Reign Check

“I know.” He gave me a serious look. “Just … please keep an eye on him, Nikki. As much as I’m worried about you making this journey to appease the queen, I worry for Michael as well. He’s never met another of his kind before.”

I nodded. “I’ll do my best to keep him away from any bad influences.”

A slight smile moved across his expression. “You’ll protect both of us, will you?”

“I’ll try.”

He placed his hands on either side of my face before leaning over to kiss my forehead. A lump of emotion formed in my throat. I’d never had a real father before — one who made me feel like he cared what happened to me.

“I don’t agree with your decision to meet with the queen at her whim, but I’ll respect your wishes this time, only because she’s promised you will come to no harm. Queen Sephina may be many things I don’t care for, but I know her to be truthful.”

“Thank you,” I said.

“You can call Michael back in here now,” he said.

“Michael!” I yelled.

My father actually laughed out loud at that. “No, not like that. With your telepathic bond.”

“Oh, that.”

Michael … are you there? I projected the thought, hoping he was close enough to hear me.

::Yes, Princess?:: It was always jarring to hear him in my head, but strangely reassuring at the same time.

I have full approval to head to the Underworld.

::Good. And you and your father are finished discussing me again?:: There was a wry tone to the words.

I would have smiled at that if I wasn’t still thinking about everything I’d just learned about Michael, and about Shadows in general.

For now.

::Then I’ll be right there.::

Shadow 101 class was over for the day. I didn’t like most of what my father had told me. He said a lot of things so casually, like there was nothing bizarre about the dark worlds and his own strange and archaic way of looking at certain things — like servants and freedom and adhering to rules. I’d never agree that anyone should be forced to be a servant, no matter who or what they were — it was just wrong. And forced to repress their powers? Kept from meeting more of their kind in case they would be influenced in any way?

I preferred the idea that Michael should be in charge of his own life without anyone telling him what he could and couldn’t do.

This was not the first time I’d been told Shadows were potentially dangerous. But as I turned it over in my mind, I realized that demons were also dangerous. So were faeries. And so were … humans. We were all in the same potentially perilous boat, weren’t we? I figured, as long as nobody decided to bash the other over the head with the oars, we’d be okay.

Still, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy about it all. I’d seen Michael use his abilities, and, yes, he’d been very powerful. But I never would believe he could be dangerous to anyone who didn’t completely deserve it.

Another minute went by before Michael entered the room. When he saw me, he smiled, and that guarded expression he’d had since seeing Rhys kiss me under the mistletoe lifted from his eyes. He had a really amazing smile.

My heart skipped a beat.

I’d admit it, I liked Rhys. Despite the evidence that I probably shouldn’t, I couldn’t help myself. But how I felt about the faery king paled in comparison to how I felt about Michael.

On our official visit to the Underworld, Michael would be going as the Shadowlands’ princess’s personal servant. I knew better than to wear my “Freedom for Shadows” or my “Michael’s Sort-of Girlfriend” T-shirts. I didn’t know the demon council, but I did know they were not beings I wanted to mess with.

I didn’t want to go. This wasn’t something I was looking forward to in any way, shape, or form. I was going because I was afraid of the consequences of not going. They would not only affect me but also my father and the entire Shadowlands kingdom — and in turn that affected the human and faery worlds. Talk about pressure.

Duty called. I could handle it. I’d make a charming, wonderful impression on the council, and everyone would become good friends.

It was possible. Not probable, but possible.

And here I thought Melinda’s Christmas party was the toughest thing I’d have to get through today. Wrong. So very wrong.

My father squeezed my hand in his, then released me. He waved his arm at the wall, I felt a wave of power waft over me, and a moment later a gateway appeared five feet from us, much like the one he’d opened to send Kieran back home.

“You can still change your mind,” he said to me. “You don’t have to go.”

Before I took another step, I considered that. I could leave now. Head back to Melinda’s party, to my seminormal life, and try to mend things with my best friend. I still had to figure out what to do about the fact she was probably, if not definitely, in training to become a demon slayer. That was important.

But I’d have to deal with it another day.

“We’ll be back as soon as possible,” I said.

Then I summoned up enough courage — pushing past the dread that crept up inside me and wrapped itself around my throat like an ill-fitting turtleneck — to walk through the gateway. It did help to know Michael was right behind me as the vortex swept us away from my father’s castle and into the very heart of the Underworld.

16

Based on my limited experience with the Shadowlands — gray stormy skies; scary black castle; sharp, rocky ground beneath my feet; and cold, dry winds — I’d expected an even more desolate wasteland for the Underworld. But I’d been wrong.

The Underworld looked like a city. A big one, with paved streets and tall chrome-and-glass skyscrapers looming all around me. I could barely see the skies above where the gateway let me and Michael off on a long, pale sidewalk, but what little I could see appeared to be reassuringly blue.

“You’re getting stronger, Princess,” Michael commented.

“Oh?” I looked at him before realizing I had his arm in a death grip. I released him. “Sorry.”

He smiled. “It’s okay. It’s my first time here, too, at least that I can remember. So it is a bit strange, isn’t it?”

“That’s an understatement,” I said.

Again, that smile of his was totally distracting. I found myself very quickly lost in it, forgetting for a moment that we’d just entered a completely different world. But I was jolted out of my daze when he suddenly pushed me back a few feet behind him.

“What are you—?” I began, when I turned to see what had prompted him to block me.

A blonde woman now stood in front of us. An unfortunately familiar blonde woman.

“I was asked to wait here for your arrival,” my aunt Elizabeth said. “Welcome to the Underworld, Nikki.”

The fear and surprise caused pain to sweep through me, and I knew my horns had formed because of the burning, tingling sensation on either side of my head. I clenched my fists and felt the sharp talons dig into my skin. A small, unconscious hiss slipped through my rapidly sharpening teeth at the sight of the woman who’d nearly succeeded in murdering me and my father only last week.

“What are you doing here?” Michael growled.

Elizabeth’s eyebrows went up as if surprised by our visceral reaction to her. “Prince Kieran sent me to fetch you both and lead you to the castle. Otherwise, would you be able to find your way without a guide? I don’t think you have a map.”

“Why would he send you?”

“Because no one else was available.”