A Demon's Wrath: Part II (Peachville High Demons) (7 page)

I drifted in and out of consciousness for several
days. Often, Lea would be there by my side, reading to me or holding
my hand. Sometimes I woke to see my mother’s worried face.

But when I opened my eyes and found the king
standing beside my bed, I forced myself to sit up.

I struggled to focus on his face and saw right
away that he was angry. I knew he had come here with a specific
purpose. And it wasn’t a happy one.

“Denaer, I know you need your rest, but I am
glad to see you awake,” he said. He pulled a chair over to my
bedside and sat down so that his face was level with my own. “There
is something very important I need to talk with you about, and I need
to make sure that you hear every single word. Do you understand?”

“Yes, your majesty,” I said. My voice
was scratchy and weak and I reached for a cup of water on the table.
My hands were still so weak that even the simple act of picking up a
glass was difficult and awkward. At the time, I had no grasp of how
long I had been unconscious or just how close to death I had truly
come.

“Lea has been very vague about the wound on
your side and how you came to be so sick, but I know the poison that
runs through your system,” he said. “I know that you are
very lucky to be alive.”

I dared not say a word. If he knew this poison,
then he also knew that I had discovered the truth about the Order of
Shadows. Or at least some part of the truth.

“I understand that losing your brother was
the cause of great sorrow in your life. I even understand your need
to continue searching for answers when your parents repeatedly asked
you to leave it alone,” he said. “What I don’t
understand is why you insist on dragging my daughter, the future
Queen of the North, into dangerous situations with no regard for her
safety.”

I turned to stare at him, meeting his gaze. This
was not about putting his daughter in danger and we both knew it.

“Lea makes her own choices,” I said.

“She would follow you to the edge of this
world and beyond if you asked her and don’t pretend she
wouldn’t,” he said. “Your searching has gone far
enough. You’ve already come dangerously close to a truth I
hoped you would never have to face. You cannot go any further down
that path. It’s time for you to accept that your brother is
gone and he’s never coming back. It’s time for you to
embrace your future here with the princess and let go of the past.”

My hands trembled in anger and I balled them into
tight fists. How dare he ask me to turn my back on my own brother. He
should have been offering his help, his guards, his money and
influence. He should have been apologizing for letting things go as
far as they had.

“You’re right,” I said, sitting
up a little straighter. My anger was giving me a renewed sense of
strength.

He nodded. “I’m glad to hear you have
finally come around to this under—”

“You’re right that we have discovered
a terrible truth,” I said, interrupting him. “We know all
about the Order of Shadows. We know that these human witches have
portals all over the Northern Kingdom. They steal demons from their
homes in the middle of the night and pull them through to their world
for their own evil purpose. And we know that you’ve known about
this since before my brother was taken, yet you did nothing to stop
them.”

“You don’t know anything,” the
king said, standing. “Don’t speak to me as if you have
the right to judge my actions. I am King of the North and I will make
the decisions I feel are best for my people.”

“Then tell me, King, how is it best for the
people that these witches are allowed to continue taking demons from
their villages?” I asked. I swung my legs over the side of my
bed.

“I don’t answer to you.” His
voice swelled.

“You do answer to me,” I said. I set
my feet against the floor and somehow found the strength to stand for
the first time in days. “My brother is gone because of the
decisions you have made and the lies you have told. You owe me an
answer. You owe it to every demon who has lost someone they love.”

The king’s face twisted in anger.

“You have no idea what you are talking
about. The Order of Shadows is not a normal enemy,” he said. “I
cannot simply send out my army and destroy them.”

“How would you know unless you tried?”
I asked. “Their portals are unguarded. I have seen one of their
rituals with my own eyes. There was no one there to stand against
them. Not a single guard or sentinel.”

The king lifted his chin and squared his
shoulders. “The demons who live inside the gates of this city
live in safety,” he said. “I do the best I can to send
out patrols to watch over the villages in the outerlands, but it’s
impossible to police them all. The Order is too big and too strong.
If I sent my guards out there, they would all be dead in an instant.
What use is that to anyone?”

“What use is a king who is too scared to
fight back?” I asked, taking my first steps. “As long as
the Order knows you are afraid of them, they will continue to take
until there is nothing left.”

“We are immortal,” he said. “The
humans are not. Their lives are short and meaningless compared to
ours. Yes, what the Order of Shadows is doing is horrible. But they
control very dark magic that is nearly impossible to defeat. It’s
in the best interest of the kingdom to wait them out. They cannot
live forever.”

I could hardly believe what I was hearing. This
was his plan? To simply outlive the humans?

Andros was right. The king was blind. Ruled by
fear and foolishness.

“And what about the demons who are being
taken?” I asked. “You would sacrifice them so willingly?”

“Their sacrifice is minor compared to the
lives that would be lost in a war against the humans.”

“Maybe, but at least our deaths would be
honorable.” I walked toward him, fueled by my own anger and
determination. “At least we would die standing up against a
great evil rather than allowing that evil to rule us through fear.
There is no honor in Aerden’s death, if he is in fact dead.”

The king snapped his head toward me. “He is
dead to all of us,” he said. “It is best if you learn to
accept that now.”

“I cannot accept it,” I said. “I
won’t. I will not be ruled by fear.”

“You’d rather be ruled by rage?”
the king asked. “You’re a fool and I won’t allow
you to drag my daughter any further into your madness.”

“That isn’t for you to decide.”
Lea stood in the doorway, tears reflected in her deep green eyes. “I
love you, father, but my heart belongs to Denaer. And my life, my
future, belongs to the demons of the Northern Kingdom.”

The king’s face crumbled and he shook his
head. “What are you saying?” he asked. “That you
would choose to betray me?”

Lea crossed the room and placed her hand in mine.
“You betrayed me first. You have betrayed all of us.”

I looked down into the face of a girl I had known
all my life, but never truly seen as the future queen until that
moment. She had more strength than I had ever realized.

“It’s not too late to stand and
fight,” I said. “I know the Order is strong, but every
enemy has a weakness. All we have to do is find it.”

The king stared down at our joined hands, then
turned toward the door. “If you choose to fight, I won’t
stop you,” he said. “But know that the moment you step
outside the gates of this city, I will no longer acknowledge you as
my daughter. I won’t come after you when you are taken by the
Order.”

He walked through the door of the room, not even
turning around to look at his own daughter one last time.

Lea took in a sharp breath but did not let go of
her grip on my hand.

We stood together in silence for a moment before
she finally turned to me. “Are you strong enough to make it to
the camp?” she asked.

I searched her face. “Is this really what
you want?” I asked her. “Because if you are doing this
for me, I want you to know that I would never ask such a sacrifice
from you.”

The tears she had been able to hold back in front
of her father escaped onto her cheeks. “You should know by now
that you would never have to ask,” she said.

Her hand slipped from mine.

“Do you want to say goodbye to your
parents?” she asked.

I shook my head. “If Aerden is dead to them,
then they are dead to me, too.”

“Gather anything you want to take with you
and then get some rest,” she said, wiping the tears from her
face. “We’ll leave at dawn.”

We arrived at camp of The Resistance three days
later.

We’d taken our time getting there since I
still hadn’t fully recovered from my injuries. Lea was also
concerned that her father might have us followed, so she led us on a
strange path, taking detours across swamps and into the forest,
making it difficult for anyone to track us.

Andros and the others were very happy to see us
and they welcomed us into their village and their lives with open
arms.

As soon as we were settled, our real training
began. Andros took charge of our battle training, sparring with us
from early morning until mid-afternoon every day. It was obvious
right from the start that we both had a lot to learn.

Everything I thought I knew about fighting was
incredibly basic. Beginner stuff that was practically useless in a
real battle. But Andros took me under his wing and taught me how to
fight like a true warrior. Over time, I improved.

Lea, however, excelled. She was a natural fighter
with an affinity for ranged weapons.

At times, I worried that she had followed me here
out of loyalty. Or love.

But other times, especially during our training, I
saw her anger come through. I recognized her pain.

She had looked up to her father as the perfect
example of a ruler and king, but now the veil had been lifted from
her eyes. She saw him for the coward he was. And I could see that the
truth had changed her. Hardened her. I tried to get her to talk about
it, but any time I mentioned her father, she clammed up and refused
to speak.

“I’m not his daughter anymore,”
she would say.

As part of our daily tasks, I took on the job of
watering the crops while Lea helped with the cooking. Sometimes after
dinner we would walk together, hand-in-hand, and talk about the day’s
activities.

Sometimes we sat around the fire telling stories
of our loved ones and remembering the happier days. Lea curled close
to me on the colder nights and I began to like the feel of her warm
body pressed against mine.

And I hated myself for it.

Every touch became a betrayal of the worst kind.

It should be Aerden here by her side, not me.

One night, when everyone else had gone to bed, Lea
and I stayed up talking by the fire. She ran her fingers lazily
across my arm as she began to talk about the future. Our future.

I had no problem talking about the past.
Remembering was how I stayed close to Aerden.

But the future she was dreaming about was
something I couldn’t see. She talked about what we would do
after we won the war against the Order of Shadows. How someday we
would become the leaders our people truly deserved.

“He cannot deny me the throne,” she
said of her father. “The people will still accept us as their
rightful King and Queen.”

She spoke of restoring peace to the land and
building a safe home together.

And in time, her talk turned to children.

I stood then, my stomach tight. I walked away from
the firelight, my back turned.

She came up behind me, wrapping her arms around my
waist and pressing her face against my back.

“I know it’s difficult to imagine a
future when we’re preparing for battle, but I need this,”
she said softly. She sounded so vulnerable. “I need to know we
still have this hope of a real life together that doesn’t
involve humans or swords or dark magic. I need to know that the light
of your love still shines for me.”

I stiffened, unable to return her affection. “And
what about Aerden?”

“He’ll be right there by our side,”
she said.

I placed my hand on top of hers, trying to imagine
the life she saw so clearly for us. Was there any hope of it?

Even if we could somehow save my brother and bring
him back here, I knew he wouldn’t be able to live in the city
alongside us, watching our happy lives unfold in front of him. That
was the whole reason he’d left in the first place.

No, if he ever came back, I swore right then and
there that I would tell Lea the truth about the heart stone. I would
do what I should have done right from the beginning. I would do
whatever it took to make her see that the love she deserved had been
right there in front of her all along and that she and Aerden
belonged together.

I stepped out of her embrace.

“It’s late,” I said. “You
should get some rest.”

Disappointment flooded her eyes. She dropped her
hands to her side and looked toward the fire.

“Aren’t you coming to bed?” she
asked.

I followed her gaze and stared into the flames.
She wanted my love for her to burn like that fire, but it never
would. It was cruel to draw her in and push her away like this, over
and over.

It wasn’t fair to her. The future she hoped
for did not exist. Not for me.

Eventually she turned away, disappearing into the
hut we shared at the edge of the village. My heart ached for her, but
it could be no other way.

As time wore on, Lea stopped talking about the
future altogether.

For fifteen years we continued on like this.

Our skills in battle became stronger and more
refined. Our numbers grew as others learned about our work to restore
the villages that had been hit the hardest.