-6-
“Hey, little sis,” Solange said, appearing behind me.
I jumped. I hated it when she did that. She had some serious boundary issues. She never pinged or knocked before entering my bedroom. This time, I forgave her when I realized she wasn’t alone. Lottius and Katia were right behind her. I hadn’t seen or heard from them since the party a week before.
“Where have you guys been?” I asked, hugging Lottius.
“School,” she said.
Like the night of the banquet, Lottius wore black—leggings and a long-sleeved gauzy, see-through, batwing shirt with a picture of a bloody mouth with fangs. It had the slogan Top of the Food Chain written on the back. On her head was a baseball cap. I still had to figure out how she, a Nosferatu, could walk in the daylight.
Katia wore a sundress that suited her curvaceous body. She turned around, laughing. “I can fit ten of my dorm room in here.” She plopped on my bed and bounced on it. “And four of my beds on this.”
Lottius shook her head. “My parents like to have family moments whenever they visit,” she explained. “Since I hadn’t seen them in months, we had a lot of catching up to do.”
“Don’t you mean they grilled us on what we remembered from the past and what happened at the party?” Katia said, then hopped off the bed and walked to the window. “Nice view.”
“Nice to see you too, Katia,” I said.
She laughed and walked back to give me a hug. “Did you get in big trouble for what we did?”
I shook my head. My own company had started to drive me crazy since I’d seen them, which was weird because I was never alone. Servants saw to my every need and guards followed me everywhere. I had even started looking forward to the arrival of my tutor. Father was having a hard time finding one he approved of, according to Lady Nemea.
“Lady Nemea freaked out, but my father was cool with it,” I said.
“They can’t stay for too long, Lilith,” Solange warned.
I’d completely forgotten her presence. “Why not?”
“Because I bypassed security protocol to bring them up and Malax will know soon. He never misses my tricks.”
“What security protocol?” I asked.
“Every visitor to the castle must inform Malax’s office. Personally, I don’t follow it, but that’s just me. If he asks how they got up here, tell them I brought them.”
I shook my head. “No. I’m not getting you in trouble when you did this for me.”
“Just trying to make up for ignoring you the last week. And FYI, I could get to like this new you.”
“New me? What was the old me like?”
“A pain in my ass.” She made a face and chuckled. “Kidding. Frail, pale, and afraid of her own shadow. You two”—she pointed at my friends—“don’t overstay your welcome.” She disappeared.
“Your sister is scary,” Katia said.
“It’s all an act.” Some of the time. She said weird things and was unpredictable.
Katia laughed. “It’s not fair we can’t stay. I want a tour.” She turned around and frowned. “Where’s Lottie?”
“She was here a minute ago.” The door to my closet was open. “In there.”
Katia grabbed my wrist before I could take a step toward the closet. “Did you mean it? You know, about visiting the minions?”
I nodded slowly. “Yes. I just don’t know when. My tutor will be arriving any time, and then I’ll be in lessons.”
Katia frowned. “You are not attending the Academy?”
“Not yet. My father said I have some catching up to do first, so I’ll work with a tutor for a while.”
She frowned. “How long is a while? The tourney is this semester.”
“Tourney?”
“When we compete and pit our powers against each other’s. Juniors, that’s us—ages seventeen to twenty—compete against the hateful seniors—ages twenty-one to twenty-five. It is the first time we’re doing this, so everyone is super-stoked.”
“Hey, you two,” Lottius called out from my closet. “Get in here. You have an insane amount of jewelry, Lilith.”
“With you on our team, we’ll cream them,” Katia whispered. “They say you have all the powers of the Principality Azazel. Queen Coronis had only three.”
I didn’t want to discuss my powers. My missing CC was still a priority. I’d been searching for it since the night of the party. “So, tell me about Lord Gavyn. Do you see him often?”
Katia blushed. “Whenever he’s on the island, but at times he just comes to visit me. Why?”
“Are you two mated?”
She shook her head. “No, but I’m thinking about it.”
Now for the real question I wanted to ask. “Was he in the Great Battle?”
“No. He was on a business trip.”
Green Eyes said not to trust those who weren’t in the battle. “So, his memories are intact?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Why?”
“I want to ask him something about the Great Battle. I mean, I saw the reenactment, but I still have questions. I tried talking to your uncle and aunt during the party, but they didn’t want to discuss it.”
She rolled her eyes. “They never do.”
“Can you arrange a meeting when Lord Gavyn visits?”
“Sure. He’s a favorite of your father’s and was very concerned about you when you were unconscious.”
So, what was in the CC he’d given me? I was dying to find out.
“Guys!” Lottius called again.
“Let’s go before she turns mean,” Katia said, laughing. “She hates to be ignored.”
Lottius was trying on a diamond choker when we joined her. She studied us suspiciously in the mirror. “What are you two up to?” she asked.
“Thinking up ways to piss you off,” Katia said.
“You do it every time you open your mouth. Some of these clothes, Lilith…” Lottius shuddered.
“Hey, no disrespecting my clothes,” I said. “Solange changed their colors to darker hues, but Lady Nemea threw a fit, so she changed them back. Personally, I like darker colors.” I touched the eggplant-colored summer dress I was wearing. “So, I color the ones I wear and change them back to keep the peace.”
Katia pulled a teal dress from the rack, pressed it against her, and preened in front of a mirror. “I like this one. I think I saw it on the cover of Fashion Week Digest a few months ago.”
“What is Fashion Week Digest?” I asked.
“Next time, we’ll bring magazines,” Katia said. “We are going to give you a crash course in pop culture.”
“Don’t include me in your madness,” Lottius said. “I don’t care one way or the other about humans and their interests.”
“So you keep saying,” Katia retorted, then glanced at me. “Don’t listen to her. She scours their fashion magazines like a miner searching for gold. I hate saying this, but we need to go before Sir Malax finds us,” Katia added.
“Oh, let him,” Lottius mumbled, removing the choker.
“Really, Lottie?” Katia snapped. “After the long lecture your mother gave us?”
“She’s always on a soapbox.” She carefully put the jewelry back in the glass case. “I thought the whole purpose of coming here was to take Lilith to the beach with us.”
“Really? Let’s go,” I said.
Katia shook her head. “I don’t know. Solange said—”
“Forget what my sister said,” I said. “Anywhere is better than staying indoors. Please.”
Katia still appeared undecided.
“If we get busted, you can say Lilith commanded you and you couldn’t say no because she’s the princess,” Lottius said.
I grinned. “I like it.”
“I don’t,” Katia retorted.
Lottius groaned. “Just zap her, Lilith.”
“What?” Katia and I spoke at the same time.
“You are a Prime Psi, which means you can make her change her mind or persuade her to do as you wish. Try it.”
My gaze volleyed between Lottius and Katia, who didn’t seem too happy with her cousin’s suggestion. Neither was I.
“No. I don’t think I should use my powers on a friend. It just seems wrong. Just a second while I tell the guards.” I ran to the family room. Two guards were at their station. They were the same two I’d had when I gained consciousness. The girl with short, pageboy hair and gray eyes was called Ruby, and her ruggedly handsome partner had a name starting with K or C. “We’re going to the beach for a couple of hours.”
They looked at each other.
“Come on. Let’s go,” I said.
We appeared on a wide stretch of sandy beach packed with young, beautiful people sunbathing and frolicking in the water. Behind us was a rocky divide that went all the way to the sea. It looked like a wall. Ahead, a group of shirtless guys and scantily dressed girls played beach volleyball.
Not just any beach volleyball. They were using powers, and something about it had my pulse racing. It was too familiar. The ones with the ability to manipulate the air hit the ball without touching it. The Energy Primes used energy balls. When the volleyball shot up in the air, one dark-haired guy disappeared and I looked up, expecting him to appear in the air with his wings out. Instead, he appeared above the ball, hit it, and teleported back onto the sand before the ball reached the other side of the net. Th girl who was supposed to block the ball missed. The thud and crack of bones filled the air as the ball hit her. I winced and moved closer, the instinct to help taking over.
Then I noticed that the others weren’t paying attention to her. Even her two teammates who’d dropped on the sand beside her weren’t looking at her.
They were all staring at me. Telepathic whispers followed.
It’s the princess.
What is she doing here?
Are we supposed to get up and bow?
Man, I was enjoying the sun.
Shut up. They say she can hear and feel everything around her.
I tuned them out, but I could feel resentment mixed with curiosity. Cringing, I checked left and right. The sunbathers were scrambling to their feet, my image reflected in their sunglasses. The ones in the water also stopped goofing around. It was like being in the zoo and I was the star attraction—except some resented me. My face, I was sure, matched my hair.
“Dimwits,” Lottius said.
“Don’t mind them,” Katia added, tugging on my arm. “Skylar needs your help.”
“Who?”
“The girl who was bludgeoned by the ball,” she said.
As we started forward, people pulled their towels out of the way and bowed. Others pressed their hands to their chests and murmured, “Princess Lilith.”
“I wish they’d stop with the bowing,” I whispered.
“Want me to tell them?” Lottius asked with a smirk.
“Don’t even think about it, Lottie,” Katia said from my left. “They can’t stop, Lilith. Not bowing is a sign of disrespect. And you have four guards who can identify each and every one of them who shows you disrespect.”
I had forgotten about the guards. I glanced back. Ruby carried beach towels, while her partner had a large umbrella. But behind them were two more guards—tall, big men who looked like they could flatten anyone with one blow.
This was beyond embarrassing. I made eye contact with Ruby. Can you guys stay back?
No, Princess—
I order you to stay back and tell them to stop bowing, I added.
I can’t follow that order, Princess Lilith, Ruby said. I took an oath to stay as close to you as possible.
Probably Lady Nemea’s orders. If only I was more commanding like Solange. I glanced at the people bowing, hoping to catch their eyes, but I couldn’t see beyond their reflective sunglasses. Shaking my head, I went toward the volleyball field, where a brown-skinned guy with dreadlocks was holding the hand of the girl who’d been hit.
Katia hurried to their side and dropped on the sand. A large bruise was already forming on the girl’s side and her body was twisted at a weird angle. Her hands must have been raised when she was hit.
“Is it your ribs, Skylar?” Katia asked.
Skylar tried to talk but groaned instead.
“Several. I felt them,” Dreadlocks said, but his brown eyes were on me. He lowered his head. “Princess.”
“Please, don’t try to get up to bow or let her go,” I told him when he tried to release the girl’s hand. “Is there someone here who can heal her?”
He shook his head. “No.”
“If she doesn’t mind, I can heal her,” I said.
“You don’t have to, Princess,” Ruby said, and signaled another guard.
“Is there a healer on the beach?” the guard barked.
“He just left,” several people called back. “We are trying to telepath him to come back.”
I started to kneel and one of the guards placed a towel on the sand. My face warmed again. Deciding not to make a deal out of it, I knelt on it and made eye contact with Skylar. She was in so much pain that her breathing was hollow and rapid, tears streaming down her cheeks.
You are going to be okay, Skylar. I’m going to try and heal you while we wait. Is that okay?
Her fear mingled with the pain. Why should she be afraid of me? I extended both hands over her chest and her fear increased. I’m not going to hurt you, Skylar.
She nodded, but the fear stayed. There was nothing I could do to ease it. Maybe time would make people like her realize I was one of them, not someone to be feared.
This time, the weird writings I’d seen before stayed on my arms and hands. Gasps and whispers reached me from every direction. When they swelled and overwhelmed my empathic senses, I blocked them.
My hands lit up like light bulbs, the glow first bright, then acquiring a greenish haze. They grew brighter until I couldn’t see my fingers.
Skylar stared at me, tears streaming down her face. Her rib cage, which had collapsed, appeared to reshape and grow rigid as she healed. Then the nasty bruise faded until there were no signs of bleeding under her skin.
My hands stopped glowing and the weird markings disappeared. Skylar sat up. “Thank you, Princess Lilith.”
“It was nothing. I’m happy I could help.” I stood and glanced at Katia and Lottius. The others stared at me curiously from beyond the barricade the guards had set with their bodies. Two more had joined the first four and they faced the crowd with their backs to us. My presence on the beach was spoiling everyone’s fun.
“Let’s go back to the castle,” I said.
“No, don’t leave, Princess,” Skylar said. She bowed again. “I am Skylar Rathi, a friend of Katia’s.” She had a flawless caramel complexion, high cheekbones, and pitch-black hair.
“Nice to meet you, Skylar,” I said. “And please, don’t bow.”
“And this,” she pulled the guy who’d been holding her hand, “is Ravan Clifton, my chosen mate.”
Ravan started to bow, but I shook my head. “Don’t. All this bowing is unnecessary. I’m not my father. I just want you guys to treat me like one of you.”
He flashed a boyish grin. “Cool. I’m a healer too, but nothing like what you just pulled. I’m a P2.”
Skylar laughed, wrapped her arm around his, and stared at him adoringly. “You are the best Prime Energy.”
They looked cute together. “What is P2?”
“P is Prime,” Ravan explained. “I can manipulate energy and air, so that makes me a P2. Skylar is…”
“P3.” She said it like it was something bad. “Air, earth, and psi.”
“Me, too,” Katia said.
I glanced at Lottius. She shrugged. “I don’t like talking about my abilities. It serves no purpose.”
“She’s a P1,” Katia said. “Time.”
I glanced at their faces, then at the people still watching us. “I don’t understand. Are more powers good or bad?”
No one spoke, but their thoughts all expression confusion that I didn’t know the answer to my question.
Lottius sighed. “More abilities mean their psi energy is being diluted, so their powers are not very strong. All in all, Coronis’s experiment was an epic failure.”
Experiment? What experiment? I opened my mouth to ask.
“Shhh,” Katia hissed, and glanced at the guards. “They’ll hear you. And are you forgetting Angelia and her friends?”
“Oh.” Lottius rubbed Katia’s arms. “Sorry, I did.”
“It’s okay. Let’s go to Drago’s.” Katia waved toward the stores lining the beach.
The five of us moved away from the volleyball court. Eleven, if you included the guards. People parted and eyes followed us, but that was something I could either ignore or allow to bother me. I made eye contact with some and winced when they bowed.
Don’t do that, please, I said.
No one seemed to listen. I received more bowing and stupid hands pressed on chests. Maybe Lottius was right. Our people were never going to change. Everyone had their place and role to play, which meant the minions would always be treated like second-class citizens and I would be treated like a princess.
Drago’s turned out to be a busy ice-cream parlor. Silence filled the room when we appeared, then whispers of “Princess” filled the room, followed by the sound of stools scraping the floor as people got up and bowed.
“Please, don’t mind me.” They didn’t stop. I command all of you to stop bowing, damn it!
Heads lifted, frowns creasing faces. I grinned at their confusion.
It’s okay to call me Lilith. My empathic antenna picked on their discomfort. Fine, add Princess if you must, but no more bowing and showing allegiance to me. Do that with my father. Not me.
They still hesitated.
I mean it. Bowing to me will land you in the dungeons. Laughter followed. Uh, your icy treats are melting.
They sat and went back to their cold treats. Some whispered and glanced at us. A few offered me their seats. I didn’t want to sit while the others stood.
“I’m fine, thank you,” I said.
“Take our table, Princess Lilith,” a guy called out from the back. He and his friends were leaving and their booth was large enough for all of us.
“Thank you,” I said.
We had barely sat when a short, middle-aged man with a thin moustache hurried from the back of the counter. He dropped on one knee. “Drago, son of Zerovath, at your service, Princess Lilith. It’s an honor to have you in my shop.”
“No need to do that.” I reached down and urged him to his feet. “Can we have the menu, please?”
“Of course, Princess.” He teleported.
Katia giggled and pointed at the menu behind the counter, where several girls and guys were placing their orders. “You order at the counter before sitting.”
“Oh. You should have said so,” I said.
“And miss out on the perks of hanging out with you?” Lottius asked, and leaned back against her seat.
Katia shook her head. “Self-serving opportunist.”
“And proud of it,” Lottius retorted.
We laughed. Drago appeared before we could get up, placed several CCs on the table, and activated them. Pictures of the menu hovered in the air. “I stopped using the crystals because the customers would steal them.” He personally took our orders, then left.
I leaned forward. “What experiment were you talking about? Why is it Queen Coronis’s fault people’s psi energies became diluted?”
Katia, Ravan, and Skylar glanced at the guards, who’d taken the booth next to ours. Lottius snickered at their reaction. “So what if they hear us? The truth is that the Guardians slaughtered and decimated us. They targeted our people out in the human world and stopped us from forming alliances with humans.” Her eyes narrowed. “You know our objective?”
I nodded. “I’ve had nothing but time to read and watch about our history. The Principalities taught humans everything they know. Their children, the first Nephilim, are our forefathers. They ruled this world until the Archangels came down and slaughtered most of them, but some of us remained. Our objective is to guide the humans again and stop them from destroying this world.”
Lottius made a face. “All true. When the Guardians kept slaughtering our people, Queen Coronis came up with the idea to create more powerful Hermonites at Azazel Institute. She experimented with intergroup breeding—Werenephils with Neterus, Nosferatus with Lazari, and so on. People weren’t allowed to mate without permission. Marrying for love was against the law. She chose mating partners, the more powerful the better. She produced two generations of P1s and P2s. Some, like your father, are P3, and that’s because he’s related to Coronis. She had them practice their powers around humans, causing natural disasters.”
I frowned. “They killed humans?”
Lottius shrugged. “Perfect way to reduce their numbers. The world is overpopulated as it is, and humans continue to breed like roaches. There are billions of them to…what? Five thousand of us?”
Someone cleared their throat and we looked up. I blinked. Green Eyes balanced a tray like an expert. Why did he keep appearing wherever we went?
Up close, he was even more gorgeous, tall and masculine. His green T-shirt hugged his chest and chiseled arms and made his emerald eyes pop. His raven-dark wavy hair had a tousled look, as though he’d run his fingers through it repeatedly. I had the urge to touch him, run my fingers through his hair.
“Princess, I hope this meets with your approval.” He placed a cup of ice cream in front of me first and handed me a spoon, his finger touching mine and lingering. My breath caught. As though he saw my reaction, he smiled. “If you need a refill, just call out Number Two,” he added softly, and again that feeling of recognition coursed through me.
Maybe he was right about knowing me before the Great Battle. I shook my head, not liking the direction of my thoughts. Just because he’d said we’d known each other didn’t mean it was true.
“Is there a problem, Princess?” he asked.
I opened my mouth to ask him who he was again, but decided against it. “No. It’s perfect.”
He placed the other cups of ice cream in front of the others. Katia studied him. “Aren’t you the guy at the gazebo and the rides?”
“I think you are mistaken, Miss Katia,” Green Eyes said.
“No, I’m not.” Katia nudged Lottius. “Lottie?”
Lottius just shrugged, but she was totally checking him out.
Katia gave me the look that said, What do you think? I shrugged, too. I wasn’t going to be drawn into discussing Green Eyes. Behind me, a server spoke to the guards. “I’m Number Three. I will be your server.”
I didn’t hear the guards’ response because my focus shifted to Green Eyes. He’d refused to tell me his name. “Hey,” I said before he could walk away.
“Yes, Princess?”
“What kind of name is Number Two?” I asked.
“A convenient one.” He smiled and dimples flashed on his cheeks. Katia and Lottius kept staring at him. He bowed. “If you’ll excuse me.”
“I’m telling you, he’s the one,” Katia said.
Lottie watched him with a speculative gleam in her eyes until he disappeared, then said, “Yeah, he’s the one. That walk is unmistakable.”
When had she observed his walk?
“He doesn’t carry himself like a minion,” Skylar said.
“Or talk like one,” Ravan added.
“I’m Number Five, not Six,” a server said a few tables away, in a voice that was clearly annoyed. “I’ll find him for you.”
“No, it’s okay, Number Five,” a girl said. “We need bottled water.”
“Make mine carbonated,” one of her friends said.
“What’s with the numbers?” I asked.
Katia sighed. “Most people don’t bother to ask minions their names. They just number them.”
“That’s rude,” I said.
“Yep,” Katia said.
“I’ve been to a house with a minion who answered to Hey You,” Skylar said.
A name defined a person. Not using their names was demeaning. It made minions less than nothing. And I’d bet they hated it, too. I observed them, tapped into their emotions. Yeah, they definitely didn’t like it.
“You guys want to come to the castle for dinner tomorrow night?”
“Can I bring a friend?” Lottius asked.
“Sure.”
I was thrilled when they all accepted my invitation. They discussed things my father and Lady Nemea had never mentioned, things that interested me. In the past week, I’d searched for CCs on minions and had come up empty-handed. The upper-level Hermonites called them hardworking but incapable of taking care of themselves, but I wasn’t so sure.