Reign Fall (26 page)

I watched him carefully, not sure what he planned to do. “Am I that ugly or are you just squeamish when it comes to blood?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Do you ever stop talking?”

Before I could reply to that he placed his hand on my shoulder. I jerked in pain.

“Steady,” he said. “Let me try to help you.”

When Rhys first came to my high school and I realized that I was going to have him as my biology partner, he’d tried to resurrect the frog we were supposed to dissect. Faeries liked animals when they were alive, not dead, and he’d found it extremely disturbing. He’d failed since it was long dead and been soaking in formaldehyde, but I’d always wondered if he could really heal injuries.

“Ow,” I yelped.

“Don’t be a baby.”

“It hurts.”

“Of course it hurts, you were stabbed through your shoulder with a sword. Now, shh.” I clenched my teeth while his touch burned into my arm. Slowly, the pain began to fade away until it vanished completely. Once that happened, my hold on my Darkling form slipped away and, with a few more moments of a different kind of pain, I shifted back to my regular human form.

I shoved my sweater to the side so I could see my bare shoulder beneath. It was totally healed.

Even the blood had vanished and all that remained of my brush with death was a rip through my sweater. It was already ripped thanks to the wings that seemed able to slice through any material as if they were twin blades.

“Wow,” Melinda breathed.

“You healed me.” I met Rhys’s gaze. “Thank you.”

“I am a faery of many talents. That was the worst wound I’ve ever successfully healed.” He gave me a grin. “I’m kind of awesome.”

I just stared at him with surprise and relief. “I’m actually not going to disagree with you at this exact moment.”

He got to his feet and offered me his hand. Tentatively I took it and let him help me up. I felt fine. Maybe a little light headed, but otherwise just fine.

Rhys turned his attention to Melinda, who continued to gawk at him.

“So...I’m thinking that we should probably break up,” she said.

He nodded. “That’s probably a good idea. Nothing personal.”

“No, I totally agree.” She blinked, then turned to me. “Are you okay?”

“Do you care?” I asked tentatively.

“Yes, I care. This night has been insane, I know that. From dragons, to faeries, to...this.” She looked at my healed shoulder and winced. “I don’t want to hurt you, Nikki. I don’t care what you are.”

I inhaled shakily. “I’m half demon.”

“
Finally
you admit it.” She laughed, but it sounded hollow and shaky. “You tried to protect me earlier. You didn’t make a move to hurt me. I believe it, Nikki. I believe you’re my friend and that hasn’t changed. I don’t know about everything else...we’re so different now.” I shook my head. “We’re not any different than we were yesterday. Or the day before.”

“I need to think about things. Figure out how I really feel about all of this.”

“Are you going to tell your parents? Tell Patrick? Have you already told them?”

“No, I haven’t. And I—I’m not going to.” She swallowed hard. “This will be our secret. But I’m going to start training again. You said there are bad demons, ones who want to come here, too. I need to be prepared in case they succeed.”

I let out a shuddery sigh of relief. “Sounds fair. Thank you for not saying anything. And for believing in me.”

Melinda smiled weakly. “I’ll see you both around.”

With a last look at me, her brows drawn tightly together, she walked away with her sword at her side. Even accepting that I wasn’t as evil as she’d expected, she still felt stunned and afraid about seeing me in this form. I really couldn’t blame her for that. I’d been stunned and afraid, too, in the beginning.

She wouldn’t tell anyone. But I had no idea what kind of impact this revelation would truly have on our friendship.

Time would tell. And I guessed fate might also have a little part to play in how well a demon and a demon slayer’s friendship turned out.

I studied Rhys, who’d watched my exchange with Melinda in silence. “What will happen to Clara?”

He grimaced. “I opened a gateway to the faery dungeon. She’ll be kept locked up until I decide her fate.” He held up his hand when I was about to say something, although I wasn’t sure what. “It’s faery business. Don’t worry about it.”

I grimaced at what the penalty for what she’d done might be. I hated her guts and thought she was a complete idiot in every way, but that didn’t mean I wanted blood vengeance here. “Don’t kill her.”

He frowned. “Faeries don’t kill.”

“Except for Clara. Who tried to kill me. And you, who threatened me in your forest when we first met.”

“Perhaps I should clarify...faeries don’t kill other faeries.”

“Ah. Different.”

“I’ll walk you home. Come on.”

I wasn’t going to push him to give me the book, even though I couldn’t stop glancing at it under his arm. Instead, we walked to my house together. Once there, I stood on the stairs leading to my front door, unsure of what to say.

After everything that had happened tonight, some of it I was still processing, every bone in my body was tired and just wanted to go to bed. I’d put my trust in my father to help Michael.

I’d put my trust in Melinda to not hate me for what I was. And I’d put my trust in Rhys to let me have the book without demanding it from him.

“Thank you for coming back,” I said. “The words defeated, pathetic, and bloody would describe me very well a half hour ago.”

“Melinda had it under control. She wouldn’t have let Clara finish you off.” I pressed my hand against my forehead. “That silver messed with my head.”

“Everybody has their Kryptonite. Demons, and half-demons, don’t like to be stabbed with silver.”

“Imagine that.” I shuddered, grateful that the pain was a distant memory now. “When you left, you missed some of the excitement. Chris Sanders was in the park too and he shifted into dragon form.”

He took this in stride without looking overly surprised. “Really? Is he okay?”

“Never better, actually. He went for a test flight.” I glanced up. The snow had stopped and the clouds parted to show a clear sky, full moon, and a million stars in the ebony blanket above us.

“Dragons do enjoy flying.” He suddenly looked very serious. “So I got your book. That’s where I went. Well, not immediately. I planned to storm off and never speak to you again, but then I got your text and decided to be mature instead. So I got it.” He handed out toward me. I eyed it warily before my gaze snapped back to his.

“No strings attached,” he added.

“No?”

“This is me trying to be nice,” he said, although it seemed like an effort to get the words out.

“I know you want to help your Shadow boyfriend, or whatever he is to you. I don’t know if this will do the trick, but you’re welcome to borrow it. I do want it back as soon as possible, though.

This is just a loan. It’s one of a kind. Or so my advisors continually and fretfully reminded me of before I left with it.”

My hands shook a little as I took it from him. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He shoved his gloved hands into the pockets of his wool coat. “What do you think your father is going to do with Michael?”

My chest felt tight at the mention of it. “I don’t know. He promised he’d help him. He says that he cares about Michael and would protect him, so I hope he meant it. Queen Sephina wants Michael sent to her if she learns there’s a problem...I know she’ll have him put to death. That’s how she deals with problems—” My voice cut off and I looked at Rhys, alarmed at realizing what I’d just said.

He held my gaze. “Your secret’s safe with me. I owe Michael for killing the Shadow who murdered my parents. I won’t breathe a word.”

That was a relief and one less thing to worry about. And one more person I had to put my trust in.

But I still remembered the angry looks on both Michael’s and my father’s faces when I left the castle. I’m sure that Michael understood why I had to do what I did, but it didn’t make this any easier.

Rhys studied me. “You really care about the Shadow, don’t you?” My throat felt thick, so I simply nodded.

“I don’t envy your father what he has to deal with. It’s not easy being king and being the decision maker. He was young when he was forced to take over the throne, only a couple years older than me. And I know his position is even more strict since he can’t leave his castle.” I nodded. “It’s rough. And I know it’s lonely for him. But he’s accepted his duty.”

“Right.” He scrubbed his gloved hand through his short hair. His expression was etched with worry.

I wasn’t sure what to make of his serious mood. “What’s wrong, Rhys?”

“What’s wrong?” he repeated. “Everything. Tonight only proved to me something I’ve known for a while now. I’m fooling myself by staying here. I should be in the Faery Realm right now acting like king. I
am
king, but I’m behaving like a spoiled child who wants to play with his toys no matter what anyone else says. I’ve been stubborn about it, going against everyone’s wishes to stay here where it’s easy and homework is the biggest challenge of the day.”

“You deserve to experience life as a regular teenager. What happened to your parents was horrible, and you had to become king so young. It’s not fair.”

“Life isn’t fair, Nikki.” He crossed his arms. “I need to go back and I need to stay there this time. There isn’t really any reason for me to stay here any longer. I just thought...” He trailed off.

“It doesn’t really matter. According to Clara, my people believe me to be more fool than king.

Maybe they’re right.”

I bristled with anger on Rhys’s behalf. “Who cares what Clara says?”

“It’s been an interesting experiment, Nikki, but it’s come to an end. I’m going home.” I stared at him with surprise.

No. This couldn’t happen. He couldn’t leave me. Not like this. I tried to pretend I was a normal teenager, but I wasn’t. It was so hard to keep up that façade, in front of my friends, in front of my mom. Only with Rhys could I totally be myself here. If he left, what was I supposed to do? Who was I supposed to talk to about all of this craziness and uncertainty?

Sure, Melinda and Chris both knew now and were dealing with their own issues. But with Rhys—it was different. I might not get along with him all the time, but he understood me. He knew what I was going through because he was going through it, too.

“Goodnight, Nikki. I’ll send someone to retrieve the book in a couple of days. I’m sure we’ll see each other again someday.” He turned away from me.

“Wait, Rhys—” I grabbed his arm.

He glanced at me, his brows drawn together. “What?”

I put one hand behind his neck, pulled him to me, and...kissed him.

He gasped against my lips, as if this was the last thing he expected from me tonight. Couldn’t say I blamed him after my temper tantrum in the park. But then he finally kissed me back, holding my face between his hands.

My heart thudded like crazy as the kiss deepened and the chill from the cold winter night all around us seemed to disappear.

It was a lot like the kiss under the mistletoe—but different, too. Better. This kiss completely took my breath away.

When we parted he stared at me, the gold flecks in his eyes swirling wildly. “You kissed me.” My cheeks burned and I had trouble finding my voice. “It was our deal for the book. It’s only fair.”

He blinked and took a step back from me, confusion etched into his handsome features. “So that’s all it was? Just payment for me bringing you the book?” Part of me wanted to say yes, that was all it was. I wanted to tell him that I wasn’t in love with him, and that the prophecy about us didn’t mean anything more to me than just words. That Michael was the only one my heart belonged to, despite our troubles and uncertain future. And that I’d kissed Rhys just so he’d consider sticking around a bit longer—because I needed him in my life.

That was all the kiss was supposed to be.

But I couldn’t lie to myself. Not completely.

I had felt something during that kiss. Something big, something scary, and something endlessly confusing.

My heart already belonged to Michael—I knew it did. And a girl’s heart couldn’t belong to more than one boy at the same time.

Could it?

Instead of admitting any of this out loud, I shrugged a shoulder and studied the step I currently stood on. My face heated up even more and my heart thundered in my chest. “I don’t want you to go back home full-time. Not yet. I want you to stay in school for a while longer.” He didn’t speak for a moment. “For how long?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t want me to leave?”

I shook my head.

“Say it,” he whispered.

I looked up at him and met his gaze. “I don’t want you to leave.”

“You want me to go against what my kingdom wants, for me to keep being a selfish child who wants to play with my toys?”

I grimaced. “Don’t put it like that. Just stay until the end of January. That’s less than a month.

Then you can be like my father and devote yourself to duty and being the best king and making sure all unicorns in the Faery Realm are treated well and shampooed daily.” The amusement finally returned to his expression. He raised an eyebrow. “Well, there’s more to it than just that.”

“I’m sure there is.”

Rhys held my gaze for a while longer, not speaking, his brows drawn together as if he was trying to figure me out.

Finally, he nodded. “I’ll give it some very serious thought.” I cleared my throat. Being this close to Rhys and asking him to stay had made me feel very nervous and awkward. “Or whatever. I mean, it’s not like I really care one way or the other.” That made him grin. “Good. I wouldn’t want you to fall madly in love with me. That would make things very complicated when it comes to your beloved Shadow, wouldn’t it? Who’d win the battle for your heart then? The servant or the king?” Before I could give him a snarky retort, he kissed me again and I did absolutely nothing to stop him. There was no mistletoe to blame for it this time.