Two days ago I’d had my blood drawn for testing and two days ago I’d started to raid the palace’s library to learn more about this place and hopefully myself. Deimos had been a huge help with this. He pointed me in the direction of the history books and anything that would give me more information on the various powers that could come along with awakening my demon.
I hated to admit it, but he truly wasn’t as bad as I thought he was. He’s been nothing but helpful and kind by answering all my questions and helping me find the right books to read. I’d been shocked to find out that one of his favorite placed to spend time was in the library. Watching him weave through the isles with ease and seemingly know right where everything was confirmed that he wasn’t lying.
I was in the middle of learning about the glowing blue pillars of light surrounding the palace when there was a knock on my door. My eyes stopped in the middle of a sentence as a small jolt of irritation ran through my body.
“Come in!” I said, not wanting to be rude. I was still a guest here after all.
A second later Deimos’ head peeked into the room. Once I saw that it was him, the irritation quickly left my body. I gave him a smile which was enough to get him to open the door completely.
“I know we only just got back from lunch, but I got a fire message from the hospital. Your blood results are in.” He said.
“Already?” I asked. “I thought that it would take at least another day even with the rush you put on it.”
“They knew it was urgent so they put it on the top of their to-do lists. I will admit, it’s nice that they’re already making their future King and Queen a priority.” When he said that, he got a certain gleam in his eye that I couldn’t quite decipher. Something about it gave me a small shiver down my spine, but I did my best to brush it off. My brain still wasn’t on board with the idea of me being his future Queen and wanted to give me more reasons to hate him, that was all.
“Are we going to head there now?” I asked.
“That’s what I came to ask you. I wasn’t sure if you’d want to go a little later or get this over with now.” He answered.
“I’d like to go now. This is something I need to know about now.”
“I will get someone to get a carriage ready. I’ll be by the front doors when you’re ready.”
With that, Deimos was off. I sat on my bed for another moment before heading off to the bathroom to freshen up. I washed my hands and made sure my hair wasn’t all over the place from laying in bed. I slipped my flats back on before heading downstairs. I was proud to say that I had started to remember the layout of the palace so I didn’t need Marigold holding my hand. While I was only learning the few routes that I was taking every day, it was a start.
It made me more curious about the rest of the palace. I had only really seen the main areas, but I knew all palaces had secret little rooms that always held something interesting. I wonder what secrets a demon's palace would hold.
As Deimos said, he was waiting by the front door waiting. I cleared my throat to catch his attention and when he turned around, he instantly started to smile.
“Ready to go?” He asked.
I let out a nervous breath, “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“There’s no need to be nervous my rose, worst thing that will happen is you’ll be told that you’re not a demon.”
For some reason, that made me nervous. I had been told my entire life I had demon blood and it felt like it was the last connection I had to my mother. If I wasn’t a demon, who was I?
Deimos led me out to the carriage and we got to the hospital in record time. When we stepped inside, like last time, we were given top priority and shown to a room.
“The Doctor will be with you shortly.” The woman said.
Deimos and I both sat down in the chairs. Just as we got comfortable, the Doctor came in. He already has a smile on his face as he pulled my results up on a screen. I had no idea what any of it was; it was like looking at a foreign language.
“I can tell that you’re nervous so I won’t bother with a large setup,” The Doctor said. “What you’re looking at here tells us that you’re as much a demon as me or Prince Deimos or anyone else in Xavaria.”
“So her father was right,” Deimos said.
“Well, you sir know as well as I do that with eyes like hers it’s a dead giveaway.” The Doctor said. “I know you know how demons work better than anyone my Prince but are there any questions you have that I might be able to answer?”
“I do actually. Do you know if anything will happen now that she’s here in Xavaria? She already felt the energy change when she entered the Kingdom walls so I was curious if there would be any other effects such as a sudden awakening.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t know. We haven’t had enough cases of children being born outside of Hell or Xavaria to be able to test something like that.”
“Thank you, Doctor. If we can think of any other questions we’ll be sure to reach out.”
The Doctor gave us a small smile, respectfully bowed to Deimos, and exited the room. It didn’t take long for me to fall into my thoughts.
I was a demon. I was just like Deimos and my aunt. Xavaria truly was where I belonged and for my entire life, I had no idea about it. If finding this out was that simple, then why didn’t my father ever do it? Why didn’t he have my blood tested a long time ago? I could’ve been properly awoken and trained but instead of been sitting in Freyborne doing nothing.
I felt Deimos’ hand on my shoulder, “Nesryn?”
My head snapped over to look at Deimos, “Hmm?”
“I asked if you wanted to get some ice cream or something so we could sit down and talk. It would give you a chance to ask any questions that I know are swirling in that head of yours.”
“Oh. Um. Yeah...yeah. That sounds nice.”
He offered his hand to me and I didn’t hesitate to take it. He pulled me to my feet and then slid his free hand onto the small of my back as he led me back to the carriage. He helped me inside as he instructed the driver on where to take us next. I wasn’t paying attention by then, I had already fallen back into my thoughts.
So many questions and thoughts were swirling through my brain that they all strung together. I couldn’t tell where one ended and another started; it was all just a jumbled mess. My brain was overloaded but couldn’t stop itself from creating more questions and thoughts. Soon it all became...loud. My temples started to throb like my brain had reached its capacity and was trying to break out of my skull.
I felt my body shake roughly which was enough to suck me out of my head dropping me back down to earth. I looked up at Deimos through my eyelashes, his eyes were wide and he looked worried. His mouth opened and closed a few times, then he ultimately chose to stay silent. It was then when I notice that the carriage was no longer moving meaning we’d reached our destination.
Deimos led me out of the carriage and into the ice cream parlor. He sat me down in a booth in the corner while he went to order for us. A few minutes later he returned with two small bowls of vanilla. He got himself comfortable and started eating. I on the other hand couldn’t bring myself to eat, I mindlessly poked at the scoops with the spoon.
“Talk to me Nesryn. I know you have a lot going on up there.” Deimos said.
I chewed on my bottom lip, “What happens now?”
“Ideally I would like you to stay here. We can awaken your demon, train you, and then we can rule Xavaria together.” He answered. “But, this isn’t just about me. How would you feel about staying here.”
“I don’t know,” I said quietly. “I don’t know how I feel about anything right now if I’m being completely honest.”
I watched him deflate a bit and I understood why. We’d spent the last few days having fun while we got to know each other. Now with only two days left, it was time to start making decisions. I knew he had made up his mind, but I hadn’t made up mine.
“I want you as my Queen,” Deimos stated.
“You’ve made that obvious,” I said. There was an edge to my voice that I didn’t mean to put there. When a bit of anger flashed through Deimos’ eyes, I knew he’d heard it too.
“Is there any way that we could extend this week-long...trial?” I asked.
“I’m afraid not. My dad has been putting the pressure on me finding a Queen, he’s making it seem like a now or never thing.” He answered. “I don’t want to force you into this though. If you don’t think you’d be happy here then just say so.”
I thought for a moment. It wasn’t that I felt as though I would be unhappy here, I just wasn’t sure if I would be able to handle being Queen. I was never meant to be one. At most I would be Tinley’s right-hand woman when she became Queen of Freyborne.
“Can I sleep on it?” I asked.
He nodded, “That’s fine.”
I could tell he wasn’t completely pleased with this. I was cutting it close, but I needed more time to think over everything. Part of me longed to stay and the other part was begging me to run as far away as I could. I needed to figure out what part of me I needed to listen to.
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