The Day Human King (11 page)

The lady hurried inside and returned with two large glasses. She didn’t have a covered pitcher like the women in town. Devin had to wonder if the cups were the only ones she even had. His short glimpse in the house showed she had close to nothing. Devin ladled milk into the two cups. It would have to do, and it was better than nothing. He gave one last look to the children that were now watching the milk in their mother’s hands.

“I’ll pray that you don’t get in trouble with your master,” the woman said, bowing to Devin before going back into the house.

Devin made his way around to the other houses. It was much the same. The people were shocked at his offer, but no one declined. They were all desperate. Devin looked at each face and knew these were exactly the people the old sidhe king told him he needed to save. There were women, children, old, and young. They were sidhe, yet not allowed to be part of the town. By the time he made it back to the start, Mara was no longer outside. Devin walked through her beautiful garden filled with flowering plants of every color. Even her house was covered with plants that crawled up the sides and onto the roof. She opened the door as he made it closer.

“Do you have a pitcher I can fill?” he asked.

She looked like she wanted to say no, but her eyes were already watching the pails on the cart. He could not have guessed how long it had been since she had had milk. Leaving the door open, she went in and grabbed a small pitcher from the only shelf in the room. There was a blanket on the floor, which had to be their bed, and a short table in the one room. It wasn’t much, but it seemed tidy and clean. Even without the normal sidhe world, Mara was still making a life. Devin filled her pitcher with milk and returned.

“They will punish you for this,” she told him quietly. The lively girl that was singing to her flowers earlier was gone, replaced by the quiet women before him now. There was pain behind her eyes as if she knew exactly what lay in store for Devin. He longed to tell her who he was and make it all better, but he wanted to stay the welcomed day human, not the unwelcome day human prince.

“I will be fine,” he tried to assure her, hoping it would be enough.

“No matter if you’re right about not breaking any rules, your master will be upset,” Mara replied. She was trying her best to get Devin to understand the sidhe world.

“I have no master,” Devin told her for a second time. She still couldn’t believe him. At least this time it seemed she had heard him and was considering the option. The young woman looked shocked at his words. In the sidhe world it was not possible to be a day human and not have a master. “Trust me. No one will be punished for this.”

“But …” Mara started and stopped. She was having a hard time, but was listening to Devin’s words.

“I assure you, I will be fine,” Devin told her. “As long as I head back soon and not upset my …” Devin was unsure what to call Nessa.

Mara blushed as she understood. “You are here because of a girl?”

“Oh, yes. I’m not here to visit the sidhe, that’s for sure. This was never on my list of destinations that I wanted to see,” Devin replied, making his way back through the garden. He was trying to keep her thoughts on a brighter subject than him being punished, since he wouldn’t be.

“And she is a sidhe?” Mara asked curiously.

“That she is,” Devin replied, locking the lids back on the canisters.

“But she doesn’t own you?” Mara asked, full of questions.

“No.”

“Because she loves you,” Mara added, finally understanding Devin a bit more.

Devin smiled and nodded. “I sure hope so. It would make asking her to marry me easier.”

Mara’s mouth hung open. “You plan to marry her? Sidhe only marry sidhe.” She sounded like she was reading a textbook answer.

Devin grinned. “That may be, but as I said, I am special. I don’t think anyone here has the power to tell us no if she does want to marry me.”

Mara didn’t seem to be able to believe that. She continued to stare at him, waiting for the joke that should have been coming, but Devin was serious. In that moment, he felt bad for not telling her, as he could have eased her worry.

“I’ll try to come back in another day or so,” Devin told Mara, making his way to the cart. “I’m sure there will be more milk that I can bring. Seems there has been an overabundance of milk lately, and it’s just enough to feed you guys.”

Mara did not respond. Apparently he had already done enough to shock her for one day.

As he made his way back through the village, the streets were flooded with sidhe; some of the people scurried from one place to another while others leisurely strolled. Old and young alike were out for the night. Children played and women sat around watching the children while they gossiped. Life continued on in the village, no matter what drama was in the elite homes and palace. Devin wanted to stop and watch it all, but he had to return the cart back and get to Nessa soon, as she had to be awake by now. When he made it to the end of the dirt path and Old Man Winters’s farm, Devin dropped the cart and rushed forward. Two sidhe palace guards were dragging the old man from his house.

“What’s going on?” Devin demanded to know. He stood in the open gate to the house to stop them from going further.

“Out of the way, day human.” One guard tried to push Devin from blocking the walkway.

“Young day human, be on your way,” Winters told Devin, siding with the guards. “This is none of your business.”

Devin didn’t move from his spot. “I demand to know what’s going on.” Devin glared at each man, daring them to try to move him. The two sidhe exchanged a look. They were surprised, and slightly amused, at Devin’s audacity.

“Day humans have no business in the affairs of the sidhe. Now move before we have to take you back with us,” the shorter of the two guards told Devin. They were no match for him before he got his power, and stood no chance now. Devin was not moving.

“Under whose authority are you acting?” Devin demanded to know.

The taller sidhe looked to the shorter. They obviously didn’t want to harm Devin, as they didn’t know which family he belonged to, but Devin was stopping them from their orders. They would need to make a choice and soon to get the old man back to the palace like they had been ordered.

“Lady Maureen asked us to arrest this man. He has been found to be aiding the castoff sidhe, and that’s against the law,” the shorter man replied. Devin didn’t move.

“Well, you two may go back and tell Lady Maureen that she has no authority over what I have told this man he can do,” Devin replied.

The two men laughed and moved to push Devin out of the way. Devin held his ground as the two swords of the late king appeared on his back. If he had to fight the men, he would. Maureen was the last person Devin was going to allow to bully the common sidhe. He already disliked the lady with a passion for her attempts to kill Nessa through her children, and she was not earning any more points for her actions with the common sidhe.

Both guards immediately dropped the arms of the older man when they saw the swords, fell to their knees, and bowed their heads. Now they knew who he was.

“Please forgive us, Day Human Prince.” The taller man spoke, as it seemed the shorter man was now at a loss for words.

“As I said before, I can do as I please. This man had nothing to do with aiding the castoffs. It was completely my doing. Please go back and inform Lady Maureen that she shouldn’t hastily prosecute people when she doesn’t know the full story. I might not be in as good a mood next time,” Devin warned the two men. They stood and nodded before quickly retreating into the village. Devin would have never responded with violence against the two guards that were only doing their jobs, but he was threatening enough that they didn’t know the difference.

Devin went over to help the older man stand since they’d dropped him at the sight of Devin’s swords. He grinned as Devin pulled him up.

“I think I understand now why you have no fear of us,” the old man said, dusting off his pants. “Because in reality we should all fear you, Day Human Prince.”

“I don’t wish to be feared by the common sidhe, just the elite,” Devin replied. It made life in the palace tolerable when they didn’t treat him like trash. It made doing as he pleased much easier.

The old man smiled. “Then your secret is safe with me.”

Nessa paced around
her room some more. Devin had not returned yet. He was outside of the palace walls, but she had no clue what he was doing. He had said he was going for a run, which could have been the case, but she guessed that he had different plans. The common sidhe seemed to fascinate him, but there wasn’t any real reason for that. They were just sidhe like everyone else, with a little less power than the elite sidhe. What was interesting about them?

Nessa didn’t need to check to know that Devin had placed his magic around the room to keep her in. It would be a waste of energy to try to get out at this point. She wanted to be mad at him for it, but she couldn’t. He was doing his best to protect her. Not that she wanted to admit it, but she did need help being protected. Between assassins and poison, in less than a week, there had been several attempts on her life. He was the only reason she was still alive … but it still hurt nonetheless. Nessa wanted to be able to protect herself, and letting Devin do it for her went against every idea she was raised on.

Nessa turned around the room one more time before she went to her door and opened it. Since there was a protective bubble around the room, she didn’t need to worry about anyone entering without her knowledge. Therefore, she could leave the door wide open to watch for Devin. Nessa made another loop around the room and neared the doorway again.

‘
Where are you?’
Nessa finally asked Devin silently. She was doing her best to not beg him to come back, but her self-control failed. She wanted to know what he was up to.

‘Just inside of the courtyard. I’ll be back in less than a minute,’
Devin replied. He laughed a little in Nessa’s head, and he had to know how much she wanted out of the cage he had put her in.

Down the hallway, Ronan and Gemma were walking toward Nessa’s rooms. Nessa waved to her cousins. It was nice that they would come keep her company in her protective bubble. Gemma paused and rubbed her neck before she began to lightly run in her direction. Nessa never knew where Gemma got all of her energy from. Ronan shook his head and kept his leisurely pace as he walked behind her. Soon Devin caught up to Ronan and said something to her cousin to make him laugh. Nessa wanted out of her cage, to be able to walk with them, but she waited as patiently as she could for them to get to her.

‘Move now,’
Devin told Nessa mentally, with more urgency than she had ever heard him use. Nessa scrambled out of the doorway and back into the room as Gemma hit the barrier of the spell and fell forward.

“What—” Nessa began to ask as Devin and Ronan ran in behind her cousin.

Devin took Gemma and pulled her completely inside of the room while Ronan looked behind them before closing the door.

“Someone just attacked Gemma and Ronan,” Devin told Nessa. He was in full alert mode. Even though he wanted to go after the assassin who had to be close, he was concerned for her cousins first  and foremost.

She glanced between her cousins, who didn’t appear hurt. She had been standing right there watching. No one had attacked anyone, unless they were invisible. Where was the assassin? No one could do an invisibility spell now because of Devin, but it made no sense. How did Devin know they were attacked and how did it happen? It was confusing, but Nessa trusted that Devin knew what was going on.

Devin rolled Gemma to her side and pulled a small dart out of her neck. It was smaller than a fly, but there was no mistaking what it was. Someone had attacked Gemma with a dart. Ronan flopped down on the couch and dropped his own dart next to Gemma’s on the table. He was still awake, but seemed to be fading fast. On the other hand, Gemma was already passed out. Nessa stared down to her younger cousin. It made no sense. Why would someone attack Gemma? She was the sweetest and most innocent person in their family.

Devin looked up to Nessa. “I think they were poisoned again. I can feel it inside of Gemma.”

Nessa turned to Ronan. If Gemma was poisoned, then so was he. Nessa became increasingly worried as she glanced between them. They were the last of her family; her father had only one brother, and he only had two children. Gemma and Ronan were it, and Nessa was about to lose them, too.
Why was her life like this?
She wanted to be normal and not worry about people dying. However, there was no time for a pity party; Gemma and Ronan were poisoned and would die if they didn’t act fast.

“Go find my uncle,” Nessa instructed one of the invisible guards that were standing in the corners of the room. He needed to be there for his children. The guard nodded and exited the room without opening the door.

Devin moved to Ronan and inspected him quickly, too. Nessa watched, hoping Devin knew exactly what to do as he had before with her.

“You’ve both been poisoned,” Devin told Ronan as Nessa expected.

“Take care of her first,” Ronan replied, pointing to his unconscious sister. “She obviously got more in her system. At least I am still with you here.” Ronan tapped his head before leaning back on to the couch. How long he would be with them was up for debate since the poison was also racing through his system.

Nessa knelt beside her younger cousin. Gently, she cupped her face in her hands; Gemma looked like she was sleeping. This was a quick-acting poison, and had to be something different than before. Did that mean there were more assassins running around now?

“Gems,” Nessa said quietly, tapping her face gently. Unfortunately, Gemma didn’t respond. Nessa wanted her to wake and pretend like it was a game and everything was fine … but it wasn’t. Gemma was dying.

“Lay her on her back,” Devin instructed.

Nessa rolled Gemma over, and when he placed his hands on her, Nessa felt the magic grow. How could Gemma get that sick in seconds? It took Nessa more than ten minutes before the poison took over. Nessa held on to her cousin’s head, not watching as Devin cut her younger cousin. Devin began to pull the poison from her, and it couldn’t have been pleasant for Gemma with how hard he was working. Gemma was one of the most innocent sidhe out there. She’d never been trained in combat, like Nessa had been, and she’d been kept away from all of the politics. Gemma was all that was sweet in the sidhe world. It made no sense. Why would someone target her?