Chapter 7
Mikael
She was not at all as I’d expected.
Short by any fae standard—dark or light— she was incredibly short for a dark fae. Probably only five three, or four at the most. With delicate features. Her skin looked like sun-warmed honey. Her hair was as pale as the first snow with a hint of blue and eyes of a similar shade.
Brilliant, possibly even as smart as I. I’d not had to explain anything to her. But her soft, womanly looks belied the incredible talent that she actually was.
I blew out a deep breath, covering my mouth. I’d been searching for my future empress, knowing I could never ascend the throne without her. I’d known Scimica would never be that. But… Blue… I was sure was my match.
But her rounded ears, blunt teeth, and lack of horns screamed her true heritage. Half-bloods were reviled in our world. Unholy creations usually born of rape. They weren’t accepted and never had been.
And yet…
I looked at the space where she’d been, noting the crumbs on the chair, and stroked my bottom lip.
I wondered when I’d get to see her again.
Grabbing my cane, I walked over to my window and my eyes thinned when I saw the red robed figure dart across the lawn, no one even glanced in her direction.
But I could not look away.
She was like fire.
“You hid her from the world, Damian, but it seems the little bird will finally fly free.”
~*~
Blue
Once outside of the castle grounds and safely away from all prying eyes I transported myself to one other location.
Quickly changing clothes once again, I still smelled that bloody Cyprus oil everywhere. It was disconcerting to say the least. If I smelled it, so would my father. But I’d worry about that later.
Back once more in the middle land, the place mortals called Earth. Though really, Earth was a sphere that held three separate dimensions. Upper, or what mortals called the heavens, but which we in the lower realms simply called the upper. It was where the light fae commonly called home.
Most mortals knew nothing of the world they truly inhabited. And perhaps that was a blessing in disguise. Ignorance was bliss, as they said.
The lower and upper realms were mostly stuck in the Middle Ages. Carriages. Swords. Castles. Which was probably why I loved visiting the middle realm best. It was a place full of magic they called technology. Not as advanced as ours, but impressive all the same.
I was dressed in shredded jeans and a crop top with a black leather jacket. An outfit I could never wear in Demonia.
Shoving my hands into my pockets, I walked down the dingy back alleyways of modern-day Hong Kong.
Neon lights were reflected in the brackish puddles lining the pot hole riddled pavement. This wasn’t the tourist spots that were nice and pretty and picture-perfect looking, but the underbelly of darkness. Felt like home.
I turned down the winding maze, heading toward a small shanty with a rusted tin roof on it.
When I got there, I knocked out a rhythmic pattern.
A peephole slid open and a pair of dark brown eyes looked back at me.
Then the peephole swiftly slid shut before the door opened. The furnishings within had been upgraded recently. I said nothing to the pureblood servant who bowed deeply back at me. Mailina was definitely improving her lot in life, but as long as Erene had all he needed, I would not reprimand her for it.
When I walked in, I found Erene. A chubby two-year-old looked up at me, before jumping to his feet and running toward me.
“Bwu! Bwu! You come back.”
I’d tried not to get close to him. Tried to keep my heart separated, knowing I could never get attached to anything that would weaken me in any way. But as he’d begun to grow and I’d begun to see him as he used to be my heart hadn’t been able to stay unaffected.
Mingled with the joy of seeing him was bottomless pain. I, his sister, had once killed him. In this life he had no knowledge of what I’d done, but I would never be able to escape it.
Dropping to my knees I held my arms out to him. “Erene,” I smiled, wrapping him up in my arms. “You are getting so big! Wow.”
He laughed, kissing my neck with a wet slobbery kiss.
And for just a moment I had a flash of sending my blade through his tiny, little heart. Rage filled my body that I could have ever dared to do that to him. My arms shook as I hugged him tight. Kissing his sweet, dark curls before he finally pulled away.
“Wook. Wook what I made.” He cried as he dragged me by my hand over to the papers he had scattered on the ground.
I stared at the pictures he’d drawn. Bat. Cat. Dog. And me.
I picked up the picture of me. Drawn with the hand of a two-year-old, but I could recognize clearly that it was me. Only a half-breed like me could have that color hair.
Looking at him, I saw the smile shining in his dark blue eyes. “Do you wike it, Bwu?”
Swallowing hard, realizing I could crush his heart with my words, I adopted a gentle tone as I said, “You are so very talented, my Erene. In fact, you’re so good that if someone saw this, you could get hurt.”
The smile died from his eyes. I rubbed his cheek with my knuckles. “You did nothing wrong, Erene, okay. You just can’t sketch me. There are bad people out there, and they would do anything to get their hands on you. So, they can’t ever know that you know me, it’s safer that way. Okay.”
“But you won’t let them wite?” He clutched at my hands with his chubby ones.
Gods, if he only knew that I’d been the biggest monster of them all. The hypocrisy shook me to the core as I whispered a rough, “Never.”
We spent the next few hours together, I read him a bedtime story and only left once he’d finally fallen asleep.
Feeling refreshed as I walked out the room, I cracked my back and rolled my neck from side to side. Unlike the mages of the underworld, my energy levels could only be recharged by returning every so often to the middle land. My power was more like the Great Light Goddess than the Great Darkness’s. I needed to feed off the goddess’s power embedded within the very soil of this land to recharge. I didn’t need to be here long, even just stepping one foot in this world was enough. Now, if I could ever actually enter the upper land, I imagined I’d never have to recharge again, being that close to the goddess herself would probably supercharge me permanently. But alas, that was not to be. I was half-breed and absolutely forbidden from passing through those gates.
I looked at Erene’s nurse maid who glanced up at me with a mixture of disgust and pride. She was a pureblood, with gray hair and dull brown irises, I had no idea how Mailina had gotten her hands on a pureblood. But considering Mailina now had wealth I imagined she’d bought the slave off the black market.
It was rare for a pureblood to be in the middle land. Only a noble with access to mana orbs could make the journey, that or, she’d been banished. If I were a betting woman, I’d say the latter, considering the station she’d taken on.
Either way, I didn’t like her. But purebloods were innately more powerful than most. Besides, I’d stolen the nursemaid’s soul immediately, even if she wanted to, she could never betray me or my brother.
It made no difference to me if she hated me or not, the only important thing was keeping Erene alive. And as long as I controlled her soul she would always be forced to do my bidding.
“Any news?”
For a moment it seemed she intended not to answer, but the longer she refused me the more the fire in her belly would burn. I’d consumed her soul, to deny me anything meant absolute and instant pain for her. Her nostrils flared, her body began to tremble, and then finally she gasped, before shaking her head.
I smirked. Someday she’d learn her place. But the pride of a pureblood was without equal.
“You know how to reach me if anything happens.”
She dipped her head once, resentment burning like fire in her muddy eyes.
“See that nothing does.” Then I turned. “Mailina!”
Instantly the half spirit apparated before me. Her salt and pepper hair was pulled back in a severe bun.
Without warning I shoved my hand into her throat, lifting her off the ground as easily as swatting at a gnat. Her claws worked furiously to free my hands from her. Drawing blood, but I didn’t flinch. I only grinned back.
“I fear I’ve been too lax with you, my pet,” I said softly, cruelly. My grin grew wider as her eyes began to turn a milky shade. “Have you forgotten who I am?”
She gasped, her fingers still weakly clawing at mine. “Nah…no,” she gasped through lips that were now ringed in blue.
“What was the one rule I gave you?”
Her breaths were short and shallow, painful to hear. My thumb flexed against her trachea. It would be all too easy to snap it right in half. But instead, I relaxed my grip, just enough for her to take in a choking gasp of air. Coughing violently, she hissed, “guard. Him.”
“Mm.” I dropped her.
She sprawled out at my feet before me, clutching at her already bruising neck. I smirked. “I might seem domesticated, but I promise you, I’m not.”
“But, mistress,” she squeezed out between whizzes, “what? Did I. Do. Wro—”
I lifted a brow, sneering down at her. “The fact that you don’t already know makes me so very sad.”
Her eyes were still ringed in that ghostly shade of white that betrayed her true nature.
“My image is not to be anywhere in this place. Should I find another one, I will kill you. This is my first and only warning. And if there is so much as a scratch on that boy,” I glared at the nursemaid who instantly straightened in her seat, “well…” I laughed, “Just don’t let that happen. Okay?”
Then shoving my hands into my pockets, I left. They’d gotten the message loud and clear. Their lives were in my hands. They knew it. I knew it. What more needed to be said? Making certain to keep anyone or anything off my scent I headed back out the maze the same way I’d entered, returning to Demonia an hour later.
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