The Day Human King (2 page)

Devin listened to the sound of his shoes hitting the pounded-down earth at his feet as he lost himself within his own thoughts, running alongside the ornately woven trees that made up the walls. He had only arrived at the sidhe village days ago, and now he had to stay. His whole life had been turned upside-down in such a short time. First, he was bound to Nessa. He wasn’t minding that too much now, but their original goal had been to break the bond. However, upon meeting the sidhe king, everything had changed. Devin now had a role and responsibility to the sidhe people. Yes, he had been planning to search for a purpose in life after unbinding from Nessa, but he never thought one would fall into his lap like this. His purpose was thrust upon him in the form of sidhe magical powers. Devin had much to learn about the gift he was given to keep Nessa safe and change the sidhe, yet he didn’t know how long he had to figure everything out. Her coronation was in less than three days, and he was sure the other five families wouldn’t sit by nicely and let her claim the throne without a fight.

The sidhe clans were divided into five families, and everyone owed loyalty to one of them. When Nessa’s grandfather took over permanently, the others had no choice. The old man was powerful, and no one could tell him
no
. When Nessa assumed power in three days, Devin wouldn’t be nearly as powerful as the old man because he didn’t know how to use the power he was given. In fact, he knew very little about the sidhe in general. The late king told him his power was to do anything the sidhe could do, but Devin didn’t know what they
could
do. Nessa’s rise to the throne wouldn’t be as easy as her grandfather’s was.

Devin turned down a hallway that was lined with open windows. When he saw the walls around the palace, he considered trying to leave out of any of the various vine-laced doors. Nessa wasn’t allowed to leave without the palace knowing, but was that the case for Devin? Would the alarms sound? He did have a bit of Nessa’s blood within him, but he wasn’t the future sovereign. Was he free to come and go as he pleased? Could he leave the village if he wanted? Something told him he could not. Taking the power from the previous king to protect Nessa came with the bond of being stuck to the sidhe for the rest of his life. The thought was both terrifying and reassuring. Without intending to, Devin had found his place in the world.

He watched the sun shine through the windows and changed his course. It was too tempting to see outside and not be able to go as he pleased. He needed a more interior route for his run in order to avoid the temptation of walking out of the doorway.

Devin began running down another cleared hallway. He liked that the sidhe avoided him, but he couldn’t dodge them forever; he was going to have to deal with them eventually. He wasn’t quite sure where to begin, but hopefully he would after learning more about them and the powers he now had.

Coming to a turn again, he stopped suddenly at the person in front of him. He had put a spell on the palace to not allow anyone to use magic to cover themselves unless he allowed it, like the sidhe assassins protecting Nessa. Before, he had been the only one to see through the magic, but now everyone saw exactly who everyone else was. It was Devin’s first step in stopping all of the deception. His sudden halt was because of the sidhe standing in his way: Fiona Ferguson. She was the daughter and only child left of the Ferguson family, one of the five that traditionally held power. Fiona had been rumored to have been Nessa’s older brother’s lover before he ran off two months ago to attempt to win over Arianna Grace, a more powerful night human, and Devin’s former charge.

Fiona stared in shock at Devin, her mouth in an obvious ‘
oh
.’ She hadn’t been expecting to see him, either, and the powerful, cunning sidhe wasn’t as prepared as she normally was to play the power game.

Devin had been wondering about one aspect the day before. When Nessa led him to her grandfather, they had passed through a crypt that was only open to someone of the McKinny line. Suddenly, Devin realized how Finn, Fiona’s brother, had followed them through the McKinny family crypt. Because it was the last piece of the puzzle he couldn’t figure out, Devin had been thinking it over since they left the crypt. How did Finn trick the wards on the crypt to get through? Only blood family could open the door, and Devin was sure they hadn’t left it open.

“Day Human Prince,” Fiona said quietly, bowing her head to him. She didn’t run in fear, but her heartbeat had picked up. He was sure now that he was never meant to see the secret she carried. Coronation wasn’t going to go as easy as Devin hoped.

Fiona Ferguson was pregnant with the former king’s child.

Devin stood in
the hallway and watched Fiona as she hurried away. She had to be at least seven months along, if not more. He scratched his head, wondering how he’d missed that disguise the past few days. He could see through their spells, but he hadn’t seen that one coming. He was hoping with the fear that they all had of him that it would be easy to get Nessa on the throne with no complications. They had less than three days to the coronation … and the pregnancy of Fiona Ferguson was a complication.

He began his run again, but instead of staying inside, he turned into the open courtyard surrounding the palace. What he really needed was to escape the palace, and the sidhe world in general, but he couldn’t just run away. Going for a run through the village would have to do for now.

Devin went around the open doorways that dotted the fence around the palace. He wasn’t sure if he could just leave without setting off alarms, but Nessa had shown him one gate out that her brother had charmed to let royalty through. Rhys apparently wasn’t fond of the restrictions, either. Devin found the gate and kept running into the city that surrounded the palace. These were his people now, and this was his home, even though he knew nothing about the place.

Dawn was breaking, and most of the people were shutting up their homes before heading to bed. Almost all of the night humans were sensitive to some form of sunlight; whether it be that they couldn’t be touched by any at all, or simply needed to avoid the strongest sunlight during the middle of the day. Even though Devin was used to the night human world and the opposite life they led, he still needed sunshine; he would always be a day human.

Devin slowed his run to look at the buildings he passed. The sidhe world mystified him. It was intricately designed, and had many hidden aspects that fascinated him. It may have been because he was an outsider, but he was awed by the work that made the forest into a city. Trees were grown and woven together to create homes that were as functional as those Devin was raised in, but everything about them were living. He could make out the slight opening that had to be a gate to a property. He was also getting better at seeing the sidhe. They integrated so well with nature that it was easy for normal day humans to pass by them without seeing them. The longer he was in their world, the more he saw.

As he ran further down the path, the homes were right next to each other with very little space between. He passed home after home, and no one was outside. As the road split in two, Devin took the left pathway, vowing to come back another day and go right. The common sidhe world fascinated him, unlike the elite sidhe he had been confined to since he had arrived here.

These were his people now. He wasn’t born one of them, nor was he raised one of them, but they were his now, and they needed him. Nessa was enough reason to stay in the village, but her grandfather had made it a permanent decision by giving Devin sidhe powers. The old man’s last dying wish was for Devin to save the sidhe. Devin had no clue how or what the old man meant. He was just a day human who knew nothing about the sidhe. This was his first venture outside of the palace alone, and there wasn’t a sidhe in sight. They were still a mystery to him. One he needed to unravel.

The road bent again, and Devin turned the corner, coming face-to-face with the first sidhe that didn’t know who he was … an old man trudged along the path, pulling a cart. Devin slowed beside him.

“Do you need help?” Devin offered.
The best way to get to know the sidhe
, he decided,
was to talk to them
. Devin was afraid they would view him as an outsider as a day human, but he had to try. He needed to learn more.

The old man was startled by him, and dropped one of the sides of the cart he was holding as he pulled. Luckily, Devin reached forward and caught the cart before it tipped sideways. It was stacked with canisters that seemed to be full for the most part. The old man eyed him over, but nodded when Devin took both sides of the cart to pull it. The old man hobbled alongside him.

“Yer not from around here,” the old man finally said after they had walked a bit. He was covered in dust and dirt, and walked with a limp. There was a slight accent when he talked. The man was old and had to be full of knowledge, and it appeared he would be a good person to befriend.

“No,” Devin replied. The cart wasn’t heavy, but he didn’t understand why the man was pulling it; he wasn’t in any shape to be walking a long distance, let alone with a cart in tow.

The man grunted and gave a brief nod. It was obvious to all night humans that Devin was a day human. Even with sidhe power, Devin still had day human blood, which he was sure the man could smell. Fortunately, this left Devin in a place of not being a sidhe, and allowed to ask obvious questions without ridicule.

“Why do you—” Devin began to ask, but the man smiled and finished his sentence.

“Take the cart around?” the man added. “Because we need to be fed, and this is my job. Around here we all do our part, and I can’t just take the day off because my mare needs rest. People depend on me, and I depend on others. It’s the way the world is supposed to work.”

They walked further down the path, and a doorway opened to one of the hidden houses when they approached. Devin noticed the outline only after it was unfastened. He was going to have to look closer to actually be able to see where all of the sidhe lived. It was confusing, yet beautiful.

“Mary and Marybeth,” the man greeted the woman and smaller child that stood there watching Devin curiously. The old man hobbled to them to retrieve the pitcher in the woman’s hands.

Devin stood at the cart and watched as the old man returned to fill the pitcher from one of the full bottles in his cart. White liquid dripped from his ladle as he scooped several times to fill the pitcher. Placing the cap back on the container, the old man limped back to the woman and gave her the now full jug. She smiled graciously at the old man.

“Thank you. New assistant?” the one named Mary asked, still looking Devin over. He was out of place in the village, but it was a good feeling to be out of place and questioned rather than feared and avoided.

“Nah, just a young lad with manners. They don’t raise them like that anymore,” the man replied with a chuckle.

The lady nodded and pulled the little girl inside the house. That was enough of an explanation for her. Devin could feel already that his place was amongst the common sidhe. They didn’t fear him, and they didn’t pry. They were fine with him just being a day human and someone that wanted to know more. The old man began walking again. Devin took the cart to follow beside him.

“You deliver milk?” Devin asked, incredulous that the liquid in the jars was milk and not blood.

The old man laughed so hard he had to stop walking. Devin didn’t find his question funny. He had seriously thought the old man was delivering blood when he’d heard liquid sloshing around in the canisters. In the night human world, people lived on blood. Therefore if there was something that needed to be delivered, Devin assumed it would be blood, not milk. The old man wiped a few stray tears away.

“What sort of world do you come from, lad? That much blood? We are civilized people here,” the old man replied. He smiled as he talked because he found Devin very amusing.

“I lived at a dearg-dul estate out west before coming here,” Devin replied. They were quite civilized, too, and needed blood daily, like any night human.

The old man stopped laughing and nodded as they began their walk again. That was enough of an explanation for the man to understand. While the sidhe purposely kept themselves isolated from the rest of the night human world, they knew much about the other clans. The old man, no doubt, knew about the dearg-dul night humans that raised Devin.

“Not been here long, I take it,” the man said, starting to hobble along the path again and leading the way.

“A couple of days,” Devin replied, picking up the cart and following alongside.

“Yet you have been around night humans before,” the man added. Devin nodded. “Yes, milk. What did you think was in there?” the man asked, but his tone hinted that he knew the answer. He wasn’t done teasing Devin yet.

Devin shrugged, a little embarrassed by his assumption. The old man halted, waiting for Devin to answer. The silence was uncomfortable. Suddenly, the man laughed again, throwing back his old, thinly haired head in the process. He was having an amusing time with Devin’s assumptions.

“I bet you thought it was blood, right, day human?” the man guessed. “What did you think? We’re savages that need a pitcher of blood a day? Isn’t that a bit excessive?”

It wasn’t in Devin’s eyes. He had watched as Arianna—the girl he’d spent his life protecting until he met Nessa—consumed more than that a day after she changing into a night human. “That would be nothing compared to what the night humans that raised me used,” Devin replied with a shrug. There was nothing to be embarrassed about since the old man had guessed his answer.

“
Raised
by night humans. As in you were treated as one of them?” the old man questioned. Devin nodded. He was more than one of them. He had been Lord Randolph’s right-hand man for years. “That explains a lot. I did wonder why a day human would wander freely amongst us without fear.” 

It was true. Devin didn’t fear night humans, nor did he fear the sidhe … even before he’d gotten his new power. The dearg-dul clan of vampire-like people that raised him could drink a pitcher of blood per person every day. They all preferred fresh blood from live day humans. Devin should have been scared being a day human and thus food, but he was not. He didn’t fear them—as he was never the one they were looking to drink from—but they still needed a lot of blood to survive, especially right after they turned on their sixteenth birthday. Devin couldn’t pinpoint when his fear went away, exactly, yet night humans were no longer scary as they were when he was a child.