A Demon's Wrath: Part II
By Sarra Cannon
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by Sarra Cannon
eISBN: 978-1-62421-023-5
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
Cover Design by Robin Ludwig Design, Inc.
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Find Sarra Cannon on the web!
http://www.sarracannon.com
To Brandy. Your friendship is a light in the darkness.
Yet To Come
The Human World – Present Day
Brighton Manor buzzed with energy. Music poured from the open windows and more than twenty guests gathered in what used to be the formal living room.
Friends smiled as I passed, but I only had eyes for one person. I searched for her blond hair and dark eyes. I looked for the curve of her face and the graceful movements of her body. And when I finally saw her, standing at the edge of the makeshift dance floor, my heart skipped a beat deep inside my chest.
A smile spread across her face, lighting her up from the inside. Her light pushed through me, warming the cold feeling in my heart.
I’d spent most of my night locked in memories of the past. Memories that were almost too painful to revisit.
But if I was ever going to be absolutely sure of her love, I needed to show her my truest self. Harper needed to understand my worst, darkest moment.
If she could see that and still love me and want to spend her life with me, then I knew together we could face anything.
But if she saw the horror of my rage—my wrath—and turned away from me, I wouldn’t blame her. I would be heart-broken for eternity, but I would understand.
I’d spent the past fifty years hating myself for what I’d done in anger. How could I be surprised if she hated me too after seeing for herself what I’d once been capable of?
She crossed toward me, an extra glass of punch in her hand.
“Where did you run off to?” she asked, handing me one of the cups. When I didn’t answer, she frowned. “You’ve been distant tonight. Is something going on?”
I brushed my hand against the stone in my pocket.
“I’ve just got a lot on my mind tonight,” I said. I put one arm around her waist and pulled her body close to mine. I lowered my lips to her hair and inhaled the scent of her shampoo. “I love you so much.”
She pulled away and narrowed her eyes at me. “Are you sure everything’s okay?”
I wanted to comfort her and tell her that everything would be fine, but how could I do that?
The future was more uncertain than ever. A war with the Order of Shadows was close. Closer than she knew. With her father gone, Harper would have to carry the pressures of an entire kingdom on her shoulders. New enemies would come forward soon, their sole mission to destroy us and everything we’ve built here and in the world beyond.
Even the past was still standing between us. A giant wall of sorrow and rage. I felt like I stood behind that wall, its height cutting me off from her love. I didn’t deserve her, and I knew it.
“Jackson?” she asked. She set her punch down on the table near the door and lifted her soft palm to my face. Her brown eyes were filled with worry. “What is it? Have you seen something? Please, talk to me.”
I covered her hand with my own, caressing her soft skin, then grabbing her hand tight.
“I have some things I still need to take care of tonight,” I said. “Enjoy the party. I’ll back in a little bit, I promise.”
She shook her head, her eyes glistening. “Don’t shut me out again,” she said. “You promised. If you’re going through something, you need to talk to me about it. Whatever it is, we can face it together.”
I leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I’m not shutting you out,” I said. In fact, I was doing the opposite, but there was no way to explain that to her without telling her about the memory stone. And I wasn’t ready to do that yet. “I promise you, I’ll tell you everything before the night is over. I just need a little bit more time.”
I brought her hand to my lips. I kissed the soft space between her thumb and index finger, then turned her hand and kissed the pad of her palm.
Sadness washed over her face, but she smiled despite her fear. “I’m going to hold you to that,” she said.
I knew it was hard for her to trust. She’d been betrayed so many times by the people who were closest to her. She’d opened herself up to people who abused her kindness and her desire to belong and to have friends. Hell, she’d even had to deal with my own betrayals. I had kept so much from her for so long. And even still, I had my secrets.
But despite all those past pains, Harper was putting her trust in me now. She would give me the space I needed to finish this tonight. And knowing how much that cost her—how much of her own heart she was willing to risk to make me happy—made me love her even more.
Made me deserve her even less.
I kissed her again, then turned and left the party.
I needed silence and solitude now to finish my walk through the past. Seeing my engagement to Lea would be hard for Harper, but nothing could be as awful as the years that followed.
I found a quiet spot in the garden and sat down at the edge of the fountain. I reached into my pocket and grasped the memory stone tight in my fist, knowing the most painful part was yet to come.
The Takings
The Shadow World – 90 Years Ago
I stared at the demon with the red dragon on his armband.
He had said Aerden was still alive. Could that be possible? All these years my mind had been turned toward vengeance. Not once did I dare to hope he could be alive.
“What do you know?” I asked. I tried to calm my heart. I didn’t know this demon. He could easily be lying to me in an attempt to pull me into the same trap that ended my brother’s life. I needed to keep my hope at arm’s length.
“He doesn’t know anything,” Lea said, moving to stand between us. She rubbed her wrists. “Anyone who would dare to attack the daughter of the king is obviously a rebel. We would be smart to call in the sentinels to deal with this trash.”
Andros smirked, one side of his face curling up into a strangely confident smile. “You truly are the daughter of the king,” he said.
She narrowed her eyes at him and took a step forward. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He raised an eyebrow and shook his head. “Nothing, Princess,” he said. “Only that you are perhaps as blind as your own father, refusing to see what is happening in your own kingdom.”
I studied him. What was he trying to say? I had never heard anyone dare to say a rude word to Princess Lazalea. From the look on her face, she was barely holding on to her control. By all rights, she should have called in her father’s guards and had Andros thrown in the dungeon for the way he had disrespected her.
But deep in my heart, I felt the twist of an ugly truth.
There was definitely something going on that the king refused to acknowledge. I’d known it since the moments after Aerden’s death. In the king’s chambers, he and my parents had shared secret looks and spoken of things beyond my understanding.
“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t have you punished for speaking of me and my father this way?” Lea stood tall, her eyes dark and angry.
“Because, like I said, I know who took his brother,
” Andros said, his eyes flicking toward me. He shrugged. “I’m sure you’ve discovered by now that no one else is going to talk to you. They are too scared of what might happen if they tell the truth about what’s been going on in the villages.”
“What truth?” I demanded. “Stop speaking in secrets.”
Andros held up his hands. “The villagers are scared to talk because the king has forbidden anyone to discuss the takings,” he said. “What risk do I take upon myself if I talk directly to the king’s daughter? You’ve already threatened to have me thrown into your castle’s dungeons. If I tell you the truth, what assurances do I have that you will not turn me in to your father?”
“The takings?” I asked.
But he didn’t answer. He kept his eyes trained on Lea’s face, waiting for an answer. He wanted a promise that we wouldn’t turn his words against him.
“What assurances do we have that you’re even telling the truth?” she asked.
“If you promise not to turn your father’s Sentinels on me, I will show you proof of what I know,” he said. “Proof that there is a group, not of this world, who has been taking demons through portals to the other side.”
“Taking them for what use?” My lip trembled as I asked the words. I struggled to keep my emotions in check. Could Aerden truly be alive? And if so, what torture was he being subjected to?
“We don’t know,” Andros said. “But if you guarantee my safety, I will tell you all that I know.”
Lea backed toward me, shaking her head. “I don’t think he’s to be trusted,” she said. “You said you saw an armband identical to his in your vision of the day Aerden was taken. How can we know it was him who killed your brother? How do we know he isn’t trying to kill us, too? He did, after all, string me up with a set of very strong vines.”
Her wrists were bruised from the rope-like vines that had held her captive. He was powerful, there was no doubt about that. Probably powerful enough to have defeated my brother. But Aerden had said it was a woman who had spoken with him. And I had seen a portal in my vision. Some kind of bright light with a hooded woman waiting inside.
“Tell me one thing in truth,” I said to him. “Were you there when my brother was killed? Was it your armband I saw in my vision?”
Andros shook his head. “I was not there. I give you my word,” he said. “But someone from my group was there on that day. A demon called Mirabi.”
“I want to speak with him,” I said.
“Impossible,” he said. “My friend Mirabi died that day. Until now, I hadn’t been certain how or why, but if he was there, he trying to save your brother, not harm him. I promise you.”
“He’s lying,” Lea said.
I held my hand up to silence her. Lea had always had such a quick temper. She had already judged this demon the moment he attacked her. But I attacked him first.
And something in his story rang true to me.
I needed to see this proof he was offering.
“If we promise our silence, when can we see this proof you spoke of?”
“Two nights from now,” he said. “Meet me here in the forest. I will show you.”
I nodded. “You have our promise,” I said.
Lea opened her mouth to protest, but I met her eyes, begging. Her mouth snapped shut and she crossed her arms in front of her chest and turned away.
When I turned back toward Andros to agree to his terms, he was gone, leaving only a thin trail of black smoke in his wake.
I Had To Know
Lea and I barely spoke on the walk back to the gates of the city. I couldn’t stop thinking about Andros. I’d never met another demon like him in my life. He wasn’t afraid to say it like it was, and he wasn’t afraid to speak against the king. Even to the king’s daughter.
But how could I be sure he was trustworthy? How could I know he wasn’t trying to trap or trick me in some way?
Still, I knew I had to see his proof. I had to know.
Over the years since Aerden died, I’d nearly gone insane from the lack of answers and information. I was convinced my parents knew more than they were saying, and I’d suspected the same was true of many of the villagers I’d spoken to. What were they all so afraid of?
What were they hiding?
If there was even the slightest chance Andros had the answers, I had to see this through.
And if there was a chance my brother was alive…
I was terrified to even allow myself to think it, but the seed of hope had already been planted. After believing I was doomed to an eternity without him, my heart ached for the possibility of seeing him again. If there was any chance Aerden was still alive, I had to see this through. No matter the cost.
“We should talk to our parents,” Lea said the next morning over breakfast.
Now that we were officially promised to each other, we were free to come and go in each other’s quarters as often as we wanted. Right now, that was both a blessing and a curse. Lea wanted so much more from me than I could give, and after she’d seen the strong love inside the heart stone, she believed I cared for her so much more than I truly did.
It was Aerden’s love she saw, not mine. It had been his final sacrifice to protect her happiness and my honor.
Only honor didn’t seem quite as important anymore. Not considering the depth of the sacrifices we’d all had to make. Honesty seemed more honorable now, but I didn’t have the courage to tell her the truth. Instead, like a coward, I kept up the lie that I knew would eventually tear her apart.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” I said. I didn’t want to get into an argument with her first thing in the morning, but I had a feeling it was unavoidable. I wasn’t going to back down on this. “Not until we have more concrete answers.”
She shook her head and stood up from the small table in my outer chambers. She walked over toward the balcony. A gentle wind blew through the archway, lifting her long black hair up from her neck.
“We can’t do this alone,” she said. “If Andros is right and someone has actually taken your brother through some portal, we’ll need to act fast. We’ll need an army to go in there and get him. No one is better equipped to deal with this or to fight back than my father. We should go to him.”
“No,” I said. I pushed my plate of fruit and pastries to the side. I had no appetite these days. “Don’t you see? If we have no proof other than some rebel who lives outside of the city, our parents and the council will all tell us we’re reaching for something that isn’t there. They’ll tell us it’s nonsense and insist we look no further. Then we’ll be trapped. We won’t be able to even investigate the truth without directly disobeying the crown.”
“So you’re saying we should go behind everyone’s back, risking Aerden’s life in the process?”
“It’s riskier for him if we go to the king and he doesn’t believe us,” I said. “We need proof. Or at least some kind of solid evidence that will convince them we’re on the right track. Andros says he has that. Once we’ve seen whatever it is he’s going to show us, we can talk about the next step.”
Lea turned to me, sadness etched across her dark features. “What if he’s just gone?” she asked. “What if this demon has no idea what he’s talking about? What if he’s wrong about Aerden and you spend the rest of your days searching for a ghost?”
I turned away from her, not wanting to hear this. She’d been with me every step of my search so far, but lately, she’d been mentioning our future more and more. She was ready to move on.
But how could she ask that of me? Especially now, after all that Andros had said?
“If there’s any hope he’s alive, I’ll search for as long as it takes,” I said. “I won’t abandon my brother.”
She moved toward me, placing a gentle hand on my arm.
“I’m not asking you to abandon him,” she said. “I’m just asking you to open your mind to the possibility that he’s gone and he’s never coming back. Maybe there’s nothing you can do to help
him, because his light has gone out.”
“If that’s true, then I need to understand how. Why. I need to know who did this to him,” I said. And I need to make them pay.
“Ten years,” she said, pulling away. “We’ve been looking for answers for ten years and we’re no closer to the truth after all this time. No one will talk, Denaer. No one will tell us what they know, if anyone knows anything.”
“Andros knows,” I said.
“Andros is a wildcard,” she said. “A rebel. He works and lives with those who would betray my father and my family in order to gain power. We can’t trust anything he says. He may have ulterior motives for turning us against my father.”
“I agree that we should move forward very carefully when it comes to Andros, but I still need to know what he knows,” I said. “This is the first real lead we’ve had since Aerden disappeared. You can’t ask me to walk away from that.”
She sighed and leaned against the pillar, looking out onto the streets of the king’s city. After a moment, she finally turned back to me, her green eyes dark and stormy. “Promise me you’ll go into this with your eyes open.”
“My eyes are wide open,” I said.
“Open to the past,” she whispered. She took my hand in hers and pressed it against her lips. “But what about the future?”
The look in her eyes made my stomach tense. I turned away, unable to meet her gaze. I knew she wanted me to comfort her and tell her that our future was something I dreamed about, but I didn’t have the energy to lie to her right now.
The truth was that a future without Aerden meant nothing to me.
They Already Knew
A voice stopped me in the hallway of the castle.
My mother.
I hesitated, then turned back toward her. We used to be so close as a family, but I knew she was hiding something from me. Every time she lied and said she knew nothing more about Aerden’s disappearance, I felt us moving farther apart.
A Demon's Wrath: Part II (Peachville High Demons) Page 1
