Reign Check (25 page)

“Can we get this opened?” I asked.

The guard nodded. “Just a sec. I need to finish this pardon before we’ll be able to pass through with the Shadow. Next time, please call ahead.”

Michael shook his head. “I think you have me confused with someone else. My father died a long time ago.”

“Yes, he did. He was murdered because he refused to be a slave to demonkind. And look at you.” Jonas’s eyes narrowed. “He’d be ashamed that his only son has accepted that fate without a fight.”

“How do you even know who I am?”

“Because you look exactly like your father. You’re from a strong line, a royal line, one that was exterminated because of that strength. You could lead us out of this slavery, out of this treatment at the hands of demons. They took away our land and they took away our freedom, and they slaughtered the ones who wouldn’t comply, both then and now. How can you sit back and not want to do something about that?”

The guard rapped on the glass and looked at Kassandra. “See what we have to put up with down here, Princess? But this glass is strong enough to hold anyone, so don’t worry.”

“Do I look worried?” she replied. “Just hurry up.”

“Yes, Princess.”

Jonas’s gaze moved to Michael’s grayish amulet. “Looks like you’ve used your power recently. That’s a good start. But do you know how to replenish your energy now and become even stronger than you were before? I bet you don’t even know half of what you can really do.”

“Why did you kill the king and queen of the faery realm?” I asked.

His green eyes moved to me. “Because the opportunity presented itself. And because I needed to come here to this dungeon and wait until this moment arrived. I’ve been waiting for you, Michael.”

“You know my name?”

“Of course.”

Michael shook his head. “And you knew I’d be here?”

“Yes,” Jonas replied.

“How?” I asked.

His unfriendly green eyes moved to me. “It was a prophecy related to me several years ago, but it was very specific. It stated that Michael, the young Shadow prince whose kingdom was stolen from him, would be imprisoned here. Now. If I wanted to find him, to meet him, then I had to set in motion several events to get myself here. So I did what I had to do.”

A prophecy? About Michael?

Jonas smiled at the shock on my face. “Did you think prophecies only concerned those who currently are royalty? Do you think a Shadow is so worthless a creature that he does not have any power or influence at all?”

“Of course that’s not what I think.” I glared at him, the initial shock burned away by a flicker of hot anger.

“So you chose to be brought to this dungeon because of this … this prophecy that said I’d be here, too.” Michael’s voice was filled with confusion.

“Yes. Do you think these demons could contain me if I didn’t wish to be here?”

“I … I don’t know.”

“Don’t let them fill your head with lies. That’s what demons do—they lie.”

“Enough,” the guard barked, finally pocketing his handheld device. “Let’s move on.”

“Yes,” Jonas said. “I’m ready to move on.”

He held his hands to either side of the locked door and closed his eyes for a moment. A pulse of green light moved from him to the door itself. A moment later, it flew open, the glass shattering and falling to the ground like sugar. Kassandra shrieked loudly. Or maybe it was me.

Then Jonas took off his amulet, lifting the gold chain over his head, and threw it onto the cot along the side of the cell. My heart beat faster. A Shadow wasn’t ever supposed to remove his amulet. When Michael’s had been taken away from him, he’d lost his solid form and had begun fading away to nothing. It was a punishment, not a choice. But Jonas removed his willingly? What was he trying to do? Kill himself?

“Watch and learn,” the Shadow said before swiftly moving through the doorway into the wide hallway where we stood.

The guard immediately tried to grab him, but his hands slipped right through Jonas’s body—it now had no more substance than a ghost. Instead of looking distraught by this, Jonas looked amused.

He glanced at Michael, who’d automatically moved in front of me, blocking me from harm.

I struggled to swallow the lump in my throat. How could anyone accuse Michael of being dangerous? Everything he did was to protect me—even now, when he truly believed I’d just given him away to someone else. It only made me want to protect him in return.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Michael demanded.

“Demons have kept many things from Shadows because they’re afraid of us,” Jonas said. “Our amulet gives us form and function and strength; we’re led to believe that without it we’re helpless and will fade to nothing.” His jaw clenched. “But the truth is, in our Shadow form we can be more powerful than any demon.”

The guard was calling for backup, panic gathering in his voice.

“Watch and learn, my prince,” Jonas said again to Michael. He held his hands at his sides, palms up.

I could barely believe my eyes as I watched Jonas’s form turn dark and formless until there was nothing left of him but a moving shadow on the floor.

Another guard ran up to us. “What’s going on?”

“Jonas. He … he’s escaping. I think,” the first guard said, looking confused. At that moment, an alarm began to blare, same as the one that sounded after Michael killed the hellhound.

“Michael.” I touched his shoulder. “Be careful.”

“Just stay behind me,” he snapped.

“What about that one?” the second guard asked, looking at Michael. “He’s a Shadow, too, isn’t he?”

The first guard’s attention was fully on Jonas’s shadow. “Forget him. It’s Jonas who’s the problem. But I don’t know how to capture him when he’s in this form.”

I gasped and pointed at the guard’s leg. The dark shadow was now crawling up it. The guard tried to brush it off, but it was impossible.

“Do you see?” Jonas’s voice was still clear. “In this form they can’t hurt us. They can’t stop us. However, without our amulets, we need to maintain our energy a different way. We do this by absorbing the energy of others—I did this with the faeries who were foolish enough to believe there could be peace between them and the demon worlds.”

The guard took quick, short breaths as the shadow swirled around him like a tornado, darkening in color and gaining opacity until it obliterated his entire form. A few seconds later it became transparent again and I could see the guard’s face, his eyes wide and terrified. Then the guard’s eyes rolled back so I could only see the whites, and he fell backward to the floor.

My heart hammered against my rib cage. Kassandra clutched my arm—her face was pale with shock.

The second guard staggered back. “He’s … he’s dead!”

The sound of the alarm made it hard to hear anything else; hard to
think
about anything else. I felt frozen in place. It had all happened so fast—less than twenty seconds from beginning to end.

Jonas rematerialized in front of Michael. His eyes now burned bright green and a smile spread across his face. “Do you see?”

Michael nodded, his jaw tight. “Yes, I see.”

“Join me. We can change the worlds.”

Michael’s gaze moved to the dead guard. “Did my father do that as well? Drain demons and faeries for their energy?”

“Your father … ,” Jonas said, and sighed. “His friendship with a demon prince prevented him from taking the necessary steps that would have made a difference to us all. That friendship ultimately led to his death. I won’t make the same mistake, and neither should you.”

Was he talking about my father? He’d mentioned that he knew Michael’s parents, but were they friends, too? Was that why he felt the responsibility of looking after Michael all these years?

Had my father been protecting Michael from other demons? Or from the chance he’d meet another Shadow like Jonas?

When Michael didn’t answer right away, Jonas reached past him and grabbed me. I tried to pull away, but there was nothing to pull away from. He had no substance. He could grasp me, but I couldn’t fight against him in return.

“You’re only half demon,” he said, cocking his head to the side. “I wonder what you’d taste like.”

“Let go of her!” Michael demanded.

“I heard what she said before. She’d give you away as if you were no better than an inanimate object. Why would you care about someone like that?”

Michael’s eyes flicked to me. I could see the pain and doubt there.

“Michael—,” I began.

But I couldn’t finish what I was trying to say. Jonas had turned to shadow form again, and as he swirled around me, I started to feel the strangest draining sensation. He was absorbing my energy, the same as he’d done to the guard.

It had killed the guard.

I fought hard against it. I focused on my dragon’s tear bracelet to help give me extra strength, and it began to work. The draining stopped, but only for a moment. Then it started again, worse than before. Jonas was very strong. He’d done this many times before, hadn’t he? And not just to Rhys’s parents and the guard.

It didn’t hurt. Despite my fear and panic, it felt only like I was growing more and more tired. All I wanted to do was close my eyes and go to sleep.

Kassandra held a hand to her mouth as she watched with horror.

Again I thought of my mom. And my dad. And Michael and Melinda … and an image of Rhys flitted through my mind as well. So much for promising him I’d be careful. I was going to die the same way his mom and dad had.

Out of my narrowed vision I watched Michael take off his amulet and throw it to the side, his attention focused on me and the dark tornado that now surrounded my body. He looked uncertain for a moment, but his brow creased as if he was concentrating very hard on something. The next moment he darkened to a formless black shadow that sank to the floor and moved rapidly toward me.

“Excellent,” Jonas said. “You’re a natural at this, my prince.”

“Thank you for showing me what we can do,” Michael replied. “All of these years I had no idea.”

Had Michael decided to join Jonas? They could so easily drain demons of their energy, and I couldn’t see any way to fight back other than using my bracelet to prolong the inevitable.

No, Michael wouldn’t do that. He
wouldn’t.

Wouldn’t do what? Choose to be a prince rather than a servant? Choose to have his freedom rather than be at the mercy of someone like me giving him away any time it pleased me?

But I didn’t think of Michael as my servant—I never had and I never would. No matter what. I wished he knew that without any doubt.

This had to be the second prophecy that Irena told me about—the darkness consuming me. Jonas was going to kill me.

I was close to losing consciousness now, and I knew when it happened, that would be it. I’d be dead, drained of all my energy to help feed a Shadow.

Then I felt something. It was as if Jonas’s shadow was being pulled away from me.

“What are you doing?” Jonas growled.

“Stopping you,” Michael snarled back.

“You’d give up a chance to change the world? To fight at my side? All to protect this selfish princess who couldn’t care less about you?”

“You don’t know her.”

“And you do?”

“I think I do.”

“Then you’re a fool.”

“Maybe you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right. This is your chance to change things. To choose which side you’ll fight on, now and in the future.”

Jonas’s hold grew tighter on me again. But I’d taken the short reprieve to focus all my attention on my dragon’s tear. I knew it would help me turn to my stronger Darkling form. Weak power flowed along my arms into my hands, and I attempted to push Jonas away.

It didn’t work. I wasn’t even able to pop a horn. I felt the draining sensation begin again.

“Michael—,” I managed. I couldn’t see him. All I could see was one shadow on me and another swirling around, agitated. Then Michael’s shadow attached itself to me as well.

He’d chosen sides. He was going to help Jonas drain me of my last bit of energy, wasn’t he?

Hope flittered away from me.

“Stop,” Jonas said, and there was no smile in his voice now. There was panic. “No, you mustn’t—”

He gasped. Whatever Michael was doing to him wasn’t pain free and drowse inducing. All I could see was swirling gray and black, a disembodied battle surrounding me. I couldn’t even tell the two shadows apart.

A moment later I heard an ear-piercing scream. Then nothing.

I was shaking violently. I braced a hand against the glass wall of the cell next to me so I could remain standing. Kassandra rushed to my side and put her arm around my shoulders to help support me.

Michael quickly took form in front of us. His eyes glowed a brighter green than I’d ever seen before. He was filled with power. He’d destroyed Jonas to save me and had absorbed the other Shadow’s energy in the process.

“You both need to leave,” Kassandra said shakily. “Right now.”