“Everyone except Keaton go back to the palace for some sleep,” Devin directed the group. “Can you go back to Jackson and Mori and make sure they stay safe for the day?” Devin asked Keaton, who nodded.
“Jackson and Mori are here?” Turner asked hopefully.
“Not as backup,” Devin replied to what he knew Turner was thinking. “I needed help with another project.”
Nessa raised her eyebrows at Devin. He shook his head as if to say not now. He wasn’t quite ready to show her what he was doing, and part of him worried that she wouldn’t understand and be hurt by it all. Devin directed the group to the doorway and paused as they began to walk in front of him. He hoped this would all end finally. He didn’t want to continue fighting with the sidhe. They needed a new world. They needed to be able to choose for themselves. The sidhe world needed to find a new way to live and it was almost time to show them.
Nessa woke the next morning to her uncle calling for her from the front room in her apartment at the palace. She didn’t want to move. She was comfy in bed, even if Devin had already been gone for hours. He had been kind enough to stay with her when she went to sleep, but he wasn’t a long sleeper. She heard him leave, but didn’t have to energy to accost him on his actions. Everything was tiring. Dating was tiring. People trying to constantly kill her was tiring. Dealing with all those people wanting her to rule was tiring. She had been queen for less than two days and already wanted a break.
“Nessa,” Uncle Rolf called again, this time pushing her door open a crack.
He paced the front room and stopped at her closed guest room door. Nessa got the feeling he was going to peek into that room also, so she hurried to get up. They needed to keep Maria and Cassie a secret, which would be hard to do if her uncle opened the door. They were still passed out in that room with Turner.
“Uncle, what is it?” Nessa asked, rubbing her eyes, but happy to see that she had distracted him from investigating the room.
Rolf turned back to her with a grin. He was more than ecstatic. His pacing had been from happy energy this time, rather than the nerves that had been there for the past week.
“Liam wants to marry you,” he said quickly and proudly. He grinned at her, waiting for her to reply.
Uncle Rolf had grown old over the years, and Nessa was just now seeing it. His hair was starting to gray at the roots and the deep wrinkle from his smile didn’t seem to leave his face when he was not smiling. The prospect of marriage made him very happy. She hated to lie to him further, but she had promised Devin. He was certain the witch sidhe would be listening, and they would never know when or how. They couldn’t let their plan out.
“Really?” She gave the best reply she could. It wasn’t that Liam was a bad catch; she just didn’t want to marry him.
“Ahh, I know he isn’t your day human prince and all, but he’s a fine catch. He comes from a good family, and marriage to him will help stabilize everything. Devin isn’t one of us, and he never will be. You had to have known that. He doesn’t understand our ways, but Liam does. You need someone beside you that will keep our traditions. You need someone that already knows the sidhe. Liam will make a fine king,” Rolf stated.
While she appreciated his honesty, she wasn’t sure she agreed. Tradition was killing the sidhe. Her uncle had always wanted change, but what he wanted was very limited change. He didn’t want real change. The older sidhe were never going to do it no matter what they said.
Nessa scratched her head as she went to her small kitchen to search for something to eat. She honestly couldn’t remember the last time she ate. This life as queen was a lot more stressful than she had imagined it would be. Wasn’t a queen supposed to sit around and do nothing? So far she had found that wasn’t the case. Maybe that was why Rhys finally snapped? He had never been the nicest brother growing up, but he wasn’t the monster he had died as. Maybe the stress of the throne had gotten to him.
“So, what happens now?” Nessa asked. She had a good clue from the talks with everyone the night before, but if she were to play her part well, she had to pretend to not know.
“Well, since Liam asked this afternoon, I think we can swing a dinner tonight for everyone. Most of the important people remained here since there were sidhe courting you. You know, it’s tradition after all. The staff will have to work a little harder, but we can do the ceremony tonight.” Uncle Rolf was still grinning.
Nessa tried to make her smile natural as she nodded back, but she was sure it came off as more of a grimace. All the talk of engagements and courting first thing after waking up was a bit much for her to pretend to enjoy. Nessa didn’t want to marry anyone but Devin. She finally understood that, but she could say nothing. Uncle Rolf didn’t seem to notice as he said good-bye and left humming.
Turner cracked open the doorway to the guest room and peered out. Since the room was empty, he stepped a foot out into the living room with Nessa.
“Phew.” He pretended to wipe his brow.
“What would we do if he saw them?” Nessa asked. The only extra person that could come in her apartment was her uncle. She regretted not letting him in on the details, but there was no way she could tell him now. He was so happy it made her not want to disappoint him either.
“Everyone already met Cassie, but I was going to have to jump in bed with Maria, and pretend she was my girlfriend or something,” Turner replied with fake horror while wiggling his eyebrows.
Maria was standing behind him with her hands on her hips. She had a fake scowl to go with his fake face.
“You’re a bit too young for me,” she commented.
Nessa laughed. She didn’t think Turner was trying to make being Maria’s boyfriend an undesirable thing. In fact, Nessa had caught him checking out the older witch more than once, and why not? Maria was beautiful. Long, thick, dark hair and dark eyes made her look very exotic. It didn’t hurt that she had curves in all the right places, either. Actually, Nessa was sure that his disgust was faked only for Nessa to get a laugh.
“Now out, my fake boyfriend,” Maria said, shooing Turner into the front room with Nessa. Maria shut the door behind him.
Turner pretended to be hurt by the witch pushing him out of the room, but even Nessa knew better. It took a lot to make him even smile slightly less than normal. He was just naturally a happy person. With all the stress, she was happy to have him around. She saw now why Devin was best friends with him. When she had first met him, she wondered how they could even be friends let alone best friends. Turner was happy-go-lucky all the time, and Devin was serious. Turner was what you needed around in such a stressful life as Devin’s. He could take any situation and make it fun. Devin needed that, and maybe Turner needed a bit of the seriousness that Devin brought all the time, too. They were perfect friends.
“I just thought of something while your uncle was here. One thing no one asked you before: how are your acting skills?” Moving to stand beside her, Turner took the poured glass of orange juice from her before she could take a drink.
“Acting skills?” Nessa asked, confused.
“Well, since there will be an engagement tonight, I think you’ll need to do a little acting to convince everyone. That is, unless you really do want to get engaged to Liam.” Turner snatched the apple she had just picked up.
“Is this your passive-aggressive way of asking me if I want to be with Devin or not?” Nessa reached forward and tried to take her apple back. Turner was quicker than she thought, and he pulled away at just the right moment.
“Possibly, depends on what your answer is,” Turner replied.
Nessa pretended to reach for the apple again with her right hand, forcing him to pull to the left as he had just done a moment before. She waited and reached out at the perfect time with her left hand to take the apple back from Turner. She could play his game, too.
“I have no intention of marrying anyone without it being my complete choice,” Nessa stated cryptically before biting into the apple. She smiled at Turn
er and walked back to her bedroom to get changed for the day.
Devin made one last sweep of the empty hall. He was certain it wouldn’t remain empty for long. The ceremony was to begin in twenty minutes, and everyone would show up right beforehand. Cassie sat on the edge of the stage and watched Devin make his rounds. He had checked everything over half a dozen times, but he was still checking again. Devin was always like that. He wanted to be sure of everything, especially since people were putting their lives out there. He couldn’t help the need to protect everyone.
“Do you think we’re ready?” Cassie asked, not getting specific. Maria and Turner were still tracking the witch trail through the palace.
“Can one truly be ready for things like this?” Devin asked in reply.
Cassie squished up her nose at him, not happy that he answered a question with a question. “I’m almost ready for the other thing, too,” she said.
Devin approached and sat down beside her.
“Good. We can take care of that after we take care of this.” He was still looking over the place, but no longer pacing around. His watchfulness couldn’t be dulled, even when there was no one around.
“Why is that good?” Cassie seemed confused.
“Why what?” he asked, scanning the seats now.
“Why break the bond?” She was braver now that she was alone with Devin. “Anyone can see that she loves you and only you. Why break it if that is so?”
“How much do you know about these bonds?” Devin asked. He couldn’t go into specifics about night humans, but Cassie had some sort of understanding of the bond between him and Nessa.
“It’s some sort of magical blood bond. I’ve been trying to learn more from studying yours, but I don’t know much,” Cassie admitted.
Life would have been easier if someone had told the young witch about night humans, but Devin was sure she could be given a little more information without giving away the night human world.
“This bond connects us, that is true, but do you understand what that means?” Cassie shook her head no, so Devin continued. “It means I feel what she feels. I know when she needs me. She knows when I need her. We are always connected. We feel each other mentally, but we also feel each other more physically. When she’s in a room, it’s like she’s the sun, and I’m a planet. I gravitate to her no matter what I do. I’m always drawn to her, and her to me. You can’t even look at another person again without thinking of the one you are bonded to,” Devin explained.
“Wow, instant love like I read about in books?” Cassie tried to bring the situation to a level she understood. It was similar, except that they chose to bond to each other permanently when they swapped blood.
“That and much more,” Devin replied as he finished his scan of the chairs.
“And that’s a problem because …” Cassie still didn’t understand.
Idealized love was appealing to anyone, but Devin knew the truth. He didn’t want insta-love, he wanted the real thing.
“Because I want her to choose me because she has an actual choice. I don’t want her to think she had to choose me. I don’t want how I feel to play across the bond and make her choose me,” Devin explained. “This needs to be her decision, and it can’t be when the bond is intact. Nothing is just my or her decision now. We feel everything the other person feels.”
“But you want her to choose you?” Cassie asked, still a bit confused. She thought for a moment and added, “You don’t want to make her choose you, but you want her to choose you.” Cassie was getting it a bit. It sounded a little messed up, but it was true. Devin wanted real love.
“Yeah, that’s pretty much it,” Devin answered as their first guest arrived. Devin stood, and Cassie followed him to a chair that was way off to the side.
“What if she doesn’t want to break it?” Cassie now talked in hushed tones, though Devin knew that the sidhe that entered would want nothing to do with the day humans in the room.
Devin shrugged. “I don’t think she knows what she wants. That’s why I need to break the bond. She can finally listen to her own heart and discover what she wants.”
Cassie opened up her mouth to argue when another sidhe entered.
“Stay here and don’t move. I have a better vantage point right there.” Devin stood and pointed to the stage right next to where Cassie was sitting. “I can keep watch over you and the sidhe from there.”
Devin watched the crowd as more sidhe trickled into the room. The nobles and those that felt they were the highest in line were obvious by their air of superiority. None of them even glanced his way. He didn’t care, but he understood what Rolf had been worried about. Nessa didn’t know that Devin had been in the guest room with Turner and Maria planning their search of the palace.
While the announcement was going on, and everyone was gathered in the auditorium, it would be the perfect time for Turner and Mria to go into rooms to search. They just had to be careful, and Devin helped them plan the most efficient route. He had heard everything Rolf had said. Devin respected the older man and understood that it wasn’t personal that he didn’t like Devin, he just wanted Nessa to be safe. He couldn’t blame the man—Devin wanted that, too.
When the room finally filled with people, Rolf led Nessa into the room and up to the stage. She smiled at everyone, but Devin saw how fake it was. It was a good thing none of the sidhe really knew her, or they would see right through her façade. Nessa stood on the stage awkwardly as she waited, and Rolf began to talk. Her discomfort and awkwardness in the spotlight made her even more endearing to Devin. She wasn’t in a position of power because she wanted it. People like that tended to make the best rulers. The sidhe were lucky to have her, even if they didn’t realize it themselves.
Rolf talked about the history of the sidhe and their traditions, but Devin tuned his words out. It didn’t matter that much to him at this point. Maybe in the future he could learn more about traditions, but right now he had a job to do. Liam was planning to make his pledge, and Devin need to be sure that wherever the witch was, they would find him before he had a chance to attack Liam. Devin was startled as the crowd began to stand and move. He jumped down from the stage to be next to Cassie.
“Umm, guess we go with them?” she asked hesitantly.
“Go with them?” Devin asked. He should have been paying attention to Rolf.
‘We’re going to a dinner and second ball in too few days,’ Nessa told Devin, who smiled. She had to have seen his confusion or felt it across the bond.
‘So no ring yet?’ Devin asked. He was ready to find the witch.
‘No, we have all night to wait. Seems there’s much more than even Ronan expected,’ Nessa replied with a mental sigh.
She was tired. Devin wished he could just scoop her up and put her back to bed. This had been a stressful trip back to the sidhe, and even now the excitement had not ended. They had thought getting her crowned would bring things to an end, but it didn’t. There was always more just beyond what they thought.
Nessa was still looking at him as they left to be sure that he was coming. Devin nodded and followed behind all the sidhe. He wouldn’t leave her unprotected. The few straggler sidhe that were unlucky enough to be behind him kept their distance. While the newcomers didn’t know about Devin and his power, the people behind them did. Devin watched the crowd in front of him, but he tried his best to keep an eye on the ones following as well.
He entered the ballroom behind the crowd and noticed everything was set up exactly as it had been for her coronation ball. The decorations had been changed, but the arrangement was still the same, except for one little detail; Liam was now sitting at Nessa’s table. Devin waited as everyone made their way to the same seats. He nodded to Cassie, and they made a wide circle around the sitting sidhe to their own table near Nessa. Only two seats remained.
“Table for two,” Cassie giggled as she noticed they would be alone.
At least she found the sidhe’s behavior humorous and not as h
ostile as Devin saw it. He wished sometimes that he could be as blind to the night human world as Cassie was. Blissful ignorance would have been nice for a life, but there was no changing that. He was stuck. He’d never admit it, but he was happy to be stuck with Nessa. Without the night human world, he would have never met her.
Food was brought out as soon as everyone was seated. Devin looked down at it but was more interested in finding the witch. He could feel the tingles of witch magic in the air … or at least he thought so. The witch was somewhere. He looked from face to face with each bite he took, never really looking closely at what he ate. Each time he found a new face that could be the witch, he was sure that they weren’t. It wasn’t like Devin could pick out a witch by looks alone, not even Cassie could do that, but Devin felt that if he looked hard enough something would make the witch sidhe seem different. Devin kept checking with Cassie, but she didn’t seem to feel a witch.
As the meal progressed, he grew more disappointed in his inability to keep Nessa safe. The witch was still in the room somewhere, and he couldn’t find them. Maybe she did need someone like Liam after all.
“Don’t drink that,” Cassie told Devin as he grabbed the glass in front of him. Startled out of his thoughts, he let the drink remain on the table.
“Why not?” he asked quietly, but urgently.
“I don’t know what is in it, but your drink is different than everyone else’s,” Cassie explained.
Devin looked at the red mixture. Of course his was different. The staff wasn’t clueless enough to feed him blood, so his would be just wine compared to the glasses around the room filled with blood, but how could he tell Cassie that? She didn’t know about the night humans, and he had promised Maria that she wouldn’t find out while in the village. When Cassie took her glass and brought it to her lips, Devin reached up to stop her. If his was the only different one, then he had to keep her from drinking blood and asking what was going on.