Reign or Shine (22 page)

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a soft glowing light in the darkness and I looked down. It was the crystal of my bracelet, pulsing like a tiny flashlight almost out of batteries. I frowned and ran my fingers over it.

Elizabeth had told me that it was just a regular piece of jewelry. That dragons didn't exist. That would have meant it wasn't a dragon's tear as my father had original y told me.

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But I figured I'd already established that Elizabeth was a big, fat liar.

What had my father said about the bracelet? That it could help focus my powers and make them more manageable?

Elizabeth had warned that using my powers would kil me, but it hadn't. And after what Rhys had told me about Darklings being dangerous and not having

to hide from anyone, I had started to realize that it might have been just one more thing she'd lied to me about.

Of course she told me if I didn't drink the potion I'd die--that had been her plan. To scare me into drinking the potion.

But I hadn't drunk it.

However, when I
had
turned Darkling I'd felt out of control, as if the Darkling control ed me instead of the other way around. But that was when my emotions were al jumbled up--fear, panic, anger. I felt al of those emotions present right then, but I wondered if things would be different if I could control

them. Maybe if I concentrated, focusing on the crystal in my bracelet, it would help me channel my Darkling power.

Maybe being a Darkling was like having a muscle I never knew I had. A flabby muscle that needed to be worked on before it got strong and flexible and

able to help me jump over tal buildings in a single bound.

It was definitely worth a try.

Please,
I prayed inwardly.
Please let this work.

I pressed both my palms against the door. I wanted out of that room.

Elizabeth told me that dragons didn't exist and that my father was delusional.

It hurt thinking how easily I'd been sucked into believing her. I'd liked her and I'd thought she liked me. But she didn't. She had a very specific plan and I was the only person currently standing in her way.

She was going to kil me.

The anger that flared with that thought created a sudden surge of energy and I focused al of my concentration then. The teardrop crystal lit up brightly and

then both of my hands began to glow with red light. I pushed against the door and heard a splintering sound before it swung wide open.

My eyes widened. I couldn't believe it had actual y worked.

I pushed my fear aside and forced myself to emerge into the hal way. I didn't know the castle at al and the hal ways and corridors al looked the same to me, but I had to find Michael. And, I knew I had to find my father and tel him about Elizabeth.

Elizabeth had to be stopped in any way possible. She couldn't become queen. She planned to open the Shadow-lands up to her boyfriend, and together

they'd let the evil that my father had spent sixteen years holding back seep into the human and faery realms.

No matter what I had to do, I wouldn't let that happen.

I pul ed Michael's sweatshirt tighter around me as I

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quickly moved through passages and corridors. I turned right and left and around until I was hopelessly lost and on the verge of tears again. I'd been determined when I'd left the locked room, but the feeling had faded the longer it took me to find my way. How was I supposed to stop Elizabeth if I couldn't

even find my father;1

Final y I stopped walking and wiped at my damp eyes, my hands coming away smeared with what remained of my careful y applied Winter Formal makeup.

"Princess," a quiet voice said.

I turned sharply to the right. From inside a darkened room Michael stared out at me. There was a look in his eyes that almost scared me more than I already was. No, scratch that. It did scare me more than I already was.

But seeing him also gave me a huge sense of relief. He was al right. I'd been so scared that Elizabeth had gotten to him and had hurt him--or worse--for helping me try to escape.

"Michael." I took a step toward him. "What happened? Are you okay?"

He took a step back, holding up a hand. "Please, Princess, just stay where you are."

His expression was dark and haunted and it worried me even more. "What's wrong?"

"I'm ... I'm a Shadow."

I frowned. "I know that already. I told you I don't care." There was something different about him, but it wasn't until I looked down at his worn, gray Tshirt that I figured it out. "Where's your amulet?"

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He touched his chest with a shaky hand. "Elizabeth took it away from me." "Why?"

"To punish me." He studied the floor at his feet. "There's no worse way to punish Shadows than to take away our amulets."

A rush of concern swept over me. "But aren't you supposed to wear it at al times? I thought you needed it."

"I do." His throat moved as he swal owed, and I noticed his eyes weren't green anymore; they were gray. "But don't worry about me. There's stil a chance

for you to be okay. Elizabeth doesn't want to kil you if she doesn't have to. If you drink the potion, she'l let you live."

I felt a stab of anger at what my aunt had done to him. "Would you stop protecting me for one moment and think about yourself? What happens if you don't

get your amulet back?"

"Please, Princess, listen to what I'm tel ing you. You can go back to your normal life. Go back to school and to the dance and forget al about this."

I shook my head. "I can't do that."

"You
have
to drink the potion. Forget about me. There's no other way for you to be safe."

He sounded so broken, his voice barely a rasp as he told me to forget about him. He didn't look wel at al . In addition to his eyes, his skin grew pastier the longer he stood there. He looked sick and weak and tired.

"Why do you think she'd just let me go now?" I asked. "After everything that's happened?"

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"Because that's what I told him," a now-familiar voice said.

I turned to my left. Elizabeth was about twenty feet down the hal and approaching slowly. Even after everything that had happened, she was smiling warmly at me.

"Nikki," she said, "I can't begin to tel you how badly I feel about al of this. I never meant to involve you. I didn't want you to be hurt."

I looked at her, wanting to run, but not able to leave Michael behind. "How can you say that to me?"

"Because it's the truth. I don't blame you. It's not your fault that you were swept up in al of this, but it was unavoidable." She fixed me with a concerned

look. "I tried to make it easy for you. I wish you'd never learned the truth."

"The truth that you're murdering my father?"

Her shoulders stiffened. "You make it sound so horrible."

"How is it not horrible? How is there anything about it that isn't horrible? You're poisoning your own brother. How can you do that?"

She ignored my question. "How did you escape from your room? I know it was locked very wel ."

I
used my Darkling strength and busted it open,
I thought. But I didn't say it out loud.
Michael,
I projected telepathical y,
what's wrong with you?

What has she done to you? Please tell me.

There was no reply, even though he was standing six feet away from me.

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"You didn't answer me," I said to Elizabeth, trying as hard as I could not to sound scared to death. Her casual y polite demeanor was now scary rather than pleasant. "Why are you doing this?"

She spread her hands. "The time has come for a change. The Shadowlands have been a protective barrier for so long. But who's to say that it must always be that way? I'm looking for progress instead of stagnation. My father was stuck in the old ways, and Desmond is much the same. But there are

new ideas. Demons have been relegated to the dark worlds for too long. We should be given the opportunity to move out to other places if we so desire."

"Is that what Kieran wants?" I asked cool y.

She gave me a smal smile. "Kieran is very wise. He knows how the worlds should be. And he loves me. Together I believe we could change the universe."

"You're insane," I said.

Her eyes narrowed at me. "Actual y, I've never been more sane than I am right now," she said. "My love for Kieran has shown me possibilities other than those I was raised to believe. He has opened my eyes and helped me embrace my own potential, my own power. That is what love does, Nikki. Since

you're so young, I don't expect you to understand."

I thought back to my conversation with the hot-but' creepy Kieran and shuddered. "Kieran made sure to tel me that if something happened and you didn't

become queen, he and I should 'get to know each other better,' " I said,

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making air quotes. "And I don't think he meant because he was in love with my aunt, if you know what I mean. The guy is a jerk."

Her mouth twitched a little. "I'm sure you misunderstood him."

"No, I'm thinking that
you're
the one who misunderstood him. Did it ever occur to you that he's just using you to get to the Shadowlands? So he can take

control for himself?"

"Kieran loves me," she said simply. "He's absolutely perfect. And he only wants what's best for me."

"I had a date who seemed perfect this evening," I said, flashing back to what had happened with Chris and sensing a ghost of the panic I had felt wel

inside me again. "He attacked me in the back of a limo."

But I could tel that she didn't want to hear what I was saying. She was so far into the decisions she'd made for the sake of true love and progress that anything else was just white noise to her.

"I'm sorry you don't understand what true love is," Elizabeth said. "I hope, for your sake, that one day you'l get the chance." She stretched out her hand and I saw that my potion bottle rested on her palm. "I took this from you to ensure that you didn't break it or dispose of it somehow. I'm giving you this last

opportunity to do the right thing. Drink the potion, Nikki. Your presence has caused a disturbance in my plans, and this is your last chance to make it right." I just glared at her.

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Her expression stiffened. "Dax," she cal ed. "Come here."

The thug came around the corner. Indoors he looked even bigger than before. He glanced at Elizabeth and then came toward me.

Instinctively I moved to where Michael stood silently and reached out to him. But as our hands would have normal y touched, mine slipped right through his

as if he was no more than a . . . than a . . .

... a shadow. 234

There was no substance to Michael. Not solid--like he was just a ghost.

His expression was pained as I looked into his now-gray eyes. "I'm sorry, Princess. I didn't want you to see me like this."

"Your amulet ..."

"It helps a Shadow maintain solid form," Elizabeth said from behind me and chil s ran down my spine. "There aren't many Shadows left after al this time. It

must be horrible to have to rely on an amulet to live or die. Without it, he'l simply fade away to nothing before too long."

My eyes widened as I looked at Michael. "Is that true?"

He didn't say anything, but I could tel by the look on his face that this was one thing Elizabeth wasn't lying about.

I turned to face her. My hands were in fists at my sides. "Where's his amulet?"

She sighed. "I don't do this to be cruel, Nikki. I want you to know that. But he has been given several direct orders and he's failed me every time."

She

glanced at Michael. "It's almost as if he believes that you care for him as more than a 235

servant. Or else why would he continue to protect you so single-mindedly ?'

"I do care for him as more than a servant," I said fiercely. "Now give him back his amulet."

Her eyebrow raised. "Oh, I see. This is your 'somebody,' is it? The boy you think wants you to forget him, and whose true feelings are unknown to you?"

"His
amulet!"
I said louder.

"I'm afraid you're not real y in a position to demand anything from me." Her expression turned graver. "But I do empathize. I know what it's like to care for

somebody others feel is wrong for you--Desmond never approved of my relationship with Kieran. But you know, even if al was normal again, there is no way your father would ever al ow you to be with a Shadow--it's forbidden, just as demon/human romance is. As I said before, Desmond is very set in the

ways of old."

She sounded oddly empathetic for a power-hungry, murderous demon.

"I appreciate the pep talk," I said dryly.

"Oh, Nikki." Her forehead furrowed deeply. "You remind me so much of myself. I know what it's like to be a woman faced with a destiny she didn't ask for,

you know. You didn't ask to be half demon. What a horrible burden to put upon someone so young. The very thought that if you harness that power you risk your own death--it's tragic, real y."

She stil didn't know I'd turned Darkling and had lived to tel the tale. But I wasn't tel ing the tale to her. It was my secret.

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And Michael's. And the thug Dax's. But a quick glance at Dax's ugly but worried face told me he wasn't going to be spil ing the beans anytime soon.

"Nikki," she pressed. "There's no time to continue to argue this. You have to drink the potion."

Have to.

I looked at Michael then. I didn't need telepathy to know that he wanted me to run. To get away and leave him behind.

A huge roar sounded out at that moment. A cry of pain. The sound helped me pinpoint where my father's room was--behind me and down the hal .

He was

so close!

Elizabeth cringed. "Why won't he stop fighting and make it easier on himself?"

Despite everything, did she feel guilty about what she was doing? She was a demon, and according to the king of the faery realm, demons were al evil. Across-the-board darkness, no exception to the rule. Even Rhys had assumed I was evil, though he didn't sense it from me. I could touch a unicorn-whatever that meant. So maybe Rhys was wrong.