Reign or Shine (19 page)

Does she have another boyfriend or is it just the prince from the Underworld?

::It's just him. She's very devoted to him. I'm surprised she even came back to the castle since she had to leave his side to return.:: It
was right before my father got sick?

::Yes, that's right.::

My aunt turned to me then and gave me a kind smile. "I must go get more water. Have a few more minutes with your father, but then he needs his rest.

Before you leave, however, I must insist that you drink the potion. As you have seen for yourself, there is no other solution to this unfortunate situation. I wil

have to take the burden of becoming queen. There is no other choice."

I nodded and watched as she took the tray and left the room. My father closed his eyes and I watched him, sensing how close he now was to the end.

My head was spinning, my brain swarming with information that I knew was important but that I couldn't quite piece together. Things that Kieran had told me only added to my confusion.

He made it sound as if Elizabeth wanted to be queen

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more than anything, but she'd told me she was only doing it out of duty. That it was, as she'd just said, a
burden.

He hadn't given her perfume even though she said it was a gift from him. And now what I thought was a perfume bottle held medicine that she mixed into

my father's drinking water.

My aunt had returned to live at the castle, leaving the man she said she was in love with, just before my father became sick.

I started breathing very fast then as it al began to click into place and my heart pounded twice as quickly in my chest.

Michael,
I thought and turned to look at him.
Michael
... 7
don't think my father is really sick. I don't think he's got an illness at all.

::What do you mean?::

He's . . . he's not sick. It's Elizabeth. She wants to be queen. She wants me to drink the potion so I don't get in the way of her taking the throne.

That

has to be it. It has to be.

He frowned at me. :: Nikki--::

Oh, my Qod, Michael. She hasn't been giving him medicine, has she? It's poison. Elizabeth has been poisoning him slowly, hasn't she? He
isn't dying at all. He's being murdered!

Panic clutched at my throat. I had to be wrong. She couldn't do something like this to her own brother, could she? It was impossible.

Michael didn't think anything for a very long time and I looked at him and waited, wanting him to tel me I was crazy, that I was overreacting, that I was

grasping at straws

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and seeing clues when there were none. His expression was unreadable. And then in the back of my mind, I heard him project two smal words that changed everything for me right then and there. .-.-You're right.:: 196

I was stunned.

Howdo you know?
I thought frantical y.
Why didn't you tell me?

But before he could answer me, Elizabeth returned to place the tray next to my father's bed. Her hand curled around my shoulder.

"It's time, Nikki." She glanced down at my father. "He's sleeping now. He fal s in and out of consciousness. It makes it easier for him that way."

I just stared at her.

Then I heard Michael's voice in my head.

::Nikki, say nothing. Don't let on that you know anything.
Please,
trust me.::

"This ..." I tried to breathe normal y. "This has been very difficult."

She shook her head. "Did I mention how beautiful you look today? That dress is lovely."

"I ... I was at a dance before I came here."

"And that's how it should be. Sixteen-year-old girls shouldn't have to worry about these sorts of things. You 197

should think about dances, and friends, and boys. It'l be fine, soon. Everything wil be back to how it was meant to be. I promise you."

I just looked at her. How could she seem so nice, even now? Even when I knew the horrible truth? Maybe I was wrong, maybe Michael was wrong.

But no. It was true. I felt it deep inside of me.

"You said that Darklings die before they're eighteen," I said quietly. "But you didn't say
how
they die."

"That part of history is quite vague. I searched for as much as I could find, but the details are sketchy. I would assume that their hearts stopped working

during their change to Darkling form. Or perhaps their poor little bod-ies simply gave out. It's impossible to expect human and demon forms to blend together. It's like oil and water. They can't be combined."

"But are you just guessing that, or do you know for sure?"

The edge of Elizabeth's mouth tightened almost imperceptibly. "For something that happened so long ago, it's difficult to say for sure, of course."

I looked down at my father. My hand hadn't left his for the whole time I'd been in the room and now I clung to him like I would never let go.

Did he have any idea what his sister was doing to him? He shielded the human and faery realms from anything that might do them harm, stopping evil

from crossing the Shadowlands, but he had no idea that evil was already there. He protected everybody, but nobody had protected him.

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Elizabeth pul ed me away from my father's uncori'scious form and hugged me tightly. "It's good that he's sleeping now. I fear that Desmond wil be in horrible pain right until the end, just like our father was. My only solace is that the end is very close now."

Had she poisoned her father, too? If this was the same way her father had died, the similarities seemed too coincidental.

She took my hand in hers and brought me over to the entrance. "He's been so strong. He's fought to live, Nikki, and I think a great part of that was learning

of your existence. My father passed on much quicker. Desmond is strong, though--he's a fighter. But fighting is only prolonging his suffering. He needs to let go now, and I think that when you drink the potion, he'l be able to."

"Where do demons go when they die?" I asked, trying to stal for time. Trying to figure out what to do next.

"Where do we go?" she repeated. "We are not like humans. We have no immortal soul that must be divvied up between Heaven and Hel . Al the more

reason we should never coexist or fal in love with humans, you see. When a demon dies or is vanquished, we are gone. We refer to it as the Void--

our

place of eternal rest."

Elizabeth looked over at Michael then. "Please take Nikki downstairs," she said. "I must stay with my brother to see if he needs anything. He isn't usual y

asleep for long periods. I wil join you momentarily." She turned back to me and took my cold, clammy hand in her warm, dry one and squeezed it 199

gently. "Then you'l drink the potion and Michael wil take you home. Does that sound acceptable to you?"

I nodded stiffly. Michael came to my side and our eyes met for a moment before he looked away.

As I took a last glance at my father, I felt Michael's fingers close around my wrist and he began walking me away from the room.

"Oh, I almost forgot," I cal ed back to Elizabeth. "Your boyfriend showed up on your gazer after you left."

"He did?" She looked surprised. "What did he say?"

"Lots of things," I replied, just before Michael and I disappeared around a corner.

He picked up his pace, my hand now in his iron vise of a grip.

"I never should have brought you back," he said. "I'm so stupid."

"So it's true? It's al true? Elizabeth is--"

"Shh, not here. It's too dangerous."

We reached the spiral staircase and began to descend it so quickly I nearly slipped a few times. When we final y got to the bottom, Michael pul ed me right toward the front doors, which immediately opened for me. I picked up my shoes from where I'd left them for safekeeping.

"Michael, talk to me." My voice shook. "Are you in on this? Are you helping Elizabeth kil my father?"

I stil couldn't believe what I was saying. Finding out my father was dying was one thing. But poisoned? It was too horrible to contemplate.

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He stopped walking and spun around to face me, the expression on his face distraught. "Of course not." "Then how do you know?"

"I've been suspicious of her motives for some time and you just confirmed it for me. When I came back last night after seeing you home, she asked me questions about you. She wanted to know everything. She wanted to know if you'd drunk the potion and I told her you weren't ready yet. She wasn't happy

about that. I didn't know why, but the way she was acting was very tel ing. When I guessed, she nearly ..." He blinked. "She nearly kil ed me right then and

there. But she didn't."

I could barely breathe. "Michael--did she hurt you?"

He shook his head. "No, but I wouldn't put it past her." He grabbed my hand and pul ed me around to the right side of the castle, away from view.

"You need to leave. Right now. You need to go back home. Drink the potion. It's the only way you'l be safe."

My head was spinning. "I can't do that."

"She might not look like it, but Elizabeth is very worried about you, and not in a caring-aunt kind of way. She is afraid that you won't drink the potion and

when the king dies you'l become queen and ruin her plans."

"But I don't understand. What are her plans? She'l be trapped in the castle when she's queen."

"It's Kieran. Elizabeth has always wanted power, but he's the one who's in charge. He's convinced her that now is the time to completely join the Shadowlands with the

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Underworld. Because she loves him, he'l be able to manipulate her. He'l control the barrier that separates Hel and the Underworld from the faery and

human realms."

I put a hand over my mouth in shock. "And my father has no idea?"

"She puts on a good act. She's probably been putting on the same act her entire life. She fooled me. She fooled you. She comes across as so nice but she isn't, Princess."

I thought about how I'd also been fooled by Chris, who seemed so popular and great to be around, until he attacked me in the back of a limo.

Appearance means nothing. It only hides what's underneath--be it good or bad.

I blinked slowly. "She's the one who sent the guy with the knife after me, isn't she?"

He nodded. "She isn't playing games. When the king found out about you, he was very happy to learn he had a daughter. She pretended to be, but I could

see that she wasn't. I couldn't imagine why at the time ..."

"She prevented you from coming to see me today, didn't she? That's why you weren't around earlier?"

He nodded again. "She wouldn't let me leave. The king is weakened, so she was able to steal some of the kingdom's energy to let her thug come after you. Twice now." His jaw tightened. "When he failed, she al owed me to see you. To try to convince you to drink the potion once and for al . And if I failed

..." He swal owed hard. "She wanted me to kil you."

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My eyes widened at that.
"What!"
"I wouldn't do it. I'd never hurt you, Princess. But I knew I had to make her think I was wil ing. It's the only way I could protect you. Then when you wanted to

come here again ..." He rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand, his face haunted. "I couldn't refuse you. But I thought maybe if you were here and

drank the potion in front of her, then she'd know for sure. You'd have your peace of mind at seeing your father again, and Elizabeth would have her proof that you weren't trying to stop her. If I told you, I would have been putting you into even more danger. You never should have figured it out." He touched my

face then. "You need to leave. It won't be long before she realizes you're not downstairs waiting for her."

"Why didn't she just try to kil me when we were alone upstairs?"

"The moment you returned to the Shadowlands, the king would have sensed your presence. He'd know if she kil ed you here, so that's stopping her.

She's stil uncertain how weak the king is. He's incredibly powerful when he's at ful strength--much more powerful than she is. If he had the slightest inkling that

she would hurt you, he would be furious."

I tried to think clearly but it was a struggle. "Elizabeth . . . she said that for every potion they make in the Underworld, they make an antidote. Do you think

there might be an antidote for the poison?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. But there's no time for that. Princess, you have to go
now."

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"I can't leave my father. I can't leave you." "You have to."
Have to.

I grabbed my potion bottle and squeezed. "I don't have to do anything if I don't want to."

"Princess, now is seriously not the time to be stubborn." His expression softened as he looked into my eyes. We were talking so closely that we were

nearly hugging. His arms were around my waist.

The castle doors opened up again and Michael moved a bit so he could look around the corner. When he turned back to me his expression was even

more tense than before. "It's Elizabeth's thug."

"The one who tried to kil me?"

He nodded. "She's sent him to find you. She must know you've already left the castle." He pul ed off his sweatshirt and wrapped it around my shoulders to

keep me warm. "Go. Run to the clearing and go through the gateway. I'l hold him off for as long as I can."

"He's going to hurt you."

He touched his amulet. "Not if I hurt him first."

"Michael . . . you can't--"

"Am I interrupting?" a deep voice asked.

I slowly looked to the side to see the brute standing there, a smile curling up the corners of his mouth.

"Princess," he said, "it's time for you to come back inside. Elizabeth wishes to talk with you."

"Just talk, huh?" I could barely breathe.

He grabbed for my arm but Michael pul ed him away

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from me and pushed him up against the wal . The brute backhanded Michael across his face and he went spinning, but the moment the creep came at me