//song: devil's playground - the rigs
Mal crossed the large room. The small girl was being watched closely by everyone she passed as she approached a small group with her Guard closely behind.
I couldn't even focus on her. I was shaking where I stood. Breathing was getting harder to do.
Asmo--a demon. It explained so much.
The energy I first felt from him that then disappeared as the months went by finally made sense. It was much darker from anyone I'd felt it from. It was darker than Damien's who was the most powerful dark male fae of all.
It made perfect sense.
If it were true, even the dark fae's were afraid of him.
I should be afraid of him.
But that's not what he wanted from his queen. He said I was different, that I treated him differently from others. He saw me as his equal and his equal would not run away.
I stepped back, shrinking the distance between us. I whispered softly so only he could hear. "This doesn't change anything."
I dared to steal a glance towards him and was rewarded with a small smile.
I swallowed my fear. Leah was right. Half-demon or not, he was in the palm of my hand.
I turned my attention back to Mal as she turned to a small group of people in the room. She was still as skinny as I remembered. Her white dress hung from her small frame like it was too big for her.
I could see the bones of her tiny wrists as she gestured to the woman she spoke to.
Asmo motioned to a door nearby. I followed him into the next room and watched him as he leaned against the wall and away from her view. I ducked away from view too, leaning against the same wall Asmo was.
It was just the two of us in the small room. A small fireplace was the sole source of light. It bathed the room in a warm glow.
He nodded in the girl's direction in the other room. "She's distracted. Use your gift. Read her, like you've read me before."
I wasn't sure how he knew that I had done it before. I frowned. "Won't she notice?"
He shook his head. "We're hidden for now, but you don't have much time. We have to go back in so we don't look suspicious."
I let out a long breath and closed my eyes. I could hear her speaking in the other room, her words thick with the strange accent. Slowly, I could feel the same energy I had felt from her once.
A picture of her came into focus in my mind's eye.
Dark, polluted energy crushed me. I reached out and gripped Asmo's hand for balance. He held it back firmly, helping me stay grounded where I was.
It took over. It reached inside me and gripped my core. Ice moved from my middle and outward.
It wasn't dark magic, it was more ancient than that. It was feral, chaotic. Nothing thrived-- it just consumed.
And there was sadness, such devastating sadness...and fear.
So much fear and something else, something slightly familiar that didn't belong...
My head pounded. A deafening roar thundered in my ears.
I didn't know where I began and the darkness ended. Chaos pulled me in, fear and pain kept me rooted-
Someone pulled me harshly and I found myself in the same room.
I looked at Asmo's hand on my arm. For a moment, his eyes were completely black. "Be careful with the demons," he whispered. "They can take over if you're not prepared." His eyes returned to normal. He shook his head. "This is very unusual. I didn't anticipate they'd be a threat and go after you like that."
I shook my head, clearing the fog in my mind. I was beginning to breathe easier. "Is that what happened?"
He nodded. "I could see you falling into the darkness." He interrupted when I was about to speak. "I've been fighting with my own for decades, I know what to look for."
I watched him as he looked back into the other room. Fighting that? For decades? I couldn't even imagine what that was like. Asmo was stronger than I thought. Not just his magic but his will-
"I don't want your pity, darling." He finally did look at me. "Nor your sympathy." He crossed his arms. "Did you see anything?"
I blinked. He didn't want to talk about it. Could it possibly be his weakness? I ran a shaking hand through my hair. "There's a lot of demon in her. Powerful. It's overwhelming." I looked in her direction. "No wonder she doesn't seem stable."
"Anything else?"
I shook my head. "Flashes. Nothing that I can make sense of. I might have to do it again."
He sighed as if frustrated then looked into the other room. "We're out of time for now. We'll try again after her speech." His eyes behind the mask met mine. "If we don't show at her speech, it will look suspicious. Everyone that was invited here was to listen to her speech."
I nodded slowly. "All right." I placed my hand in the crook of his elbow. "Lead the way."
I followed him back to the room and followed his lead as he took his place in the back, away from the others. Everyone was turning towards her too and quieting, realizing she was approaching.
I watched her movements. They weren't graceful. They weren't calculated. She seemed like the child she was. She wasn't aware of the looks she was receiving. It looked like she didn't care.
She turned to the room, clearing her throat. "I am going to make this -how do you say it?- short. Brief." She straightened her shoulders. "I am Mal. Daughter of the rightful king of the Underworld, Robyn."
Hearing his name come from the girl with his matching eyes unnerved me. Rather than making me shudder or cower in fear, my fists balled at my sides and anger took over.
"I require assistance in locating two particular people."
"The first is the Light Fae. The fake queen."
Something in me turned. It wasn't fear. It was anger. Rolling anger that made my blood boil.
"The Underworld Army has failed to bring her to me. I need her."
I looked at Asmo. I half expected him to toss me into the middle of the room for everyone to see. I thought he would gloat the fact that he had me in the room with him before anyone else could find me. He could turn me in if he wanted.
But he didn't. He kept his cool, not once giving away who he stood next to. He sipped his drink and didn't turn from Mal, as if enraptured by her words.
"And someone else very dear to me," she continued. "I won't mince words. Damien must be returned to me unharmed. Whoever finds him and returns him to his home in the Keep will be rewarded. The Light Fae and your king must be returned unharmed. The reward?"
I frowned.
"And a gift that no one else can give you. A pet for you to do with whatever you want."
I frowned again. What did that mean?
"Torture it, play with it, I don't care. It's of no use to me now."
I swallowed my uneasiness. Gods.
She smiled. "Bind yourselves to me--Pledge yourselves to me and my cause and you may see it and play with it and have the riches of the Underworld. Payment from my family vault-the Royal Vault." She folded her hands in front of her. "But only whoever finds Damien can take my gift and finish it off if that is your wish."
Soft, excited murmurs began throughout the room.
A heavy feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. If the Nether Circles were full of mercenaries then whatever they were excited for couldn't be good.
Mal smiled again, her voice teasing. "I've been told not many have seen it. Especially not here. A lot of you here are lower fae's correct? No one here has attended Court or know the Royal Family." She continued her smile. "It's been decades, hasn't it?"
I frowned. Could it be a human?
"I"ll be around," she continued. "My Guard is also here. You will know where to find me."
As she walked away, the room at once began to fill with noise and then slowlym it quieted. I watched the groups around us converse amongst themselves but no sound came from them. They looked excited almost animated at what Mal said.
I frowned as Asmo turned to me.
"We can speak, no one can hear us."
"Including...?" I nodded towards her.
He nodded as he looked at her too.
I watched the groups. "This is interesting."
"What is?"
I shook my head. "They're...excited. They're actually discussing their choices, aren't they?"
Asmo nodded. "Yes."
"I thought that as a Silvertongue she could command anyone what she wanted." I turned to him. "Why are they discussing it, like they have a choice? Silvertongue's command, they don't ask. Is she making it seem like it's their own idea and not a command? Is that how she had the Guard turn on Damien?"
Slowly, Asmo came to the same realization. "No. She just commanded it. Her and Robyn--you could hear it in their voices. It wouldn't work on me but I've heard the magic before--you can hear Silvertongue magic."
"And did you now?"
He shook his head. "No. I didn't." He turned his head to Mal as she left to another room with a Guard I didn't recognize. "There's something else. That Guard. He's new. And there are fewer than there used to be now. She changes guards multiple times a day now." He paused. "At first, the Guard would change every once in a while, as scheduled. That has increased." He paused. "I thought nothing of it but now that you mention the others being given a choice, I wonder--"
Hope bubbled in my heart. "She's losing her Silvertongue abilities. That's why she's trying to pay her followers and Guard now."
He nodded. "Or it's not as strong as Robyn's." He frowned. "She might be mostly demon, not fae. It could explain why they almost overtook you earlier when you were reading her. Silvertongue magic is a fae ability."
I took his hand excitedly. "We can have the Guard on our side again."
His eyes flitted to my hand. "It would seem that way."
I didn't let my hand go. If he was falling for my fake advances or not, I didn't care at that moment. There was some hope. We could actually win this!
I frowned. "And that gift...what did she mean?" I swallowed my uneasiness. Yours to torture, she had said. "She mentioned most here haven't seen one in decades? Is it a human?"
He shook his head. "Hardly. They're lower fae but there are ways they get to the Human world. It wouldn't be a human."
I looked to where she had disappeared. "She said many haven't seen it in decades--"
My blood froze. "Lower fae's don't attend court. They wouldn't know the Royal Family." I looked at him frantically. "Mehnit wasn't here. Did she control Mehnit with her Silvertongue abilities?"
Asmo nodded. "I suspected. That cat would only follow the true queen. Mal hasn't gone through the ceremony. She wouldn't be queen any more than some person off the street."
I gripped his arm. "Asmo, where is Mehnit?"