gentle contour of her pale jaw line as it narrowed towards her petite chin. He eyed the mask, wishing he could see her lips as she spoke.

  She lowered her glowing eyes and he was sure he saw them dim with her response. “I remember that I was—murdered. I can’t remember who—or why—but I can still feel the pain,” she replied, placing a hand over the center of her chest.

  He felt a pull on his heart. How could anyone harm this gentle soul? Though he hadn’t known her as a human, he surmised she must have been amazing. If she only retained but a fragment of her former self now, as a complete spirit, she must have been exceptional.

  “And—the beautiful?” he asked quietly, fighting the urge to take her into his arms and console her.

  She closed her eyes and sighed.

  “The stars.”

  I wonder where he’s taking me.

  Fate followed closely behind the large demon. She was so confused by him. One moment, he behaved like she’s the last person he’d ever want to spend time with, then the next, he’s offering to show her around the palace. And his favorite room, no less.