by Sarra Cannon
“Good morning, Princess.” He offered his arm to me and smiled. “May I escort you to the dining hall?”
I wanted to choke that conceited smile off his pretty face, but instead, I smiled and put my hand on his arm.
“It would be my pleasure,” I said.
Let him think his threats last night had rattled me. Maybe if he believed I was falling in line, he would open up to me. We were, after all, supposed to be spending the rest of our immortal lives together. If he believed I was on his side, maybe he would begin to trust me enough to let me in on whatever his plans were for this city.
There was no doubt he had come here specifically with the intention of someday becoming king. And I wanted to know why.
“It’s a lovely morning,” he said as we walked. “I thought perhaps after the meal this morning, we could take a walk through the gardens together.”
“Whatever suits you,” I said. “I would like to get to know you better if we’re to spend a life as mates.”
He raised an eyebrow at that. “It’s good to see you warming up to the idea,” he said. “If I’m being honest, I thought it would take more time for you to agree to be my queen.”
I bit my tongue. I hardly believed he was being honest about anything, but it would no doubt make his ascension to the throne much smoother to have the princess next to him. And I had no doubt that as soon as we were officially mated, my father’s life would come to an end.
What would happen to our people then? I found it difficult to believe that a demon who had suggested the return of the King’s Games would be a kind and loving king.
The thought made me shudder. If he honestly thought I would simply sit back and allow him to rule this kingdom while I took long walks in the garden, he was delusional.
“If I feel that you’re truly committed to going through with this marriage, it will make things much easier on you here in the castle,” he said.
“Why is that?” I asked.
“How much freedom have you had so far since you were brought up from the dungeons?”
I glanced over at him, surprised he would bring that up so openly with so many demons walking through these hallways. After last night’s speech of lies from my parents, most demons here believed I had come home on my own after a long battle against the Order.
“If you are aware of my time in the dungeons, then you’re no doubt also aware of the handmaidens and guards who have been watching my every move since I was freed,” I said.
He smiled. An expression I was starting to hate with the fire of six suns.
“Well, what would you say if I told you I was the one responsible for making sure you were brought up here in the first place and given your old room?” he asked. “The council was nervous about giving you much freedom when your loyalties were still in question, so I suggested assigning several handmaidens to guard you and watch over you.”
I bristled at this. So, he was openly admitting that he controlled the council.
“Perhaps if I convince the council you are also devoted to our future marriage, they will agree to give you a bit more freedom around here,” he said. “Of course, if you break my trust in any way or give me any reason to suspect you are not entirely loyal to me and this kingdom, the consequences could be very uncomfortable for you.”
He was resorting to threats, already? Who did this guy think he was?
We walked for a few moments in silence, and we smiled at everyone who passed, as if we were some happy couple taking a casual stroll through the halls of the castle, but as soon as we moved into a more secluded area, he paused and turned to me.
“Do I not get so much as a simple thank you for all that I’ve already done for you, Lazalea?” he asked.
I stopped, and it took me a second to realize he was being completely serious.
“Thank you?” I said it more as a question, but he seemed to be okay with that.
“You’re welcome,” he said. He took a few steps forward, but then he turned again, and this time there was cruelty in his eyes. “Except I have one issue I think needs to be addressed between us.”
He backed me into a corner, and I glanced around, hoping to see at least a guard or a handmaiden. Anyone who was witnessing this exchange. But there was no one near us.
“Imagine my concern last night after the feast when I wanted to have one final dance with you before the evening was over,” he said. “Imagine how it felt to look everywhere and not find the one demon who should be most devoted to me and waiting to see if I would summon her.”
“Summon?” I asked, my anger rising despite his threatening tone.
“Yes, summon. You exist here, Princess, because I found it in my best interest to have you here. There is no other reason,” he said. “Your mother and father and the other members of the council would have been more than happy to let you rot away in those dungeons for decades. You are only here because I want you here. And yet, when I summoned you, you were nowhere to be found. Why is that?”
I lifted my chin, even though he was much bigger than I was and was obviously trying to get me to shrink down into nothing here in the corner.
“I have no idea,” I said. “Maybe you didn’t look in the right places. I didn’t realize I was expected to be at your beck and call.”
“Well, you are,” he said. “And I looked everywhere. Where did you disappear to?”
“I didn’t go anywhere except my own chambers, and last I knew, there was nothing wrong with going into my own suite of rooms when I was tired,” I said.
He sucked in a sharp breath and turned his head, as if I’d slapped him. When his eyes snapped back to mine, they were filled with rage.
“You’re lying to me, Lazalea,” he said. He grabbed my wrists and lifted them up, pressing them hard against the stone wall behind me. “I cannot express to you how disappointing that is. I was hoping after our little talk last night, you would understand the delicate position you find yourself in, but I can see that I was not being clear enough at the time. So, let me be clear.”
He squeezed my wrists so hard, it was all I could do to keep from crying out.
“You’re hurting me,” I said. “Let me go.”
“I will never let you go,” he said. “I don’t want to hurt you, but this is nothing compared to what I’m fully prepared to do if you don’t start treating me with the respect I demand from you. Do you understand?”
“I understand that respect, by definition, is not something that can be demanded. It must be earned,” I said.
He released one of my wrists and slapped me hard across the face. My cheek burned, but I kept my head high.
“One of my guards told me that the prisoner who was brought in at the same time as you was called out of his room last night,” he said. “He didn’t see where the prisoner was taken, but I find it curious that he disappeared around the same time you did. You didn’t happen to pay a visit to him last night, did you? Because that would be quite disappointing indeed. A visit to see him now would prove where your loyalties lie, Princess, and I’m afraid that if someone were able to prove you were still loyal to your old way of life that there would be nothing I could do to save you. So, tell me. Where were you last night?”
My heart beat faster, but I kept my mouth shut, afraid that if I dared to open it, I would tell him what I really thought of the way he was treating me. I couldn’t get revenge on him or put an end to him from the dungeons, but I vowed right then and there that I would find a way to destroy him.
No one put their hands on me like this. No one who survived, anyway.
“Fine,” he said. “You don’t have to answer me. I already know the truth. Just know that I’m not about to let the son of a fellow council member go free. I know your history with his brother, Denaer, and as happy as he would be to take his brother’s place, I’m sure, your precious Aerden is never going to be given the chance. If you dare to contact him again or attempt to go see him while he is still a prisoner, I will make sure
he doesn’t survive even the first round of these games. You will watch him die, and you will know that it was your actions that sealed his fate. I will be king, and nothing is going to stand in my way. You can join me, or you can die. Those are your options, Princess.”
He released me and straightened his shirt. I rubbed my sore wrists, hoping he would just walk away so I didn’t feel tempted to kill him right here and now.
Instead, he smiled and offered his arm to me again, as if he hadn’t just threatened my life.
“Now that’s out of the way, I hope we can have a pleasant morning together,” he said. “Shall we?”
Bitterness coated my tongue as I placed my hand on his arm and followed him the rest of the way to the dining room.
My plan to find out exactly who he was and what he wanted with this kingdom had just escalated to a plan to see him completely destroyed.
No one threatened my friends and lived to regret it.
A Message
Harper
Someone pounded on the door to the bedroom, and I opened my eyes to harsh sunlight streaming through the curtains.
“Harper,” Brooke shouted.
Something slammed against the door, and I sat up, immediately grabbing my head. For a moment, I couldn’t remember where I was, but the instant the memory of last night’s visit from the ruby priestess came rushing back, I jumped out of bed and pulled on the heavy wooden door.
It was stuck, no doubt held closed by some magic cast by the witch when she left.
“I’m here,” I shouted to Brooke through the door. “I think the door is locked with magic. Hold on.”
I placed my palms against the wood and summoned my power. Unlike yesterday, the connection to my magic came easily. I concentrated on a vision of the door opening, and whatever magic held it closed suddenly released.
Brooke rushed into the room, her eyes wide.
“What happened?” she asked. “I’ve been trying to get into this room for fifteen minutes. I was pounding and screaming like a lunatic. I was terrified something happened to you.”
I stepped away from the door and gripped my head again. It felt like my brain was throbbing against my skull.
“Are you sick?” she asked, placing a hand on my shoulder. “What in the world happened?”
“I don’t even know where to start,” I said, pacing the room. “Did they have Excedrin back in the fifties? Because I need a gallon of it about right now. My head is killing me.”
“You’re exhausted,” she said. “You used way too much magic yesterday, but what happened to the door?”
“When I came into this room last night, the ruby priestess was here waiting for me,” I said.
Brooke gasped and brought the back of her fist to her mouth. “Oh my God, Harper, did she attack you?”
“Not exactly,” I said, still trying to make sense of everything she had told me. I did my best to explain the conversation to Brooke, but the pain in my head was excruciating. I had taken myself to the limit of my abilities before, but maybe the months of torture had been too hard on my body.
“Come on,” Brooke said. “Let’s check all the bathrooms and the kitchen for some aspirin or something. Then, we can figure out what we’re going to do. At least now we know there’s an open portal somewhere. There’s still a chance we can go home.”
“I don’t have time to search this house,” I said. “We either need to find this portal and figure out a way to get all the girls out of the hospital so they can come with us, or I need to figure out a way to warn Jackson from here.”
“You could leave another message somewhere,” she said, pacing alongside me. “Maybe bury another note with a rose at the house in Peachville?”
I shook my head. “The house is gone, remember,” I said. “Burned to the ground. Jackson would never go back there now. The ruby priestess said he was already back at the castle in the Southern Kingdom, but I don’t have any way to get there. The rose portal by Brighton Lake wasn’t put there by my father until much later.”
“Where, then?” she asked. “Where else would Jackson go?”
“I thought about Cypress, because that’s most likely going to be their first target,” I said. “But I still feel like burying a message in the ground at this point is just going to be leaving it all to chance. He might never see it in time, or he might find it way before he’s supposed to. I have to figure something out.”
“I can’t think of anything else we could do,” Brooke said. “Short of having someone hand deliver it to him at a specific point in time, I can’t imagine how you’re going to be sure he received a message like this.”
Goosebumps broke out across my arms, and I stopped pacing. “That’s it,” I said, hope fluttering through my heart. I started rummaging through the drawers, looking for anything I could wear on a road trip. “Brooke, you’re a genius.”
“I am?” she asked. “Wait, how are you going to find someone in the fifties who would still be able to deliver a message to him without disrupting the timeline? Didn’t the ruby priestess warn you about interfering too much with the past?”
I turned to her and smiled. “I’m going to get cleaned up and dressed. Then I’m going to visit a friend. Would you mind going downstairs and seeing if there’s any food in this place? I need all the energy I can get right now. It’s going to be a long day.”
“Of course, I’ll do whatever you need,” she said. “But I still don’t understand. Where are you going?”
I grabbed a dress that looked promising and set it on the counter in the bathroom as I started to undress. I didn’t have a second to waste.
“I’m going to Chicago,” I said, the buzz of excitement starting to ease the pain in my head.
“To see who?” she asked.
I smiled. “I’m going to see a vampire named Rend.”
A Wildcard
Harper
Without a cell phone or GPS, I had no idea where I really was or where I needed to go from here. Brooke and I quickly searched the house for an old-school map, but we couldn’t find one.
“Where exactly are you going?” Brooke asked.
“Downtown Chicago,” I said. “I have no idea when this club was first started, but I’m praying he’s there. Rend is my best shot at getting a message to Jackson without messing up the timeline. Also, I’m hoping he might be able to help us with the girls and their memories. He’s the most talented alchemist in the world. If anyone can help us, it’s Rend.”
“Are you sure you can trust him?” Brooke said.
“I would trust him with my life,” I said.
At least I would trust the Rend I knew with my life. The Rend of 1951? That was a wildcard for me. I knew he had come by his reputation as a terrifying vampire honestly. I knew that there was a time in the past when any witch who got near him was bound to get her throat ripped out and her blood drained from her body.
I just had to hope that 1950’s Rend was the more controlled, non-blood-drinking Rend that I knew and loved from the future.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit nervous about seeking him out. I had no idea what year he started Venom and what year he’d given up witch’s blood as his main source of sustenance.
There was no one else, though.
Most of the people I knew and trusted from my life weren’t even born yet, and everyone else would risk altering the future in ways I couldn’t begin to predict.
Jackson hadn’t come through from the Shadow World yet, so trying to give him the warning myself was not an option. Seeing him now and trying to warn him in person would be too dangerous, anyway.
Lea, Mordecai, and the others definitely weren’t in the human world yet, and going to the Shadow World would be way too difficult and dangerous. Without my father’s portal through the roses, I wouldn’t have a clue how to get there and back safely.
My father.
I stopped cold at the thought of him. It hadn’t sunk in until that very moment that he was still alive ri
ght now. He was in the Shadow World, but he was alive and strong.
If I could get to him, I could warn him about the battle against the sapphire priestess.
I could save his life.
My heart ached at the thought of all the things I could change. All the deaths I could prevent if I just had the chance. Was there any version of a future where I could have both my mother and father in my life?
I shook my head. It was impossible to know what messing with the past would do, and as much as it broke my heart that they were both gone, I had to stay focused on saving those who were still alive now.
Rend was my only hope.
“What should I do here in the meantime? Or do you want me to come with you?” Brooke asked. “What if the ruby priestess comes back?”
“I don’t want you to come with me. I can’t be sure Rend is done with witch’s blood at this point in his life, and it’s just too dangerous,” I said. “But while I’m gone, you could search for the portal home. I can’t imagine it’s too far from here if the priestess was travelling back and forth all the time.”
Brooke nodded. “I hope you’re right. If we can just find it before it closes, we’ll be saved,” she said. “Do you think I should keep up with Melody’s appearance?”
“Only when someone from the hospital or the police department comes by,” I said. “Otherwise, I think it’s probably better to just try to blend in and not bring too much attention to yourself. They know a girl named Brooke apparently died in the fire, but the cops have no idea what you look like.”
“Got it,” Brooke said. “When do you think you’ll be back?”
“I have no idea,” I said, sliding into a wool coat I found in the closet. “Only that I’ll be back as soon as I possibly can.”
“Oh, here. I found this and thought you might need it.” She handed me a stack of bills. The cash, mostly five and ten-dollar-bills, looked so different from the money I was used to, but as long as it spent the same way, I was happy to have it. At least ten dollars would go a lot further now than it did in the twenty-first century.
