His eyes turned demon-red and his fist clenched on the top of the table. “Why do you insist on aggravating me, Nikki?”
I wasn’t sure. Maybe part of me wanted to really see him lose it and get mad as hell, even if it was directed at me. Maybe then I could walk away and forget all about this place. Maybe then I could go back to the life I’d had before and forget that my relationship to the demon across from me put my life in danger over and over again.
Huh. I had no idea I was so mad. But I guess I was.
As I got angrier, he seemed to cool off. He studied me carefully, as if gauging my shifting moods.
“How is your mother?” he finally asked.
“Do you really care?” I spat out.
His expression darkened a shade. “Of course I do.”
“She’s fine.” I chose not to offer more than that. I could see that it bothered him.
So much for coming here for a friendly father/daughter chat.
“Why else did you want to see me?” I asked tensely. “Was it just to get an overview of how messed up my life is? How I can’t officially date who I want to date? What Dragon Oracle Weekly is saying about me? Or was it something else?”
“Nikki...” he growled.
“You’re sure you’re okay with Michael coaching me one-on-one? I mean, you and my mom weren’t much older than us when you got her pregnant. And that was a forbidden romance, too, just like mine and Michael’s.”
“Stop.” The one word was enough for me to finally do as he suggested. There was a dark menace in his voice. It was as if he could channel into his voice all the pain and grief I felt inside
—and that he felt it, too. A desperation and a feeling of helplessness to change anything. As if both he and I were being swept along by fate and destiny, and we had no say in what happened in our own lives.
I drew in a ragged breath and felt the sting of tears as my bravado faded away. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m saying these things. I don’t mean them to hurt you.”
“I understand your pain, Nikki. None of this is easy for either of us. Please try to understand that. I wish with all my heart that things could be different. But they’re not and we must continue on to the best of our ability. Being king means I need to sacrifice for the greater good.”
“You’ve sacrificed enough.” My voice broke.
A brief sadness crossed his expression. “I know you don’t understand why I haven’t sent Michael to check on you in the last couple of weeks.”
“I know it’s only two weeks, but...but it was Christmas. And New Year’s. They’re holidays.
Like, family holidays.”
He exhaled and studied me for a moment. “I know you are young, but I think you understand more than you realize. While you give in to your anger and frustration, I think deep down you understand why I must do what I do. Know this—everything happens for a reason, even though that reason might not be clear. Please, try to trust in me even if the truth is difficult to see at first glance. Will you do that?”
I blinked a couple of times to hold back my tears before I nodded. “Okay. I—I’ll try.”
“I am concerned about your closeness with Michael because of the demon law that forbids it.
It is not because I disapprove of Michael himself. I trust him implicitly in all ways.” He grimaced and raised an eyebrow as he glanced at me. “Almost all ways. I truly believe he will be a valuable tutor for you.”
I let out the breath I’d been holding. Maybe my father was more evolved than I thought he was when it came to Shadows. “Okay. So that’s why I’m here? For the tutoring?”
“That is part of it. The other part is to do with Michael himself.” His gaze moved to the door and then returned to me. “I’m concerned about him.”
That surprised me. “Why?”
“I know everything that happened during your visit to the Underworld,” he said simply.
“Even the parts you didn’t give me great detail on.”
My stomach sank.
A lot had happened during my trip to the Underworld two weeks ago. The demon council wanted to meet me and to assess how great of a threat I was to the universe after my nasty but fake prophecy. Michael had gone with me and came face to face with another Shadow. An evil one. His name was Jonas and he’d demonstrated how a Shadow, in their disembodied state, could absorb the energy of a demon to grow more powerful, but it could kill the demon.
Jonas had wanted Michael to join him in his revolution against demonkind. Instead, Michael had absorbed Jonas’s energy when the other Shadow attacked me, killing Jonas and saving everyone else.
“Michael’s a hero,” I said firmly, turning my gaze from the roaring fire to face my father. “He saved my life.”
“I know.” He didn’t speak for a moment. “But what happened...I believe it took a toll on him.”
“What, you think he should go into counseling or something?”
“Not that kind of a toll.” His hands closed over the edge of the table and his knuckles whitened. “It is said that if a Shadow takes another’s life, their heart begins to grow darker. I’ve never seen hard evidence of this, but I believe that is what happened to Jonas. He couldn’t tell the difference between right and wrong. He didn’t care who he hurt.” I knew Jonas was a murderer—and not just of demons. He’d also been the one who’d killed Rhys’s mother and father and was the reason Rhys had to become king at only sixteen. Rhys believed a demon had killed them. I wanted to tell him the truth, but I hadn’t yet.
I shook my head. “Michael’s not like that.”
“No, he’s not. Not yet.”
“Not ever,” I insisted.
“All I’m asking, Nikki, is for you to keep a close eye on him. He’s on his best behavior with me, but he could be hiding something. With you, however, he might open up. If he tells you anything is bothering him, anything is troubling him, if he’s having dark thoughts...you need to let me know.”
I found it difficult to breathe all of a sudden. “So you can punish him?”
“So I can help him.” He stood from the table and came to my side. My arms were so tightly crossed that I could barely feel my fingers anymore. “Will you do that? Will you let me know if you notice anything? I swear to you, I am on Michael’s side in this.” The way he said it made me shiver. “What are you saying? There are others who aren’t on his side?”
“Queen Sephina and the other council members are...” he hesitated, “... concerned. Michael was pardoned and allowed to leave after killing the hellhound—”
“Again, to save my life!” I protested. “That nasty thing nearly chewed my face off!”
“They don’t see it like that.”
“Of course not.” A horrible thought occurred to me. “Queen Sephina sees him as a danger, a threat. She wants him back there so she can lock him up in her dungeon again. Is that right?” His jaw tensed, but his gaze didn’t waver from mine. He nodded once. “She seems particularly fixated on Michael after his run-in with Jonas. She’s requested he be returned to the Underworld and placed under her... care.”
My stomach twisted. “She can’t take him.”
“No, she can’t. Not yet. This is my kingdom, my rules. But unless I can convince her that there’s nothing wrong, she might take this into her own hands.”
“You can’t let her!”
“Then I need proof that he’s okay and not a threat to anyone. And if he isn’t, then I need to take the necessary steps to help him. Handing him over to the queen will never be an option for me. But to avoid that, I need your help.”
“Why can’t you just tell him this yourself?” I asked. “If he knows the queen has it out for him then he can protect himself.”
His face was tense. “If Michael is trying to hide any darkness from me, then he’s doing so because he doesn’t trust me.”
“Should he?” I demanded.
He looked at me patiently. “I want to help him. But if he feels backed into a corner, he
might not take it well. I’d rather test the waters first and see if there really is a reason to be concerned.
Telling him the whole truth will be the next step, but for now I believe it should be kept from him for his own peace of mind.”
I considered that and decided that my father might be right. If there wasn’t a reason for panic, why panic? This could be nothing at all, and then nothing bad would have to happen.
I imagined that Queen Sephina was quite excited about an experiment like this falling right into her hands. She, and her demon council, could find out what happened to a Shadow who killed somebody—even if it was another Shadow. Would he turn dark and evil? Become out of control?
And if my father didn’t handle things this way, by getting me to spy on Michael during our training sessions to find out if there was a real problem, then I had no doubt the queen would send her representatives here to take Michael forcibly.
“He’ll need to know soon,” I said quietly. “You can’t keep this from him forever.”
“Soon,” he agreed. “But not yet. So, will you agree to help me in this matter, Nikki? By helping me, you’re helping Michael.”
I searched his face, trying to see if there was any deception there. I couldn’t find any.
However, demons were known to be amazing liars—at least, according to Rhys who considered faeries super-truthful in comparison.
My father wanted me to spy on Michael and let him know if Michael was slowly turning evil because he’d killed another Shadow in order to save my life.
Queen Sephina wanted to lock him away and study him. I had no doubt that this experiment would lead to Michael’s death. In my short experience with her, that was how the queen dealt with most problems.
My father could help Michael if there was a problem. He’d promised me he would.
Finally, I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Of course,” I said. “I agree.”
Chapter 5
Relief briefly touched my father’s face. “Thank you.” He squeezed my hand. “Go now. Find Michael. And keep me informed of your progress with him.” And that was the end of my meeting with my father, King Desmond of the Shadowlands. I was left reeling as I walked into the hallway outside of the meeting room.
I was about to call to Michael through our telepathic bond, but I wasn’t ready yet. I needed a little more time to cool off.
I really didn’t want to have to spy on Michael. I cared about him too much. What I wanted to do was tell him everything and see what he had to say. The list of things I hadn’t or couldn’t tell him was getting longer.
But I also agreed that my father was right. If his suspicions were unfounded, Michael might be upset anyone had doubted him. However, if the suspicions were right—and I didn’t think they were—he would feel trapped, especially when he found out Queen Sephina was out to get him.
This was complicated, but I felt I had no other choice but to do what my father asked to prove that Michael was absolutely fine and not a threat.
If only I hadn’t had that stupid dream where he was a threat.
If only the dragon oracle hadn’t already foreseen another prophecy for me that I’d tried very hard to forget—one in which I’m surrounded by darkness, by shadows that wanted to devour me.
I had previously assumed it was Jonas—after all, he’d tried to absorb my energy when in shadow form. But I couldn’t forget that Michael was also a Shadow and able to do the exact same thing if he wanted to.
I moved along a long hallway, lost in my thoughts. I passed two demon servants who scurried away as soon as they saw me, bowing their heads as a sign of respect to me, the visiting princess.
Too weird.
This whole castle was weird. And repressive. And empty. And horrible.
“Oh, come on,” a voice drawled to my right, “it’s not that bad.” I froze, scanning the area, but there was no one there.
“I’m here,” the voice said. “You want to play hide and seek?” It was a male voice, an unfamiliar one. Maybe it was a servant, one who didn’t scurry away at the sight of me.
“Believe me, Princess, I’m no servant.”
A shiver went through me from head to foot and my heart began to slam against my ribcage.
Whoever this was could read my mind.
“Show yourself,” I said, making my voice sound as strong as I could. “Who are you?” Something caught my eye and I spun to my left. It was a figure moving down the hall and disappearing behind a corner.
“Follow me,” he said.
Not a chance.
“What do you mean, not a chance? What are you, scared? I’m not going to hurt you.” Yeah, like I’d believe that. I didn’t have a good track record when it came to the halls of this castle and my own personal safety.
“But I have a secret that I’ll tell only to you. Isn’t that even vaguely intriguing for you?” My breath caught. I didn’t like this guy, whoever he was. Not a servant. And he could read my mind even though I wasn’t projecting telepathically like I did with Michael. He had a smug tone to his voice that made even Rhys seem modest.
“Secrets, Princess. Seeeecrets. Just between you and me.” He laughed. “C’mon. Aren’t you even a little bit interested?”
I clenched my hand at my side and felt energy flow into it. I could shift into my Darkling form quickly if I wanted to. At least, I thought I could. I hadn’t shifted since before Christmas.
“Do it,” he urged. “Your Darkling form fits in great around here.”
“I don’t have time for this crap,” I told him flatly.
Someone peeked out from behind the corner he’d disappeared behind. Dark eyes glittered in the soft light of the hallway. Dark skin, black hair, black eyebrows. He looked to be my age or maybe a bit younger.
“No time?” he asked. “You’re sure about that?”
“Positive. Who are you?”
“Who are you?”
“You’ve been calling me Princess, so I figured you already knew.”
“Yeah, but...who are you really? Down deep? Where it matters? Strong and brave like those who make a difference in the world? Or weak and scared like those who don’t?” This guy was a jerk. Some servant’s kid who was bored and wanted to be annoying when I had better things to do with my time.
“He’s pacing right now,” he said, thrusting a thumb behind him. “Waiting for you to call him through your bond. He’s worried that you’re still mad at him. It eats away at him. So does the jealousy he’s feeling about you and the handsome and powerful faery king.” I frowned. “Who? Michael?”
The kid cocked his head. “He studies all day. Reading books he thinks might help you. I can’t read his mind as well as the others, but I get enough.” I began to feel less annoyed and more cautious. “Who are you?”
“Who are you?”
“This is going to go in circles until I get a response.”
“I agree. You should respond.”
My jaw clenched for a moment before I forced it to loosen. “I’m Nikki. Half human, half demon. I’m the king’s daughter.”
“Yeah, I know all that. Yawn. King Desmond. King of the Shadowlands. So dour, that one.
So stubborn. Sees only one answer to problems, no multiple choice. And his thoughts...” The boy grimaced. “They come through loud and clear to me compared to the Shadow’s. And they’re pretty dark at times.”
I crossed my arms. “So that’s what you do? Lurk around here and read people’s private thoughts? That’s unbelievably rude.”
“Wish I had a choice. Trust me, if I had a choice, I wouldn’t. But if you’re in the castle, I get to see what’s in your mind.”
“Are you a demon?” I swept my gaze over him as he emerged further from behind the corner.
He wasn’t much taller than me and very thin. “Or are you a faery?”
“Neither.”
“You’re a Shadow?”
“Nope.”
“Dragon?”
He leaned against the wall. “Afraid not.”
I wanted to call to Michael through the bond, but I couldn’t help but be curious about this guy, whoever he was. Did my father know there was someone in his castle who could read minds as easily as he could read the newspaper?
“Your father, Princess Nikki, has absolutely no idea that I even exist.” I glared at him. “Stop reading my mind.”
“Like I said, I wish I could. But I can’t. So I won’t.”
“This is ridiculous.”
“He thinks about her, you know.”
My breath caught a little. “Who?”
“Your father. Thinks about your mother. A lot. For years he tried to block her from his mind as much as he could, but the moment he felt your presence on your sixteenth birthday— boom.
Susan, Susan, Susan. Front row center in the theater of King Desmond’s mind. In case there was any doubt, he was crazy about her.” He paused. “Do you have any idea how they met?” I suddenly found it difficult to breathe. “He was on vacation in the human world before he had to become king here. He went to her university for a couple months. It was love at first sight.”
He snorted. “Maybe attraction at first sight. Of course he’d tell you the short version. And yeah, that was the location. But how they met, that’s a different story. He dated a lot of girls in the human world. He was having a lot of fun, but it was all throwaway stuff. None of them really mattered to him. He bullied and intimidated other kids who got in his way because it amused him. He had an ego the size of—well, a demon prince’s ego. They’re basically just spoiled rich kids who think they rule the world—any world.”
I just stared at him with shock as he continued speaking. That sounded more like Kieran—or maybe even Rhys—than my father.
“Susan hated him the first time they met. She told him off, which nobody had ever done before. Who yells at a demon prince if they know what’s good for them? He wanted to mess with her a little after that since she’d definitely piqued his interest and sparked his anger for making him look like a fool in public, but then they got into some trouble together. She ended up saving his life when they came face to face with a demon slayer. Susan almost found out what he really was, but luckily he was able to hide it in time. Even though it still seemed like she hated him, he was a total goner for her. It changed him. Got rid of the mask he wore that made him feel powerful and almighty. He pursued her until she finally admitted that she felt something in return. He’d never been in love before and neither had she, but they had it bad for each other.
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