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  “Stand here.” He pointed at the ground to his left. “Throw an energy ball at the target and try to get as close to the bull’s eye as you can.”

  We stood about twenty-five feet away from it, so it wasn’t going to be easy.

  I focused on the target instead of the very attractive boy next to me. Darkling form heightened my honestly and bravery, but it also heightened my emotions. And when I say I wanted to kiss him...well, I really wanted to kiss him. Like, desperately.

  Michael put his hands on my upper arms to direct me to the right spot.

  “Here,” he said in my ear, so close that his lips brushed against my skin and made me shiver.

  “Perfect.”

  My smile returned. “You know, I think I like Darkling lessons. They’re way better than math class. How often should we practice?”

  He shrugged, his lips curved to the side. “I’ll have to see if I can fit you in to my incredibly busy schedule.”

  I laughed. “So busy. Gardening, reading...being bossy. Actually, that sounds more like a vacation to me.”

  His gaze suddenly grew distant. “I just wish I could find some information about Shadows in the library. But there’s nothing at all to help me. And, to answer your question from earlier, yes, I wish I’d been able to talk more with Jonas, even though he was a crazy murderer. I want to know more about what I am. Who I am.”

  That brought me back to my current task like a glass of cold water thrown in my face. Why was I letting myself forget that I had to watch for signs of trouble with him and do whatever I could to help? “I totally understand. What about asking my father?” An edge of bitterness slid through his gaze. “He thinks it’s better that I don’t know much. He seems to think Shadows are dangerous and I’m the exception.” His lips thinned. “Although, sometimes I think he’s wrong about that.”

  Uh-oh. My stomach sank. “Why? Do you think you’re dangerous?” His gaze flicked to me. “You saw what I did to Jonas.” Yes, I had. He’d been in shadow form, as had Jonas. Two swirling patches of darkness who’d battled it out in a mini-tornado of violence. “I’m still not totally sure what I saw. He was there and then he wasn’t.”

  “I absorbed his energy, which is what stopped him. It was something I didn’t even know I could do until it happened.” His jaw clenched. “Just another example of how information about Shadows has been kept from me all my life.”

  Just because he was disappointed and frustrated that he couldn’t find information on Shadows didn’t mean there was anything really wrong with him. I held on to that belief tightly with both hands. “I wish I could help.”

  His gaze shot to mine. “You can.”

  “I can? How?”

  He opened his mouth, then seemed to hesitate before he spoke. “I’ve recently heard a rumor that there’s a book. One book with all the information about Shadows in it. All other information has been destroyed or lost over the years. It’s only accessible by kings or queens, though.

  There’s no way I can get my hands on it. I wouldn’t ask your father. I know he’d say no.” More hesitation, and then, “But Rhys could get it. As king of the Faery Realm, all he’d have to do is ask for it.”

  It surprised me that he’d even bring the faery king into this since I knew he didn’t like him.

  “You want to ask Rhys to help you get this book?”

  His expression darkened. “Well, no. I’m positive he wouldn’t do it if I asked him.” Oh. I understood. “You want me to ask him to get the book.” He looked pained at the very thought of it. “I figure he’d be willing to do just about anything for you right now. All you have to do is ask him nicely.” Bitterness returned to his expression. “I mean, you are his betrothed.”

  My concern and curiosity turned sour at the edges. “Keep bringing up that prophecy, Michael.

  I just love to be reminded about it every five minutes how I might not have any control over my own future.”

  He snorted humorlessly. “Forget I asked. It doesn’t matter.” He broke our gaze and looked toward the target instead. “Let’s get back to practice. Throw an energy ball, Nikki. Got to get you back home soon.”

  But I didn’t move. We stayed there next to each other. He was so close that he was touching me, so close that when he finally dragged his fierce gaze back to lock with mine, all I wanted to do was kiss him until all the pain and sadness finally left his green eyes.

  As if he’d sensed what I wanted to do, he leaned closer. Closer...until our lips were only an inch away from each other...

  But then, with a deep frown, he took a big step back from me and turned away.

  He waved a hand at the target. “Anytime you’re ready, Princess.” No kiss. And officially back to “Princess.” I could take a hint, even if it stung really badly.

  Tearing my attention away from him and trying to ignore my annoyance and frustration, I focused instead on the target. I held my right hand out in front of me and focused, willing power into my outstretched palm. I felt the tingle gather there and solidify. A swirling red and orange ball of fiery energy about the size of an orange manifested out of nowhere. I shot a look in Michael’s direction.

  “If looks could kill,” Michael said wryly. “Just remember, Princess, try to hit the target. Not me.”

  I put my other hand on my hip. “Not sure about that. You’re kind of asking for it today, aren’t you?”

  “My amulet would deflect it. It protects me from demons, remember?” He pulled his amulet out from where it had been tucked underneath his hoodie.

  I remembered. If I ever touched his green amulet with my bare skin, it gave me a painful shock like I’d stuck my finger in a light socket.

  “Want to put that to the test?” I leisurely tossed my energy ball up and down in my hand.

  He tilted his head as he studied me. “Your call. However, I am closer so I’d be an easier target. Are you saying you don’t think you can hit the real one?” Hardly. I turned and threw the energy ball at the target. It caught the side of the circular board and sloughed off a piece of the wood.

  “Not bad,” I said.

  “It’s the center you’re aiming for, not the edge.”

  “I know that.” I blew out a frustrated breath and tried to focus. “One more time and then I really have to go.”

  “Aim for the center. You can do it.”

  “Yes, sir.” I narrowed my eyes and turned to the target again, launching my second energy ball. And, yes, this time I aimed first.

  It hit dead center and burned a hole in the round board so I could see clear through to the other side.

  “Woo hoo!” I felt so victorious that I did a little dance right where I stood.

  Michael just watched my celebration with amusement, his arms crossed. “Congratulations.

  Now all you have to do is shift back to human form and you can go home.” My victory dance stopped. This was the part of our training session I’d been looking forward to the least since it hurt so much to shift back. I sighed heavily. “Maybe I’ll just stay this way forever.”

  “You think it’s that easy?”

  “I feel good like this. Sure, why not?” I didn’t really mean it of course, but I was stalling for time.

  “Not the best idea. If you keep that form in the human world you might come face to face with a demon hunter. Trust me, that would be a bad thing.” I paled at that and suddenly lost any remaining concentration over holding form. The next moment, it receded like a very quick tide. My form shifted involuntarily and I yelped in pain. It felt sort of like when Mom and I experimented with wax strips last summer. She normally went to a salon to have her legs done, but thought she might save money by getting the drug store kind. And she shared some with me.

  Let’s just say, shifting from Darkling to human form felt like a hundred wax strips being simultaneously ripped off my body.

  Luckily, it didn’t take long. Ten seconds at the most, but I wasn’t counting. I slumped to the soft grass. Michael was at my side, kne
eling beside me and grabbing hold of my arms. He looked worried.

  “Princess, are you okay?”

  “Ouch. Yeah, I’m fine. You say that hurts less with practice?” I inspected myself. Normally my clothes would have tears in them from my wings, but the halter top covered that. And the shorts worked perfectly for someone who sometimes had a tail. No rips in either.

  “So I’ve been told. I’m not a demon so I really don’t know for sure.” He cringed. “But it sure doesn’t look like fun.”

  “It’s not.”

  “What happened?” he asked, studying my face and pushing the back-to-blond hair away from my face. “Something distracted you and you just lost it.” Yeah, he mentioned demon slayers and I immediately thought of Melinda.

  I let out a shaky breath. “Demon slayers. What do you know about them?”

  “Not all that much. Just that they’re rumored to be in the human world. They slay demons if they find them. But since there haven’t been any there, at least not in any form but human, they’ve probably been bored for centuries.” He frowned deeply. “I shouldn’t have said that before about demon hunters. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “What happened to being honest?”

  “Sometimes too much honestly can be overwhelming.” He held a hand out to me. “Lesson over. I’ll take you back to the gateway now.”

  I took his hand and he helped me to my feet. Back in human form for less than two minutes, and the majority of my Darkling bravery had already vanished. I felt very normal and self-conscious again. “How did I do, coach?”

  His serious expression faded a little. “I think you did great. Your father will be pleased.” I hadn’t confessed anything about Melinda. He was right about too much honesty being overwhelming—that could be the tipping point. She’d quit her own lessons and was no longer a threat in any way. Mentioning her would cause problems I didn’t want to deal with. She could continue to keep her secret, and she seemed to be doing better with it with every day that passed.

  But I knew somebody else with a different secret who wasn’t dealing quite so well.

  “What do you know about dragons?” I asked. “Or, more specifically, the offspring of a dragon and a human?”

  “No such thing as a half-dragon. Usually it’ll be full human.”

  “What if it isn’t?”

  “Then it’s full dragon, but that’s very rare.” He eyed me. “Why? You know somebody like that?”

  I nodded. “I don’t think he knows it yet. His mother’s been keeping the truth from him for some reason. But lately he’s been having some problems. And he’s been having visions of the future.”

  “So he’s a dragon oracle.”

  “Yeah, I think so. His mother is one, too.”

  He considered this. “Has he shifted form yet for the first time?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “If you’re friends with him, you’d probably know. When a dragon shifts, it’s not as easy as getting the right shirt to wear when your wings appear. It’s bigger than that. And the fire-breathing myths...they’re all true.”

  I shuddered at the thought. That sort of thing would be very noticeable in Erin Heights—like front page of the newspaper noticeable. It wasn’t a big town. “You’ve seen one before?”

  “Not personally. But there are books about dragons in the library.” His brows knit together.

  “Do you want me to do anything about this?”

  I wished he could help, but I didn’t think he could. Especially not if he was stuck here with only rare permission from my father to visit. “No, it’s okay. I’ll handle it. But thanks for the offer.”

  “Who is it?” he asked after a moment.

  “Chris.”

  His expression hardened. “Your ex?”

  “We were never really going out seriously. And after what happened at Winter Formal, I wouldn’t consider it again.”

  “Someone else I had the urge to kill,” he said darkly. He’d been there after I kicked Chris’s butt, but he knew why I had to do it. To protect myself.

  “That makes two of us.” I chewed my bottom lip. “He felt really guilty about what he did. He was drunk. Said it was the first time he’d ever tried anything like that—which isn’t a great excuse, I know. I’m not saying I forgive him, or anything, but he’s in a really bad place right now. He’s confused, scared...and going crazy, I think.” Michael’s expression was fierce for another moment at the mention of Chris before easing off a little. “Yeah, he’ll be confused until his first shift. When the visions begin, they’re too much for a normal human brain to process. The shift will help with that.” He grabbed my hand and squeezed it, making my breath catch. “Stay away from him, Princess. He’ll be dangerous now.

  He already is dangerous, if you ask me.”

  I looked up at Michael, again remembering the dream I’d had. I’d never felt so scared in my life than when I’d seen the black wings stretch out behind him, and I immediately thought of Chris’s sketch. But it hadn’t really been Michael—it was just a dream.

  It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him about the sketch, but I stopped myself. I guess a part of me was worried that all of this might be related—the sketch, Chris’s visions, my dream, my father’s suspicions about Michael. I was worried that if I said anything, it would just be used as more evidence that my father was right. And maybe another part of me, on some level, did worry that that drawing had been of Michael.

  But he would never hurt me. I knew he wouldn’t.

  Still, I didn’t say anything.

  Our eyes met and I nodded. “I’ll take it under advisement, coach.” Quickly, I changed out of the workout wear and back into my jeans and sweater and winter coat. I touched the rock in my pocket that the strange boy had given me to make sure it was still there. My father met us at the front entrance of the castle.

  “Michael will see you to the gateway,” he said.

  “Just to the gateway?” I asked.

  He raised an eyebrow at my immediate look of annoyance. “Do you have something to say, Nikki?”

  I opened my mouth to complain, but the fearless part of me that would have thrown the words out just to annoy and challenge my father had diminished. I didn’t feel like any more arguments.

  Not today.

  “Forget it,” I grumbled.

  “How did your training session go?” he asked pointedly.

  I knew what he was really asking me. If I’d found some secret about Michael’s grip on his dark side. I glanced briefly at Michael before returning my attention to my father. “It went fine. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.”

  He nodded. “I’m very glad to hear that.”

  After we said good-bye, Michael walked me back across the gray, rocky ground to the field of grass. Waiting for us there was a swirling vortex in the shape of a door. While the ones formed in Erin Heights showed up when Michael—or anyone else—was there for a short trip, this one was specifically created by my father for yours truly.

  “It’s stupid that you can’t come through with me.” I still felt incredibly sullen about that.

  “What if you come through anyway? It’s not like he’s here to stop you.” Michael studied the gateway. “If I try to go through without the king’s permission, it will kill me.”

  I gaped at him. “You’re kidding.”

  He shook his head. “Unless you have a dragon’s tear, you’re at the mercy of the gateways.” His lips thinned. “So I have to respect the king’s decision.”

  “But you don’t like it.”

  His expression darkened. “No, I don’t like it at all. I didn’t like it for the weeks I was forced to stay away from you, and I don’t like it now.”

  This new info was enough to take my breath away.

  He hadn’t forgotten about me. He’d wanted to see me. But he couldn’t.

  He was basically stuck here unless my father gave him permission to leave. He couldn’t seek more information about
Shadows, even if he wanted to. And he did.

  I knew I had to help him in any way I could.

  “I’m going to ask him,” I said. At Michael’s questioning look, I clarified, “Rhys. I’m going to ask Rhys to get the Shadow book.”

  The tension in his face eased a little. “Thank you.”

  I knew it had taken a lot for him to ask me to do this. He didn’t like Rhys and having to rely on him for information had to be hard to accept. And finding out more about Shadows might help ease my father’s mind about Michael as well. “It’s your reward for bossing me around during our training session.”

  A smile tugged at his lips again. “If you think that was bossy, just wait till lesson number two.”

  I looked up at him and our eyes locked. I remembered what it was like when he pressed me up against the wall. I’d come very close to kissing him then and making up for New Year’s Eve.

  “Princess,” he began as I took hold of the edge of his sweatshirt and pulled him closer to me.

  Closer and closer...

  “Yes, Michael?”

  He stepped back from me and looked at the gateway as he crossed his arms, his face stony and unreadable. “Have a safe trip back home.”

  Way to ruin a moment, Shadow-boy.

  I was confused by his swift shift in attitude. Intense and extremely kissable one moment, cool and aloof the next.

  “No mistletoe,” I murmured, only half-joking. “I guess I’ll have to bring some with me next time.”

  Then I walked through the gateway backwards, holding his gaze the whole time. I could have sworn I saw something in his eyes then—something that looked like pain and regret.

  I had no idea why he’d look at me like that. And by the time I opened my mouth to ask him, I was already back home.

  Chapter 8

  Considering that I hadn’t been in the Shadowlands very long, a couple of hours max, a lot had happened. And I had no idea how to process most of it. Meeting the boy in the halls of the castle was strange, although I hoped there was a good explanation for it. He didn’t seem threatening or dangerous. I think he’d just been messing around with me, although I had no idea why.