By the Lake (Brave New World Book 3)

Chapter 1

"See you later, Jasmine." I waved at the human who had recently become my friend and got a hold of the ladder.

Time to climb up to the southwest exit of our underground kingdom and welcome our old frenemies, the gargoyles.

I suspected that if Karim got his way, I wouldn't see Jasmine any earlier than tomorrow. Having known him since I was five, I could see right through his calm facade on our way here. The secret glances the prince was throwing Jasmine were full of barely contained passion. I expected the two of them to be rolling on his moss long before I could get back home from tonight's idiotic mission.

In the past, the thought of my best friend Karim taking anyone else but me to his moss had made my fingers twitch over the silver blade at the small of my back. Never mind that he had always considered me as a sister. In fact, early this morning I had pressed the exact same dagger against Jasmine's throat.

However, the delicate human had done the unthinkable. She had asked me to be her friend and she had called Karim a 'dick' for his disrespectful attitude towards me the other day. She had thus won my friendship, respect, and help in seducing my Karim.

My gaze slid to him before I reached the top of the ladder. He was watching me, his look tense.

The typical me would have wished him to have fun at the meeting with the gargoyles, but not to chop anyone's tail off in the name of a potential alliance. Instead, I just nodded and barely smiled for goodbye.

I knew I was in trouble with the prince - in more trouble than usual. So my traditionally witty attitude towards Karim had to be curbed.

The prince had put up with my rule-breaking tendencies for years, regardless of the countless warnings I had been given and eventually disregarded. This time, though, I'd outdone myself: my rash actions had put both my life and his on the line. And although he had managed to convince his half-sister not to execute me, the Queen had found an alternative punishment for me. I wasn't going to get a free pass just because my father was one of the aristocrats.

I was to spend tonight's alliance talks on the surface, guarding the eastern border of our forest territory against any trespassers. It didn't matter that my night vision wasn't as good as that of the other warriors in the kingdom. And, to make matters worse, I was going to have a gargoyle for a partner.

Instead of patrolling the forest's inner perimeter like my other childhood friend, Tisvali, and so many worthy warriors, I was to be in one out of four mixed teams. Each comprising one individual per negotiating party, in accordance with the traditions for talks between shadow kinds.

Not cool, right? A long tiring night, potential danger my eyes might not detect, and an idiot for a partner - curses!

The only positive thing in all this was that the mission would distract me from my dark thoughts about my meeting with Karim tomorrow. That was when he was going to deliver his own punishment as the friend whose trust I'd betrayed. It was going to make the Queen's punishment pale in comparison, I was sure of it.

"Stay safe, Deidre," Jasmine said just as I reached the top of the ladder and the magical portal to the surface. "Good luck."

I found myself snickering at her senseless wishes made with such sincerity. She was so sweet, this choco girl, as I called her, but she was also naive like most humans. How could anyone possibly believe some invisible force called 'luck' would aid them because they wished it so? Every living creature's life was entirely dependent on the will of Nature, and that was that.

Wanting to make a memorable exit, I replied with, "No amount of luck can save me from what awaits me tonight... A dick."

That was quite inappropriate, but I knew no one but my three friends would understand me. They were, after all, the only English speakers among the warriors in the exit chamber.