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“And what would need to happen for my title to change?”
He cleared his throat. “Your parents could choose to give you the crown.”
“Or?” I couldn’t help the violent way my voice rose as I said the words. A cyclone of pent up rage, grief, and emotional wounds I’d never allowed myself to deal with started to take over my body.
“Or… they could pass away. May they rest in peace,” Titan whispered.
“And haven’t my parents fucking passed away?” My fist beat against the table. Magic threw my voice out into a ripple that made my parents' court flinch away. “Hmm?” I stared down at Titan, daring him to speak again through his tightly pressed lips. “I AM THE KING!” I yelled, spit flying from my mouth. I had passed the point of caring. With a growl, I pushed off the table and walked behind my chair. The crowns waited. Their crystals glistening under the simple chandeliers.
Before the sun had fully shifted over the horizon, the Nymphs had offered me my father's crown. I had refused it. My parents' shoes not only seemed like they were too big to fill, but they weren’t even my style. It wasn’t for me. I refused my own as well. Like the man who had worn it before was naïve and selfish. I didn’t want to be that man anymore. Yet old habits died hard. Neither felt right to wear on my head.
The glistening, diamond-like crown was cold to the touch as I wrapped my hands around it. It had been too many hours since it had been warmed on my father's head. My thumb traced a rough divot in its form. The witch had torn my father’s head off, leaving it hanging off his body only by a few unsevered tendons and strings of flesh. It had slipped off him then, crashing to the ground.
It could have been fixed, mended to look as if nothing had ever happened, but somethinghadhappened, and we were all different because of it.
I was different.
My chest heaved with a long, uneven breath. Then I set the crown atop my head. “I am the king, and I say that the witch will live to serve her purpose.”
Heavy was the crown.
Chapter2
Ryker
Two unfortunate circumstances continued to plague me. There were actually more than two, but currently two were the most pressing. Daethian wouldn’t stay quiet, and my stomach was growling something fierce. The decision to skip my meal in favor of working through my studies to find a solution left my insides gurgling angrily, and now that lunchtime was nearing, the interruptions had only grown louder, Daethian included.
“This says that demons cannot manifest in the natural world. Havala’s agents must take on some other physical form. From there they can bounce from one being to another.” I flipped the yellowing page over. The atmosphere was full of the ancient, musty scent. An odd mixture of the old books and the damp dungeon cells. “You’d better not infect me.”
Daethian lifted his head from his arms with an abrupt laugh, his knees pulled up to his chest to support them. “It’s not a disease, Ryker.” He drew a line across his bottom lip with his tongue then grinned. “Anyway, you’re too stupid to figure this out.”
The tip of my finger held my place in the paragraph I’d been reading. My gaze narrowed.What an ass.
He let his head loll back onto his arms and continued to mutter into them. “This dungeon is fucking disgusting.”
There were no black tentacles of smoke lifting from Daethian’s skin, however, his brown eyes were almost entirely black. While nothing he said was kind, he was correct. His cell was nasty. Mud clung to his skin. Hair was matted down to his forehead. Brown streaks were thick underneath his nails. Behind him, the bucket used for a bathroom was near full.Thatonly contributed to the horrific smell.
“I wish you wouldn’t talk to me like that,” I huffed.
“Why? You used to love it when I talked to the keepers like that.” He didn’t bother to lift his head as he spoke.
“I’m not a keeper.”
“You aren’t? Funny. You look like one to me.”
My lips parted with the burning shock of his words, like a poisoned dart piercing the thickness of my beating heart. It’s what he wanted most right now, to hurt me. I could almost hear the smile on his lips while he spoke. It was best not to give him the attention he wanted though. I shouldn’t be egging him on.
With a roll of my eyes, I looked back down at the book and began again. “Once inhabited by a demon, the subject will begin to lose lucidity. Followed by bouts of irrational anger, headaches, and memory loss.”
Damn. If that didn’t sound like Daethian had a demon inside of him.
“How old is that text you’re reading anyway? Sounds like a lot of bullshit to me,” he grumbled, the sound emerging muffled from between his thighs.
Flipping to the front, I look at the date. “Written nearly five thousand years ago.”
“They are misinformed.” He leaned back on his arms watching me. “But I must say, at least I’ve got a good view. Even if you’re an idiot.”
“Well, Daethian, if you would like to tell me what is wrong with you then go ahead.”
