“What? No. I don’t want to stay here. We should be helping. You’re one of their best guardians. You need to be out there.” Ian glanced away. “What aren’t you telling me? What’s wrong?”
“They want me to go without you.”
I felt my stomach lurch. He couldn’t leave me. I sat in silence for a minute. I couldn’t stop him from going. It was his job, and I knew he wanted to help the other guardians.
“I declined,” Ian finally said. I felt my stomach settle and then felt worse about myself. How could I be happy that he wasn’t going? How could I be so selfish?
Ian grabbed my hand and laid it across his heart. “Don’t worry, I felt the same way when they told me. It’s part of the mate bond. You aren’t being selfish.”
“How did you…”
“I told you, I felt the same way. I knew you would react this way. That’s why I didn’t call to tell you the news. I didn’t want you feeling bad about yourself without me around to explain that it’s ok and normal. We aren’t going to want to be separated. Eventually, we’ll be able to travel farther away from each other without it hurting, but it takes time. This is a newly formed bond. For now, we stick together.”
“What about the other guardians? I know you want to help them.”
“I’ll be helping them from here. I’m protecting this compound, and if anything happens in town, I’ll be here to handle it. It’s not the ideal situation for Kellan, but he understands, and he wants us to stick together anyway. He still thinks you’re going to make a great guardian one day.”
I scoffed. I didn’t want to be a guardian, and I doubted I would be good at it. Even though I was making progress with my magic, it was still hard to control. My dad was teaching me how to use my demon magic, but with him missing, it wasn’t likely that I would get much instruction. I snuck a glance at my brother. Maybe I could convince him to teach me demon magic.
It wouldn’t help with the wild magic, but it was a start. When the demons attacked the compound, I let all my magic out. Somehow it knew what to do, and I was able to destroy the cloud of magic that had descended on the compound, causing hallucinations and making it easy for the rogues and demons to kill the guardians, but I didn’t really know how I did it.
“One day, Serena, you might want to be a guardian. Don’t say no too fast,” Ian said, bringing me back to our conversation.
“Can I come with you if you have to go into town?” I asked. I was starting to feel cooped up.
“I don’t know,” Ian said.
“Why not?” Thurron interrupted. “If you go, then so do I. There aren’t that many things that can beat the three of us in the human realm.”
Ian shook his head as I smiled at my brother. So far, he always had my back. I liked having a big brother, and I was starting to count on him. I turned my smile to Ian.
He sighed and walked into the kitchen. “Fine,” he said over his shoulder. I tried to give my brother a high five, but he just stared at it.
“What are you doing?” he finally asked.
“You’re supposed to hit my hand back. It’s a high five,” I told him.
“For what?”
“Because we get to go with Ian to town if he goes.”
“We could have gone anyway. We aren’t prisoners.”
I lowered my hand. He had a point. I was so used to Kellan deciding what needed to be done that I never stopped to consider that I could actually leave on my own. I was here for protection only. They couldn’t make me stay.
I glanced at Ian’s retreating back. He wanted me to stay because he was scared the demons would find me again, and this was the only place protected enough to keep them out. I was worried too. For now, I would stay here, but eventually, I needed to leave.
“Thurron, can you start teaching me more about demon magic? With Dad not able to help me, I’m never going to learn anything.”
“Sure, but where? I’m not comfortable practicing in front of the guardians. They don’t understand our magic and think it’s evil.”
“Is it?” I asked. I had never thought of that.
“No. It’s magic just like any other, but it can be used for evil easily. Demon magic can steal power from the things around us though it doesn’t have to. If you aren’t careful, you can take too much and kill things.”
“Like people?”
“Exactly; people, plants, animals, the magic is very dangerous to use, but there are some demons who use it. You have to be very strong to pull life force from another living thing, and it will only work if nothing is fighting. If I try to pull the life force from another demon, he can fight back with his own magic, and it won’t work. It’s easier to pull it from plants and animals.”
“So I can use that type of demon magic if I’m out of my own energy?”
“No. Whatever you pull from them, you have to have equal the amount of energy for it to work. Otherwise, demons would be killing things all the time. No one wants to kill themselves, so the magic isn’t used often.”
“Can you teach me to use it?”
Thurron hesitated. “I don’t think it’s a good idea yet. You need to learn more about regular demon magic first, which takes us back to where?”
“What about at Kellan’s?” I asked Ian as he walked back into the room.
“I don’t know. We’ll have to ask him. He very rarely allows people to use his house. You were an exception. I don’t know if he’ll make another.”
“Can we ask him?”
“I’ll ask when I see him tomorrow,” Ian said. I thanked Ian and turned to Thurron. “What else can you tell me about demon magic?” I wanted as much information as possible.
We talked about demon magic for the rest of the evening. Ian occasionally interrupted to ask for more information on something. Ian would use the information to help defeat the demons who were after me.
Before we went to bed, I asked Thurron one more question.
“When will I be recognized by the High King?”
I wanted to know because as soon as he recognized me, the wrath demons would have to stop chasing me. I would be protected by the demon laws, and if anyone tried to use me against my father, they would be punished. It didn’t stop them from killing me if they could get away with it, but that’s not what they wanted to do. They needed me alive to force my dad to do what they wanted.
“He’s still in mourning. It will be a few weeks still and…” He trailed off.
“And what?” I asked. “Thurron, tell me,” I said when he hesitated.
“You have to be able to perform a demorakin.”
“What’s that?”
“That’s why I’m worried. You haven’t grown up in the demon realm and don’t even know what the demorakin is. The High King will make you perform the demorakin. It’s something all demons can do. They’re taught from a young age. The power comes from their parents and is passed down. It proves parentage.”
“How?”
“Your demorakin will be the same as dad’s and mine. Every family’s magic is different. That way, no one can lie about who their parents were. For you, it could be a problem though. You are only half-demon. Your mother’s magic might overshadow Dad’s, making your demorakin different.”
“And that’s bad?”
“Yes. The High King won’t recognize you as a princess if you can’t prove your heritage.”
“Then we need to practice it, so I get it right.”
“We can try, but I’ve never taught this magic. Dad should be teaching you.”
“Well Dad is missing.”
“If we don’t hear from him soon, I will start teaching you,” Thurron finally relented.
As much as I didn’t want to be a demon princess, I also didn’t want to be hunted for the rest of my life. I would need to get the High King’s protection eventually.
BOOKS BY H.M. SANDLIN
Elemental Seekers
Lost Tides
Guarded Skies
Buried Embers
> Corrupted Grounds
Helerium
Novellas
Tider
The Guardianship
Demon Hunted
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
H.M. Sandlin is a mom to two wonderful daughters, and a wife to an amazing man. She loves to read, garden, and run. She lives in South Carolina and enjoys the heat of the long summers. Most of her time is spent writing but she likes going to the park with her kids when they get home from school. She also enjoys taking coffee breaks with her friends.
Her puppy, S’mores, keeps her company while she writes by lying on her feet. He makes sure she gets up every hour to take a break and play a quick game of tug before she settles back into her writing.
Every day is a new adventure for H.M. Sandlin. She has many stories waiting to be told and is trying to get them all out on paper to share. Her kids are always giving her ideas for new stories, and she has multiple small books that she writes for them to read.
H.M. Sandlin published her first book, Lost Tides, Elemental Seekers book one in July 2019. Since then she has published five more books from the same series.
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