Dark World (Book I in the Dark World Trilogy) (16 page)

Malus had the crown. She was the Devil of
Dark World. With an army of undead soldiers outnumbering his own
ten to one, how was he going to reclaim his birthright?

And how can I kill my own
mother?

“
Why don’t you have shackles
on your wings?” Fate’s eyes lingered on Ever’s back as she coddled
Ick.

“
I was born
after
the great escape,” Ever said,
stroking Ick under his chin. “Almost everyone here was once a
slave. Malus’s slaves. The flying restraints were placed on them
then.”

Ick purred loudly and nuzzled his cheek
against the princess’s hand, then flipped onto his back, exposing
his soft, white stomach and awaited a tummy rub.

“
Why can’t they just take
the shackles off?”

“
Only Malus can remove them.
They have an enchantment placed upon them.”

“
This Malus sounds awful.” A
flicker of recognition lit within Fate as the name ‘Malus’ tumbled
out of her mouth.

“
My daughter…come home.”
The voice was so
intoxicating. So alluring.

The demon girl nodded, her eyes filled
with sadness. “She’s responsible for the slaughter of thousands. It
was—a culling.”

Fate shivered. “But the demons seem so
strong.”

Ever set Ick onto the bed. He curled up
onto the pillow, his white, furry wings wrapped around his tiny
body, and began snoring immediately.

With a wistful sigh, Ever explained,
“When my grandfather decided to seal the great chasm leading to the
Surface, he knew it would weaken the demons, but he must not have
known it would make them mortal. When Malus discovered his error,
she sent her army of killers out to find and destroy all demons.
Including my mother.”

“
Killers?” Fate
swallowed.

Ever’s sapphire eyes hardened.
“Shades.”

“
Do you know how the shade
entered?” Kane questioned a guard on watch the evening the scroll
went missing.

“
No sir.” The guard’s jade
eyes darted about the room where the sacred page once resided. “One
moment it was there, the next…gone.”

His brows knitted together, Kane probed
further. “If you didn’t see anyone, how do you know it was a
shade?” He knew the answer, of course, being that only shades were
capable of touching the scrolls, but he was growing irritated with
the guard’s incompetence.

The guard swallowed and glanced around,
avoiding the prince’s stare.

“
I…don’t,” the guard finally
admitted, a line of sweat protruding above his dark temple. “I just
assumed because…”

“
Never assume.” Kane cut him
off and exhaled sharply, rubbing his forehead with his
palm.

How did he get in? Or
out?

He gazed about the solid chamber,
pausing on the empty glass container in the center. Once perched
upon a stone pedestal, encased by a translucent cube of glass, the
scroll had lain safe for almost a century.

With only one entrance and four
sentries stationed around the scroll at all times, it seemed
impossible that anyone, even a shade, could infiltrate the room
undetected.

The guard then surrendered, his voice
low, “I saw…a black mist.”

“
A black mist?” Kane
repeated, narrowing his eyes at the demon sentinel.

He nodded eagerly. “Yes, it seemed
to…whisk in and out, fast, like the wind.”

“
Why didn’t you say this
before?”

Why was he not receiving straight
answers? Were his people so afraid to tell him the
truth?

The guard simply lowered his eyes to
the floor and shook his head in obvious shame.

With a final scan of the room, no
explanation evident, Kane stormed away. The theft of the scroll was
a devastating blow to the demons, and he now had to decide on his
next move.

He knew what he had to do. Question
was—would Fate help him bring down her own kind?

The ivory princess led Fate and Ick
through a labyrinth of carpeted hallways, an endless, meandering
red river flowing in all directions. Fate wondered how the demon
girl could find her way to the dining room night after night, but
concluded that after spending over one hundred years in the
submerged castle, one would come to know the place like the back of
their hand.

Finally, after passing dozens of
entryways, the princess paused before a set of French doors. She
grasped the handles of gold and pushed them open to reveal a large,
lavish room. A long rectangular table draped with a cream cloth
held a bevy of elegant china dishware, several candelabras and
gleaming silverware. A dozen sleigh back chairs upholstered in ruby
velvet, sat stoic at either side of the table, just waiting for
someone to set themselves upon them.

An enormous crystal chandelier dangled
overhead with hundreds of clear quartz teardrops affixed to it.
Like a diamond crying tears of glitter, the fixture hung in perfect
stasis casting a soft glow over the room.

Fate was in awe of the palace, she
wondered how such a structure could have come to be
underground.

“
Please, have a seat,” Ever
offered graciously. It seemed to please her to have a guest to dote
on, even if it was a shade. “My father should be here shortly,” she
added, seating herself.

Choosing a chair across from Ever, Ick
bounced between four different seats before he decided on one
beside the princess. Fate settled in, absorbing the
atmosphere.

She was certain she hadn’t been
anywhere this fancy when she was human, she would have remembered
seeing something like this, or at least recalled the sensation of
being mesmerized by a mere room.

As if on cue, five demon servants moved
swiftly into the room, four carrying plates of food and one with a
clear, glass pitcher containing some kind of green beverage. One of
the servants moved cautiously to Fate’s end of the table, dropped
the plate before her and exited the room hastily.

Friendly,
Fate thought
sarcastically.

Kane then entered the room and sat
beside his daughter. Fate’s chest fluttered and a knot gathered in
her stomach. Glancing at him, his eyes focused firmly on his plate
and his shoulders stiff, she again wondered if she should stay at
the palace. He didn’t seem too comfortable in her presence.
Occasionally, his gaze would lift as though to look at her, but
would immediately drop it when he came too close to meeting her
eyes.

Fate lowered her own eyes.

He hates me.

Fate pushed the fried blue mushroom
medley around with her fork, eyeing the lump of heated flesh lying
next to them with disgust. She apparently had no use for
carnivorous activities. While it was a familiar activity, her new
body simply wasn’t interested.

Still wearing the black mask, she was
thankful that no one seemed to notice her lack of appetite. It had
been two days since she’d consumed the sphinx’s soul and she
wondered how long it would take before she felt that unquenchable
need. One day? Two? How long before her self-control diminished and
she became some kind of fiendish monster?

Both Kane and Fate avoided eye contact.
She was certain that if their auras were visible, they’d be dodging
one another like two incompatible gases.

Ever seemed blissfully unaware of the
discomfort within the dining room. She was content to nibble at her
food and giggle as she watched Ick devour his meal, burp profusely,
and then lick the plate clean with his tiny, black
tongue.

Taking a deep breath, Fate distracted
herself by getting lost in the beauty of the space again. While
awe-inspiring, the dining room appeared to be in as much disrepair
as the rest of the palace. There were fantastic woolen tapestries
draped along several of the walls, but apparently in attempts to
conceal various fractures.

In an effort to begin a conversation,
Fate asked, “So, how many of you live here?”

Ever looked over at her father,
expecting him to answer, but he maintained his aloof behavior.
“Um,” Ever began, shooting a glare at her father. “Just over five
thousand demons, I think.”

“
Why are there so many human
references here?” Fate blurted suddenly, surprising even
herself.

The demon princess smiled like she knew
a secret. “I think I’ll let my father explain that one, he has an
obsession with human history,” she said as she stood, retrieved Ick
and exited the dining room.

Left alone, the air stiffened,
rebelling against any flow. Fate frowned, wondering if Kane was
upset with her, or just simply couldn’t stand her. She watched him
finish eating, and after several minutes of silence, she decided
she would head back to her room.

Upon her standing, he suddenly
spoke.

“
This palace was once on the
Surface.” His voice was taut. “It belonged to an ancient
civilization. Human. Do you remember much of human history?” his
voice warmed with the question.

She bit her lip, the memories seemed to
be there, but they hovered just out of reach. A sliver of annoyance
rose inside of her. Why was her amnesia so darned selective? She
could remember the most mundane of things: the color of grass, that
she hated pickles and what a car was, but a lot of the knowledge
she yearned to access simply wouldn’t surface.

She reluctantly shook her
head.

Again, awkward silence
loomed.

“
Would you like to see my
favorite room?” he asked suddenly, meeting her eyes.

A strange quiver ran over her as she
allowed her gaze to settle on his. His burning sapphire stare, so
full of torment, moved straight through her soulless
body.

Beneath the black mask, a smile graced
her black lips. “Yes—I would like that.”

Kane led Fate down a darkened corridor
illuminated by candlelit sconces. He didn’t look back to ensure she
was still following him, he could feel her presence well enough.
The energy she exuded was formidable. It was as though she radiated
pure black magic. Her aura extended from her body, reaching for him
like the gentle fingers of a wanton lover.

He clenched his hands into
fists.

What the hell is wrong with
you, Kane? She’s a shade!

Did female shades have some power of
seduction that he was unaware of? Granted, he’d never spent any
amount of time with a shade, especially female, but he’d never
heard of such a thing.

An uncomfortable silence possessed the
space between them. He didn’t want to appear rude, but he honestly
didn’t know what to say to her.

Just talk to her. Ask her
something.

He searched his mind for something
intelligible to query her about. Something about her life on the
Surface.

“
So—Fate,” he began, his
tongue tripping over her name. He thought it ironic he’d named her
yet his nerves prevented him from speaking it properly. “Do you
remember anything about the Surface?”

“
Very little,” she replied,
her voice somewhat quiet. “I remember some very beautiful
things—and some that are not.”

He stopped walking and spun around. “If
I may ask, what were the…not so beautiful things?”

Kane’s heart picked up pace when he
realized how close they were. His eyes slid over the gentle contour
of her pale jaw line as it narrowed towards her petite chin. He
eyed the mask, wishing he could see her lips as she
spoke.

She lowered her glowing eyes and he was
sure he saw them dim with her response. “I remember that I
was—murdered. I can’t remember who—or why—but I can still feel the
pain,” she replied, placing a hand over the center of her
chest.

He felt a pull on his heart. How could
anyone harm this gentle soul? Though he hadn’t known her as a
human, he surmised she must have been amazing. If she only retained
but a fragment of her former self now, as a complete spirit, she
must have been exceptional.

“
And—the beautiful?” he
asked quietly, fighting the urge to take her into his arms and
console her.

She closed her eyes and
sighed.

“
The stars.”

I wonder where he’s taking
me.

Fate followed closely behind the large
demon. She was so confused by him. One moment, he behaved like
she’s the last person he’d ever want to spend time with, then the
next, he’s offering to show her around the palace. And his favorite
room, no less.

He led her down a dark hallway, towards
a set of double doors. It reminded her of a theatre. Again, she
found it profoundly annoying that she could remember these kinds of
tidbits from living on the Surface—but not her name. It was like
her soul had shattered when she arrived in Dark World, only tiny
shards of her former existence remaining, and slowly, she was
putting herself back together, but without all the pieces of the
puzzle.

The doors creaked as he opened them,
the metal hinges groaning in unison. Even with her infrared sight,
it was difficult to make sense of the shadows in the darkness. She
could distinguish several rows of seats and what appeared to be a
booth at the back of the room.