Reign or Shine (23 page)

Was there a piece of Elizabeth that wasn't that bad? She was kil ing her brother to please her boyfriend. But there had to be something there, something

that was eating away at her. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking. She had gone too far. She'd made her decisions and I'd made mine.

I knew what I had to do.

I turned and ran as fast as I could toward the room I'd heard the roar of pain come from. I could hear Dax's 237

thundering footsteps behind me, but he was big and heavy and couldn't run as fast as I could.

At the end of the hal , I turned right onto a long corridor and it final y seemed familiar. There was only one door. It was closed but unlocked and I burst in

without knocking.

The room looked the same as before and my father stil lay on the bed, but now he was curled on his side, the coal-colored skin of his forehead drenched

with sweat.

"Nikki--" His voice was so weak I could barely hear it.

I ran to his side. He attempted to reach out toward me with a black, taloned hand, but it dropped back down to his side. I grabbed his arm.

"Dad ..." I began, but realized that he'd fal en unconscious again. "No, please wake up!"

Elizabeth and Dax entered the room and Michael was right behind them. I scooted around to the other side of the canopied bed.

Elizabeth's gaze tracked to her brother and then to me. "It's too late, Nikki."

My father's eyes flickered open again and he looked up at me and then over to his sister. "Elizabeth, I am near the end. I can't fight anymore."

"No, you shouldn't fight," Elizabeth said. "But Nikki hasn't drunk the potion yet. I don't know what to say to convince her that it's for the best."

His attention moved to me. "Nikki, you must drink it. When I pass, the power of the kingdom wil transfer to my heir. If you don't drink the potion, that wil be you. You'l be trapped here. I want you to be happy, to take care of your mother, and not to worry about any of this." I clung tightly to his arm.

Michael and I exchanged a glance and he looked desperate. Not only for his own situation but for mine.

"I've changed my mind," I said then. "I do want to be queen after al ."

Elizabeth's eyebrows shot up. "What?"

"Are you sure about that?" my father asked.

I nodded. I thought about Rhys and how he was the king of the faery realm even though he was only sixteen. "I'm sure."

"But . . . what about your normal life? What about school? Why would you change your mind about something like this?"

"Because Elizabeth
can't
be queen."

"Why not?"

I glanced at her and her eyes narrowed at me, her previously pleasant expression--even during her veiled threats-- disappearing.

"Because she's been poisoning you," I told him.

Elizabeth's mouth dropped open. Did she real y think I wasn't going to say anything?

I kept talking. "Every time she brings you water it has poison in it. She's been trying to kil you. She wants the throne and she'l do anything to get it."

Elizabeth underestimated me if she thought the lure of going back to my regular life and forgetting al about this 239

would be enough to deter me. How shal ow did she think I was?

I didn't want this. But if she thought she could take the throne and destroy everything my father had achieved-- even at the expense of giving up his happiness with my mother--then she had another thing coming to her.

In fact, I'd made this decision earlier at the dance-- even before I realized what Elizabeth's nasty plan was. I just hadn't realized how strongly I felt about it. Al I knew was that it felt right to me--even if it meant going against what everyone else wanted me to do.

And if the power of the kingdom shifted to me and Elizabeth tried to kil me? Then she would have one hel of a fight on her hands.

"Elizabeth," my father said, and even though his voice was weak, the name stil held power. "Is this true?"

She came to his side so we looked at each other over my father's prone form. "Of course not. I don't know what has gotten into her, but your daughter is completely wrong. Why would I want to harm you? You're my brother."

"It's true," Michael said from the edge of the room. He had his arms crossed over his chest now and was visibly shivering even though the room wasn't cold. "Elizabeth has been poisoning you so she and Prince Kieran can share the power of the Shadowlands."

"You're stil seeing that devious Underworld prince?" My father's eyes shifted back and forth quickly as if he was thinking very hard. "No. Elizabeth, I

. . . how could I be so horribly blind?" His forehead creased and his brows drew together. "Why would you do this to me? I trusted you. Above al others in this world, I trusted you. You would watch me suffer these weeks and say nothing?"

She backed away a step. "There was no other way. I have to be queen. Why did you bring your daughter here? She's ruined everything."

My father was struggling to sit up and a flash of fear crossed Elizabeth's expression. However, despite his fierce demon exterior it was apparent that he

had no strength left at al . He couldn't do anything to stop her. The poison continued to eat away at his remaining life.

She looked at me then, and her eyes turned to red. "You leave me with no other choice, Nikki. You could have made this so simple. Two sips at the most

and none of this would have mattered to you. I'm not as horrible as you probably think I am. I've done what I had to do, but no more than that. I didn't want to kil you."

I wil ed myself to remain calm. My father was staying conscious but I could tel that it was a struggle.

"I think you've deluded yourself into thinking you're better than you real y are, Elizabeth," I said.

Her eyes narrowed. "Right now you are vulnerable. If I wait until the power shifts to you, you won't be. This is my only opportunity to make things right."

"Nikki," my father said, "I can't protect you. I'm too weak."

"Then I'l have to protect
you."
My grip increased on his arm and I glared at my aunt. "Forget it. Not going to 241

happen." I glanced at Dax, who stood expressionless by the doorway with his arms clasped behind his back. He looked like a bouncer.

I could feel Elizabeth's desperation and her growing anger like a crackling of heat along the surface of my skin. There was the briefest flash of her demon

then. It scared the hel out of me. I'd almost forgotten that she also had a demon form just underneath the surface of her beautiful human exterior.

"I think I know what to do," she said after a moment and I watched her apprehensively as she reached into the pocket at the side of her skirt and pul ed out

Michael's amulet, holding it up by its chain. I felt the air leave my lungs in a rush.

"You do know what this is, yes?" she asked.

"Of course I do." I was literal y trembling from trying to sound strong when I felt anything but.

"Your Shadow can't help you now, Nikki, but perhaps you can help him."

Michael had become so transparent that I could see through him to the wal behind. By how pale and shivery he was, I could tel he wasn't feeling very wel . Being without his amulet had damaged him. It contained his life force, his ties to the world. Without it he was . . . nothing.

Elizabeth waited for me to say something but my mouth had gone so dry that I didn't think I could have formed words even if I wanted to.

So she continued, her voice tense. "Please listen to me, Nikki. I know you care about him. Drink the potion and I 242

wil give this amulet back to Michael. If you refuse, then he wil continue to fade away until he has completely disappeared from our sight. Even then he'l stil exist. He'l be invisible to the world around him, but in desperate, constant pain for many years until he final y dies. It is a horrible end to give somebody

you obviously have feelings for. I can't imagine that you'd ever want him to suffer so greatly."

I looked down at my father then, tearing my attention away from Michael's fading form, and saw that his breathing was growing more shal ow and his eyes

were closed. He had slipped unconscious again. When I looked at Michael I could see the raw desperation on his face.

"Don't listen to her," he said. "Forget about me."

Forget about him. I didn't think I could. Not ever. I felt changed, and not just because I had discovered my Darkling side. It was something deep inside of me that didn't want the people I cared about to be hurt if there was anything I could do about it.

I'd tried to be strong even though I was quivering inside. I'd tried to be brave. But I didn't think I could do it anymore. A tear trickled down my left cheek, betraying the emotional breakdown I was feeling inside.

"I need a decision," Elizabeth said. "Please, Nikki. The time has come."

She thought she was giving me a choice. Let Elizabeth rule in my father's place or condemn Michael to years of torture.

But I'd already made my choice. I couldn't turn back now. 243

"Don't do it, Princess." Michael drew closer but it only helped me to see the pain he was going through. "Please . . . let me go. Your father wouldn't want you to sacrifice the kingdom for me."

"First you want me to drink it." My voice broke a little as I said it. "Now you say don't drink it. You've very indecisive, do you know that?"

"That was when I wanted you to save yourself, not me." He gave me a very weak smile. "Don't drink it. I'm not important."

I blinked back more tears. "You're important to me."

He reached out to me and our fingers passed right through each other. I felt nothing at al , not even a glimmer of energy from him. It was much worse than

getting a jolt of electricity from touching his amulet by mistake. This ... this nothingness was much worse.

I wondered if I could grab Elizabeth then and take the amulet away from her, but another glance at Dax showed me that he now held it. Besides, the brief

glimpse of her demon earlier had proven to me that she wasn't just a

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pretty blonde in a long red gown. She was powerful and scary and, at the moment,
desperate
for me to do what she wanted no matter what the cost.

Elizabeth held up the little bottle to me and I took it from her without another word.

My father's eyes flickered open again and he sucked in a breath of air. "Elizabeth, you must stop what you're doing while you stil have a chance. It's not right. You can't make Nikki do this if she doesn't want to."

"It
is
her choice," Elizabeth said. "I'm sorry, Desmond. I truly am. But this is the way it has to be."

Has
to.

"Nikki . . . ," my father managed.

I held the cool bottle in the palm of my hand, my cheeks wet with tears. "When Michael first told me I was half demon, I didn't believe it. I thought he was

crazy. I had to see it with my own eyes and when I did it nearly scared me to death. I just wanted to fit in at school. I didn't want to be a demon princess and I sure didn't want to become queen of the Shadowlands."

"I know," my father said. "That's why I had the potion made for you."

"I could see that you were a little disappointed that I took the bottle from you so quickly. That I wanted to forget."

"It's the way it must be," he said. "The choice has always been yours, not mine. Not Elizabeth's. Even now, Nikki, the choice is yours."

The magic potion had been the perfect solution to al

245

of my problems. But I'd had some time to think about it since he'd first given it to me. I'd thought long and hard about what my choices real y were--

even

beyond the threat that turning Darkling would kil me. And I had already made my decision of what to do.

For better or for worse, I was stil certain it was the right one. I took the top off the bottle, tipped the vial back and drank down every last drop of the red liquid. When I was finished I looked at my aunt.

Her expression was tight and her shoulders tense. She nodded. "Very good. Everything wil be fine now."

I swal owed hard. "The amulet? We made a deal."

"Of course." She held out her hand and Dax came to her side to give her the amulet. "I cannot tel you how relieved I am, Nikki."

I didn't reply. I just held out my hand and she gave me the chain with the large green stone. At the moment, the stone was as gray as it had been in the

al eyway yesterday afternoon. I squeezed the chain tightly in my hand. My father's expression was grim as I let go of him and moved away from the side of the bed toward Michael.

Al that was left of him was a fading shimmer. Although I could see the outline of him, his clothes had become shadowy and indistinct, and the rest of him blurred. His eyes were stil intently fixed on me and fil ed with pain.

"You should have done it to save yourself." His voice sounded miles away and strained. "But not for me. I'm nothing."

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"You're not nothing. When are you going to start believing that?"

Michael had almost disappeared completely. How could the amulet work if it was solid and he wasn't? I reached toward him and was surprised when I

could touch his arm. It must have had to do with me holding the amulet. I could stil see straight through him, but his arm felt solid and very cold.

"Hold stil ," I advised.

"There's no time," he said again. "Your memories--"

"Don't worry about that right now." I went up on my tiptoes and slipped the amulet over his head, letting the gray stone drop down to his chest.

Keeping a

tight hold on his arm, as though if I let him go he'd fade away completely, I waited. He struggled to breathe and I could stil see the pain in his eyes, but as I continued to watch him I saw color return to the stone a little at a time. As it did, his form became clearer and more opaque. His eyes changed from gray

to green at the same speed as the amulet regained its color. I watched his handsome features fil in, the line of his arms and chest and legs. Even the Van