by Мишель Роуэн
She was going to kill me.
The anger that flared with that thought created a sudden surge of energy and I focused all of my concentration then. The teardrop crystal lit up brightly and then both of my hands began to glow with red light. I pushed against the door and heard a splintering sound before it swung wide open.
My eyes widened. I couldn't believe it had actually worked.
I pushed my fear aside and forced myself to emerge into the hallway. I didn't know the castle at all and the hallways and corridors all looked the same to me, but I had to find Michael. And, I knew I had to find my father and tell him about Elizabeth.
Elizabeth had to be stopped in any way possible. She couldn't become queen. She planned to open the Shadow-lands up to her boyfriend, and together they'd let the evil that my father had spent sixteen years holding back seep into the human and faery realms.
No matter what I had to do, I wouldn't let that happen.
I pulled Michael's sweatshirt tighter around me as I quickly moved through passages and corridors. I turned right and left and around until I was hopelessly lost and on the verge of tears again. I'd been determined when I'd left the locked room, but the feeling had faded the longer it took me to find my way. How was I supposed to stop Elizabeth if I couldn't even find my father; Finally I stopped walking and wiped at my damp eyes, my hands coming away smeared with what remained of my carefully applied Winter Formal makeup.
"Princess," a quiet voice said.
I turned sharply to the right. From inside a darkened room Michael stared out at me. There was a look in his eyes that almost scared me more than I already was. No, scratch that. It did scare me more than I already was.
But seeing him also gave me a huge sense of relief. He was all right. I'd been so scared that Elizabeth had gotten to him and had hurt him-or worse-for helping me try to escape.
"Michael." I took a step toward him. "What happened? Are you okay?"
He took a step back, holding up a hand. "Please, Princess, just stay where you are."
His expression was dark and haunted and it worried me even more. "What's wrong?"
"I'm… I'm a Shadow."
I frowned. "I know that already. I told you I don't care." There was something different about him, but it wasn't until I looked down at his worn, gray T-shirt that I figured it out. "Where's your amulet?"
He touched his chest with a shaky hand. "Elizabeth took it away from me." "Why?"
"To punish me." He studied the floor at his feet. "There's no worse way to punish Shadows than to take away our amulets."
A rush of concern swept over me. "But aren't you supposed to wear it at all times? I thought you needed it."
"I do." His throat moved as he swallowed, and I noticed his eyes weren't green anymore; they were gray. "But don't worry about me. There's still a chance for you to be okay. Elizabeth doesn't want to kill you if she doesn't have to. If you drink the potion, she'll let you live."
I felt a stab of anger at what my aunt had done to him. "Would you stop protecting me for one moment and think about yourself? What happens if you don't get your amulet back?"
"Please, Princess, listen to what I'm telling you. You can go back to your normal life. Go back to school and to the dance and forget all about this."
I shook my head. "I can't do that."
"You have to drink the potion. Forget about me. There's no other way for you to be safe."
He sounded so broken, his voice barely a rasp as he told me to forget about him. He didn't look well at all. In addition to his eyes, his skin grew pastier the longer he stood there. He looked sick and weak and tired.
"Why do you think she'd just let me go now?" I asked. "After everything that's happened?"
"Because that's what I told him," a now-familiar voice said.
I turned to my left. Elizabeth was about twenty feet down the hall and approaching slowly. Even after everything that had happened, she was smiling warmly at me.
"Nikki," she said, "I can't begin to tell you how badly I feel about all of this. I never meant to involve you. I didn't want you to be hurt."
I looked at her, wanting to run, but not able to leave Michael behind. "How can you say that to me?"
"Because it's the truth. I don't blame you. It's not your fault that you were swept up in all of this, but it was unavoidable." She fixed me with a concerned look. "I tried to make it easy for you. I wish you'd never learned the truth."
"The truth that you're murdering my father?"
Her shoulders stiffened. "You make it sound so horrible."
"How is it not horrible? How is there anything about it that isn't horrible? You're poisoning your own brother. How can you do that?"
She ignored my question. "How did you escape from your room? I know it was locked very well."
I used my Darkling strength and busted it open, I thought. But I didn't say it out loud.
Michael, I projected telepathically, what's wrong with you? What has she done to you? Please tell me.
There was no reply, even though he was standing six feet away from me.
"You didn't answer me," I said to Elizabeth, trying as hard as I could not to sound scared to death. Her casually polite demeanor was now scary rather than pleasant. "Why are you doing this?"
She spread her hands. "The time has come for a change. The Shadowlands have been a protective barrier for so long. But who's to say that it must always be that way? I'm looking for progress instead of stagnation. My father was stuck in the old ways, and Desmond is much the same. But there are new ideas. Demons have been relegated to the dark worlds for too long. We should be given the opportunity to move out to other places if we so desire."
"Is that what Kieran wants?" I asked coolly.
She gave me a small smile. "Kieran is very wise. He knows how the worlds should be. And he loves me. Together I believe we could change the universe."
"You're insane," I said.
Her eyes narrowed at me. "Actually, I've never been more sane than I am right now," she said. "My love for Kieran has shown me possibilities other than those I was raised to believe. He has opened my eyes and helped me embrace my own potential, my own power. That is what love does, Nikki. Since you're so young, I don't expect you to understand."
I thought back to my conversation with the hot-but' creepy Kieran and shuddered. "Kieran made sure to tell me that if something happened and you didn't become queen, he and I should 'get to know each other better,' " I said, making air quotes. "And I don't think he meant because he was in love with my aunt, if you know what I mean. The guy is a jerk."
Her mouth twitched a little. "I'm sure you misunderstood him."
"No, I'm thinking that you're the one who misunderstood him. Did it ever occur to you that he's just using you to get to the Shadowlands? So he can take control for himself?"
"Kieran loves me," she said simply. "He's absolutely perfect. And he only wants what's best for me."
"I had a date who seemed perfect this evening," I said, flashing back to what had happened with Chris and sensing a ghost of the panic I had felt well inside me again. "He attacked me in the back of a limo."
But I could tell that she didn't want to hear what I was saying. She was so far into the decisions she'd made for the sake of true love and progress that anything else was just white noise to her.
"I'm sorry you don't understand what true love is," Elizabeth said. "I hope, for your sake, that one day you'll get the chance." She stretched out her hand and I saw that my potion bottle rested on her palm. "I took this from you to ensure that you didn't break it or dispose of it somehow. I'm giving you this last opportunity to do the right thing. Drink the potion, Nikki. Your presence has caused a disturbance in my plans, and this is your last chance to make it right."
I just glared at her.
Her expression stiffened. "Dax," she called. "Come here."
The thug came around the corner. Indoors he looked even bigger than before. He glanced at Elizabeth and then came t
oward me.
Instinctively I moved to where Michael stood silently and reached out to him. But as our hands would have normally touched, mine slipped right through his as if he was no more than a. . than a. .
… a shadow.
Chapter 20
There was no substance to Michael. Not solid-like he was just a ghost.
His expression was pained as I looked into his now-gray eyes. "I'm sorry, Princess. I didn't want you to see me like this."
"Your amulet…"
"It helps a Shadow maintain solid form," Elizabeth said from behind me and chills ran down my spine. "There aren't many Shadows left after all this time. It must be horrible to have to rely on an amulet to live or die. Without it, he'll simply fade away to nothing before too long."
My eyes widened as I looked at Michael. "Is that true?"
He didn't say anything, but I could tell by the look on his face that this was one thing Elizabeth wasn't lying about.
I turned to face her. My hands were in fists at my sides. "Where's his amulet?"
She sighed. "I don't do this to be cruel, Nikki. I want you to know that. But he has been given several direct orders and he's failed me every time." She glanced at Michael. "It's almost as if he believes that you care for him as more than a servant. Or else why would he continue to protect you so single-mindedly?'' "I do care for him as more than a servant," I said fiercely. "Now give him back his amulet."
Her eyebrow raised. "Oh, I see. This is your 'somebody,' is it? The boy you think wants you to forget him, and whose true feelings are unknown to you?"
"His amulet!" I said louder.
"I'm afraid you're not really in a position to demand anything from me." Her expression turned graver. "But I do empathize. I know what it's like to care for somebody others feel is wrong for you-Desmond never approved of my relationship with Kieran. But you know, even if all was normal again, there is no way your father would ever allow you to be with a Shadow-it's forbidden, just as demon/human romance is. As I said before, Desmond is very set in the ways of old."
She sounded oddly empathetic for a power-hungry, murderous demon.
"I appreciate the pep talk," I said dryly.
"Oh, Nikki." Her forehead furrowed deeply. "You remind me so much of myself. I know what it's like to be a woman faced with a destiny she didn't ask for, you know. You didn't ask to be half demon. What a horrible burden to put upon someone so young. The very thought that if you harness that power you risk your own death-it's tragic, really."
She still didn't know I'd turned Darkling and had lived to tell the tale. But I wasn't telling the tale to her. It was my secret.
And Michael's. And the thug Dax's. But a quick glance at Dax's ugly but worried face told me he wasn't going to be spilling the beans anytime soon.
"Nikki," she pressed. "There's no time to continue to argue this. You have to drink the potion."
Have to.
I looked at Michael then. I didn't need telepathy to know that he wanted me to run. To get away and leave him behind.
A huge roar sounded out at that moment. A cry of pain. The sound helped me pinpoint where my father's room was-behind me and down the hall. He was so close!
Elizabeth cringed. "Why won't he stop fighting and make it easier on himself?"
Despite everything, did she feel guilty about what she was doing? She was a demon, and according to the king of the faery realm, demons were all evil.
Across-the-board darkness, no exception to the rule. Even Rhys had assumed I was evil, though he didn't sense it from me. I could touch a unicorn-whatever that meant. So maybe Rhys was wrong.
Was there a piece of Elizabeth that wasn't that bad? She was killing her brother to please her boyfriend. But there had to be something there, something that was eating away at her. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking. She had gone too far. She'd made her decisions and I'd made mine.
I knew what I had to do.
I turned and ran as fast as I could toward the room I'd heard the roar of pain come from. I could hear Dax's thundering footsteps behind me, but he was big and heavy and couldn't run as fast as I could.
At the end of the hall, I turned right onto a long corridor and it finally seemed familiar. There was only one door. It was closed but unlocked and I burst in without knocking.
The room looked the same as before and my father still lay on the bed, but now he was curled on his side, the coal-colored skin of his forehead drenched with sweat.
"Nikki-" His voice was so weak I could barely hear it.
I ran to his side. He attempted to reach out toward me with a black, taloned hand, but it dropped back down to his side. I grabbed his arm.
"Dad…" I began, but realized that he'd fallen unconscious again. "No, please wake up!"
Elizabeth and Dax entered the room and Michael was right behind them. I scooted around to the other side of the canopied bed.
Elizabeth's gaze tracked to her brother and then to me. "It's too late, Nikki."
My father's eyes flickered open again and he looked up at me and then over to his sister. "Elizabeth, I am near the end. I can't fight anymore."
"No, you shouldn't fight," Elizabeth said. "But Nikki hasn't drunk the potion yet. I don't know what to say to convince her that it's for the best."
His attention moved to me. "Nikki, you must drink it. When I pass, the power of the kingdom will transfer to my heir. If you don't drink the potion, that will be you. You'll be trapped here. I want you to be happy, to take care of your mother, and not to worry about any of this."
I clung tightly to his arm. Michael and I exchanged a glance and he looked desperate. Not only for his own situation but for mine.
"I've changed my mind," I said then. "I do want to be queen after all."
Elizabeth's eyebrows shot up. "What?"
"Are you sure about that?" my father asked.
I nodded. I thought about Rhys and how he was the king of the faery realm even though he was only sixteen. "I'm sure."
"But. . what about your normal life? What about school? Why would you change your mind about something like this?"
"Because Elizabeth can't be queen."
"Why not?"
I glanced at her and her eyes narrowed at me, her previously pleasant expression-even during her veiled threats- disappearing.
"Because she's been poisoning you," I told him.
Elizabeth's mouth dropped open. Did she really think I wasn't going to say anything?
I kept talking. "Every time she brings you water it has poison in it. She's been trying to kill you. She wants the throne and she'll do anything to get it."
Elizabeth underestimated me if she thought the lure of going back to my regular life and forgetting all about this would be enough to deter me. How shallow did she think I was?
I didn't want this. But if she thought she could take the throne and destroy everything my father had achieved- even at the expense of giving up his happiness with my mother-then she had another thing coming to her.
In fact, I'd made this decision earlier at the dance- even before I realized what Elizabeth's nasty plan was. I just hadn't realized how strongly I felt about it.
All I knew was that it felt right to me-even if it meant going against what everyone else wanted me to do.
And if the power of the kingdom shifted to me and Elizabeth tried to kill me? Then she would have one hell of a fight on her hands.
"Elizabeth," my father said, and even though his voice was weak, the name still held power. "Is this true?"
She came to his side so we looked at each other over my father's prone form. "Of course not. I don't know what has gotten into her, but your daughter is completely wrong. Why would I want to harm you? You're my brother."
"It's true," Michael said from the edge of the room. He had his arms crossed over his chest now and was visibly shivering even though the room wasn't cold. "Elizabeth has been poisoning you so she and Prince Kieran can share the power of the Shadowlands."
&n
bsp; "You're still seeing that devious Underworld prince?" My father's eyes shifted back and forth quickly as if he was thinking very hard. "No. Elizabeth, I. . how could I be so horribly blind?" His forehead creased and his brows drew together. "Why would you do this to me? I trusted you. Above all others in this world, I trusted you. You would watch me suffer these weeks and say nothing?"
She backed away a step. "There was no other way. I have to be queen. Why did you bring your daughter here? She's ruined everything."
My father was struggling to sit up and a flash of fear crossed Elizabeth's expression. However, despite his fierce demon exterior it was apparent that he had no strength left at all. He couldn't do anything to stop her. The poison continued to eat away at his remaining life.
She looked at me then, and her eyes turned to red. "You leave me with no other choice, Nikki. You could have made this so simple. Two sips at the most and none of this would have mattered to you. I'm not as horrible as you probably think I am. I've done what I had to do, but no more than that. I didn't want to kill you."
I willed myself to remain calm. My father was staying conscious but I could tell that it was a struggle.
"I think you've deluded yourself into thinking you're better than you really are, Elizabeth," I said.
Her eyes narrowed. "Right now you are vulnerable. If I wait until the power shifts to you, you won't be. This is my only opportunity to make things right."
"Nikki," my father said, "I can't protect you. I'm too weak."
"Then I'll have to protect you." My grip increased on his arm and I glared at my aunt. "Forget it. Not going to happen." I glanced at Dax, who stood expressionless by the doorway with his arms clasped behind his back. He looked like a bouncer.
I could feel Elizabeth's desperation and her growing anger like a crackling of heat along the surface of my skin. There was the briefest flash of her demon then. It scared the hell out of me. I'd almost forgotten that she also had a demon form just underneath the surface of her beautiful human exterior.
"I think I know what to do," she said after a moment and I watched her apprehensively as she reached into the pocket at the side of her skirt and pulled out Michael's amulet, holding it up by its chain. I felt the air leave my lungs in a rush.
