Reign Fall (6 page)

“I treat him better than you might think. I believe we’ve been through this before.” He sighed.

“
Ad infinitum
.”

“You’re right, we have been through this before,
ad whatever-ium
.” Anger flashed through me. “But, bottom line, he should be able to go wherever he wants to, whenever he wants to. I mean,
I
can. Nobody’s stopping me. I know my bracelet can open a gateway whenever I want one.”

Apparently dragons cried one crystal tear at the moment of their deaths and that tear contained all of their magic. Since dragons could also move between worlds with ease, the tear allegedly also had that ability.

Kieran had wanted my bracelet for that purpose, which was why he’d tried to kill me. Of course, his goal had been to dominate and rule other worlds, starting with the human one.

I shuddered at the thought.

“Then,” my father said, weighing my words, “it’s too bad that Michael isn’t my strong-willed sixteen-year-old daughter, isn’t it? He could go wherever he wishes to.” The thought of Michael as a sixteen-year-old girl was almost humorous. “Don’t try to make fun of me.”

There was a glimmer of amusement in his otherwise serious hazel eyes. “I’m not. I wouldn’t dream of it, Nikki.”

“And I’m
not
marrying Rhys,” I said again, in case it needed restating.

“I believe you should marry whomever you wish to. However...”

“Here it comes,” I groaned. “However
what
?”

“An oracle has the ability to see the truth of the future. Even if that future is difficult to accept.”

“I wonder what a dragon oracle would say about you and my mother?” I said under my breath.

“Excuse me?” His tone lost any of its previous amusement.

A chill went through me at the look on his face. He didn’t like me bringing up the subject of my mother. At all. In fact, “didn’t like” put it mildly.

“Nothing,” I said lightly. “Nothing at all.”

His jaw was so tight that I was sure he couldn’t speak with it stuck in that position. He didn’t try. He moved back to the end of the table and sat down heavily in his chair again.

“So,” I began after an uncomfortable silence passed between us, “Even though you’re trying to keep me and Michael away from each other by any means possible, you’ve still okayed his coaching me on mastering my powers, huh? Sounds a bit strange to me.” Perhaps I could have put that a little better. Too late now.

When he spoke, his words were clipped. “I think you would benefit greatly by gaining some control over yourself.”

His meaning couldn’t be more clear. “Aren’t you afraid that we’re going to be too busy making out for me to learn anything?”

His eyes turned demon-red and his fist clenched on the top of the table. “Why do you insist on aggravating me, Nikki?”

I wasn’t sure. Maybe part of me wanted to really see him lose it and get mad as hell, even if it was directed at me. Maybe then I could walk away and forget all about this place. Maybe then I could go back to the life I’d had before and forget that my relationship to the demon across from me put my life in danger over and over again.

Huh. I had no idea I was so mad. But I guess I was.

As I got angrier, he seemed to cool off. He studied me carefully, as if gauging my shifting moods.

“How is your mother?” he finally asked.

“Do you really care?” I spat out.

His expression darkened a shade. “Of course I do.”

“She’s fine.” I chose not to offer more than that. I could see that it bothered him.

So much for coming here for a friendly father/daughter chat.

“Why else did you want to see me?” I asked tensely. “Was it just to get an overview of how messed up my life is? How I can’t officially date who I want to date? What Dragon Oracle Weekly is saying about me? Or was it something else?”

“Nikki...” he growled.

“You’re sure you’re okay with Michael coaching me one-on-one? I mean, you and my mom weren’t much older than us when you got her pregnant. And that was a forbidden romance, too, just like mine and Michael’s.”

“Stop.” The one word was enough for me to finally do as he suggested. There was a dark menace in his voice. It was as if he could channel into his voice all the pain and grief I felt inside

—and that he felt it, too. A desperation and a feeling of helplessness to change anything. As if both he and I were being swept along by fate and destiny, and we had no say in what happened in our own lives.

I drew in a ragged breath and felt the sting of tears as my bravado faded away. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m saying these things. I don’t mean them to hurt you.”

“I understand your pain, Nikki. None of this is easy for either of us. Please try to understand that. I wish with all my heart that things could be different. But they’re not and we must continue on to the best of our ability. Being king means I need to sacrifice for the greater good.”

“You’ve sacrificed enough.” My voice broke.

A brief sadness crossed his expression. “I know you don’t understand why I haven’t sent Michael to check on you in the last couple of weeks.”

“I know it’s only two weeks, but...but it was Christmas. And New Year’s. They’re holidays.

Like,
family
holidays.”

He exhaled and studied me for a moment. “I know you are young, but I think you understand more than you realize. While you give in to your anger and frustration, I think deep down you understand why I must do what I do. Know this—everything happens for a reason, even though that reason might not be clear. Please, try to trust in me even if the truth is difficult to see at first glance. Will you do that?”

I blinked a couple of times to hold back my tears before I nodded. “Okay. I—I’ll try.”

“I am concerned about your closeness with Michael because of the demon law that forbids it.

It is not because I disapprove of Michael himself. I trust him implicitly in all ways.” He grimaced and raised an eyebrow as he glanced at me. “
Almost
all ways. I truly believe he will be a valuable tutor for you.”

I let out the breath I’d been holding. Maybe my father was more evolved than I thought he was when it came to Shadows. “Okay. So that’s why I’m here? For the tutoring?”

“That is part of it. The other part is to do with Michael himself.” His gaze moved to the door and then returned to me. “I’m concerned about him.”

That surprised me. “Why?”

“I know everything that happened during your visit to the Underworld,” he said simply.

“Even the parts you didn’t give me great detail on.”

My stomach sank.

A lot had happened during my trip to the Underworld two weeks ago. The demon council wanted to meet me and to assess how great of a threat I was to the universe after my nasty but fake prophecy. Michael had gone with me and came face to face with another Shadow. An evil one. His name was Jonas and he’d demonstrated how a Shadow, in their disembodied state, could absorb the energy of a demon to grow more powerful, but it could kill the demon.

Jonas had wanted Michael to join him in his revolution against demonkind. Instead, Michael had absorbed Jonas’s energy when the other Shadow attacked me, killing Jonas and saving everyone else.

“Michael’s a hero,” I said firmly, turning my gaze from the roaring fire to face my father. “He saved my life.”

“I know.” He didn’t speak for a moment. “But what happened...I believe it took a toll on him.”

“What, you think he should go into counseling or something?”

“Not that kind of a toll.” His hands closed over the edge of the table and his knuckles whitened. “It is said that if a Shadow takes another’s life, their heart begins to grow darker. I’ve never seen hard evidence of this, but I believe that is what happened to Jonas. He couldn’t tell the difference between right and wrong. He didn’t care who he hurt.” I knew Jonas was a murderer—and not just of demons. He’d also been the one who’d killed Rhys’s mother and father and was the reason Rhys had to become king at only sixteen. Rhys believed a demon had killed them. I wanted to tell him the truth, but I hadn’t yet.

I shook my head. “Michael’s not like that.”

“No, he’s not. Not yet.”

“Not ever,” I insisted.

“All I’m asking, Nikki, is for you to keep a close eye on him. He’s on his best behavior with me, but he could be hiding something. With you, however, he might open up. If he tells you anything is bothering him, anything is troubling him, if he’s having dark thoughts...you need to let me know.”

I found it difficult to breathe all of a sudden. “So you can punish him?”

“So I can
help
him.” He stood from the table and came to my side. My arms were so tightly crossed that I could barely feel my fingers anymore. “Will you do that? Will you let me know if you notice anything? I swear to you, I am on Michael’s side in this.” The way he said it made me shiver. “What are you saying? There are others who aren’t on his side?”

“Queen Sephina and the other council members are...” he hesitated, “...
concerned
. Michael was pardoned and allowed to leave after killing the hellhound—”

“Again, to save my life!” I protested. “That nasty thing nearly chewed my face off!”

“They don’t see it like that.”

“Of course not.” A horrible thought occurred to me. “Queen Sephina sees him as a danger, a threat. She wants him back there so she can lock him up in her dungeon again. Is that right?” His jaw tensed, but his gaze didn’t waver from mine. He nodded once. “She seems particularly fixated on Michael after his run-in with Jonas. She’s requested he be returned to the Underworld and placed under her...
care
.”

My stomach twisted. “She can’t take him.”

“No, she can’t. Not yet. This is my kingdom, my rules. But unless I can convince her that there’s nothing wrong, she might take this into her own hands.”

“You can’t let her!”

“Then I need proof that he’s okay and not a threat to anyone. And if he isn’t, then I need to take the necessary steps to help him. Handing him over to the queen will never be an option for me. But to avoid that, I need your help.”

“Why can’t you just tell him this yourself?” I asked. “If he knows the queen has it out for him then he can protect himself.”

His face was tense. “If Michael is trying to hide any darkness from me, then he’s doing so because he doesn’t trust me.”

“Should he?” I demanded.

He looked at me patiently. “I want to help him. But if he feels backed into a corner, he might not take it well. I’d rather test the waters first and see if there really is a reason to be concerned.

Telling him the whole truth will be the next step, but for now I believe it should be kept from him for his own peace of mind.”

I considered that and decided that my father might be right. If there wasn’t a reason for panic, why panic? This could be nothing at all, and then nothing bad would have to happen.

I imagined that Queen Sephina was quite excited about an experiment like this falling right into her hands. She, and her demon council, could find out what happened to a Shadow who killed somebody—even if it was another Shadow. Would he turn dark and evil? Become out of control?

And if my father didn’t handle things this way, by getting me to spy on Michael during our training sessions to find out if there was a real problem, then I had no doubt the queen would send her representatives here to take Michael forcibly.

“He’ll need to know soon,” I said quietly. “You can’t keep this from him forever.”

“Soon,” he agreed. “But not yet. So, will you agree to help me in this matter, Nikki? By helping me, you’re helping Michael.”

I searched his face, trying to see if there was any deception there. I couldn’t find any.

However, demons were known to be amazing liars—at least, according to Rhys who considered faeries super-truthful in comparison.

My father wanted me to spy on Michael and let him know if Michael was slowly turning evil because he’d killed another Shadow in order to save my life.

Queen Sephina wanted to lock him away and study him. I had no doubt that this experiment would lead to Michael’s death. In my short experience with her, that was how the queen dealt with most problems.

My father could help Michael if there was a problem. He’d promised me he would.

Finally, I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Of course,” I said. “I agree.”

Relief briefly touched my father’s face. “Thank you.” He squeezed my hand. “Go now. Find Michael. And keep me informed of your progress with him.” And that was the end of my meeting with my father, King Desmond of the Shadowlands. I was left reeling as I walked into the hallway outside of the meeting room.

I was about to call to Michael through our telepathic bond, but I wasn’t ready yet. I needed a little more time to cool off.

I really didn’t want to have to spy on Michael. I cared about him too much. What I wanted to do was tell him everything and see what he had to say. The list of things I hadn’t or couldn’t tell him was getting longer.

But I also agreed that my father was right. If his suspicions were unfounded, Michael might be upset anyone had doubted him. However, if the suspicions were right—and I didn’t think they were—he would feel trapped, especially when he found out Queen Sephina was out to get him.

This was complicated, but I felt I had no other choice but to do what my father asked to prove that Michael was absolutely fine and not a threat.

If only I hadn’t had that stupid dream where he
was
a threat.

If only the dragon oracle hadn’t already foreseen another prophecy for me that I’d tried very hard to forget—one in which I’m surrounded by darkness, by shadows that wanted to devour me.

I had previously assumed it was Jonas—after all, he’d tried to absorb my energy when in shadow form. But I couldn’t forget that Michael was also a Shadow and able to do the exact same thing if he wanted to.

I moved along a long hallway, lost in my thoughts. I passed two demon servants who scurried away as soon as they saw me, bowing their heads as a sign of respect to me, the visiting princess.