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  “His reign is about to come to an end, as soon as I make amends with all of you. That’s why you are all invited to the ball I am throwing tomorrow night at the castle. And because I feel bad for leaving, all your drinks and meals are on me tonight.” A cheer rose above the chatter, and everyone stood and banged their glasses together. I looked down at the bartender, and he gaped at me before hurrying to fulfill orders from the happy customers at the bar. Darcy held out his hand to me, and I took it before leaping off the bar. He pulled me by my hips toward him. I threw my arms around his neck and smiled up at him.

  “How’d I do?”

  “A ball?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow.

  “People love a party,” I said, shrugging and throwing my hand about, gesturing at the people in the inn drinking merrily. Darcy laughed and kissed me before tugging me with him to the bar. He ordered a beer for himself and wine for me. We touched our glasses together.

  “Here’s to new beginnings and a good time,” he said. I smiled.

  “To making amends and facing demons.” We drank to our pledges even though I still had no idea what I was doing. It was a start. If I was going to become queen and end my evil father’s reign, then this was the first step of many.

  Chapter Eight

  When we’d both had a few more drinks in our blood, Darcy leapt gracefully on the bar and gestured to someone on the other side of the inn. I couldn’t see who he had gestured to from my position at the table in the corner, but a moment later, the music started to play. Darcy jumped off the bar and ran over to me.

  “Would you like to dance, Princess?” he asked with a smirk and a slight bow and sweep of his hand. He even had one hand tucked behind his back. I rolled my eyes and accepted his hand.

  “Such a gentleman and show off, Your Majesty,” I teased. He laughed and pulled me to him in a spin. He whirled me around the floor as the music picked up in a kind of Irish rhythm filled with violins and guitars that made you want to get carried away into the night.

  “I aim to please, my lady.” I shoved him and laughed as he spun me around again and dipped me low over his arm. It took my breath away. As did his lips on mine when he leaned down and kissed me.

  Soon, more people joined us on the dance floor, and we all forgot our worries for the moment. We danced until we all could dance no more and the sun began to rise.

  By that time, most people had fallen asleep on the floor or the table or stumbled upstairs to the few rooms the inn had. Darcy and I were the latter. I remember his lips and his hands on every inch of my skin and my clothes coming off, and our bodies becoming one before I eventually passed out in his arms.

  The next morning, I awoke to a throbbing head and sunlight that was way too bright.

  “Ugh! Turn it off! Too bright!” I pulled the blanket over my face. Darcy moaned beside me and rolled over throwing an arm around my waist.

  “Good morning, Princess.” He kissed my cheek and then my neck, then my shoulder and my breast.

  “Darcy, no. stop!” I moaned and rolled away from him. It didn’t stop his assault on me. It only made it more ferocious.

  “You were fierce last night,” he muttered, as he kissed down my arm, and then my bare back and backside. I threw the pillow off and hit him with it.

  “Stop it. We were out of control. You forgot I’m human now. My tolerance for alcohol is a lot lower.”

  “I’m sorry.” He spooned me from behind and rested his chin on my shoulder. “I didn’t forget. It just… slipped my mind for a while.”

  “Ugh.” I swatted him again, but he grabbed my hand and began kissing my palm. “Stop it! I mean it.” I threw back the blanket, shoving him off me and climbed out of bed. I staggered to the bathroom, leaned over the sink, and peered up at the mirror. My face was pale and half-swollen, and my eyes red-rimmed. They were also extremely bloodshot, and my hair looked like birds had made a nest then fled. I also stank of stale beer and sweat and… sex. I glanced in the mirror and saw Darcy watching me with a giant smirk on his face. Ugh. I slammed the bathroom door closed. Smug bastard.

  I turned back to the sink and turned the tap on, splashing my face and neck and underarms with water. I didn’t feel like taking a shower, but I knew when we got back to the castle, my maids would make me take one. What were my people going to think now? What were my parents going to think? We had lost control last night. It wasn’t a good start. I pushed the door open and walked back into the room, only to find Darcy gone. I glanced around looking for a note and found it on my pillow along with a single red rose.

  Always the old school romantic.

  Meet me downstairs – D x

  I smiled and quickly dressed before making my way downstairs to the inn.

  Despite living in this town my whole life, I had never been to this Inn before. My father hardly allowed me to leave the castle. I was surprised to see the Inn bustling and full of life. In the light of the day streaming through the wide windows on each wall, the inn was rustic and quite cute. It reminded me of a few country cafés I had been to in the human realm.

  I found Darcy sitting at a table in the corner. His nose was in what looked to be a newspaper from the human world. I pulled out my chair and sat. He looked up and smiled at me then went back to his paper. It was such an unexpected and odd thing to see him doing that I couldn’t help but stare.

  “Good morning,” he said, taking a sip of his coffee. Yes, they had coffee here too. But of course, they would. Duh, Emma. I kept forgetting the veil was open for free travel between realms now. Of course, the supernatural realm would make use of it and trade goods with the humans.

  “Morning,” I mumbled and glanced around for a waiter or waitress. But Darcy beat me to it and signaled for someone to come. I was shocked when they didn’t ask me what I wanted to order. They just set a latte in front of me and walked off. My mouth fell open. Darcy noticed me staring blankly down at my coffee and set down his newspaper with a chuckle.

  “This world is more advanced than you remember.”

  “Yeah. A lot has changed. Since when did people here start behaving like, well… humans?”

  “Ever since Eva signed the Trans-Realm Treaty, trade and travel between realms have been better than ever. As is relationships between worlds.”

  “Wow. I didn’t think my father would allow that.”

  “Well, he has tried to interfere with it, but he is not the true leader here and has no say in the matter. He is just the temporary representative of this realm. You are the true representative, Emma.”

  He reached forward for my hand, and I let him take it, entwining my fingers in his. A noise near the front door pulled my eyes from Darcy’s gaze. I looked over and saw a happy couple kissing and hugging as the innkeeper booked them a room. While I listened carefully, I heard a bit of their conversation. I could only hear the odd word. I couldn’t train my hearing to hear more as I no longer had my enhanced supernatural senses.

  “I’m so excited about tonight. I hope we get to see some vampires, werewolves, and Faeries,” the young woman gushed. She looked to be in her early twenties with light brown hair and green eyes. The young man was tall with dark hair and dark stubble on his chin and blue eyes. They were an attractive couple. And human. What was a human couple doing here?

  The young man laughed. “Yeah, I hope I get to kill one.”

  My eyes widened. I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing. I reached for Darcy, but my hand smacked a wall of newspaper.

  “Darcy? Darce, look!”

  “What is it?” He put down his paper to look at me, then went back to it. What was so good about that damn paper that he was ignoring me? I snatched it from him and threw it to the floor.

  “Hey! I was reading that.”

  “What’s more interesting and important than the here and now? Look at that couple near the door. They’re human, right?”

  This time he followed my gaze. I watched him as his senses picked up their scent. He narrowed his gaze.

&nbsp
; “They certainly are human. What are they doing here?”

  “I don’t know. They said they want to hunt supernatural creatures!”

  He shook his head and swore under his breath.

  “What is it, Darce?”

  “I’ve heard about this happening, humans crossing the veil into this realm to see supernatural creatures in their true form since they’re not allowed to reveal themselves to humans over there. A couple of my regulars at the club have been talking about taking tours to this realm. A few humans have started disappearing.”

  As I kept watching the couple, they were handed keys to their room, and they headed upstairs. When they moved, I saw a flyer hanging on the wall.

  “Well, it looks like they’ve heard about the ball. Darce, what have I done?”

  He shook his head and took my hand again. “Don’t worry, Em. No one can harm the humans.”

  “But they can still reveal their true forms to them, right?”

  “Yes. That’s where the line blurs. We can’t do anything if the humans are crossing into our world. There is no rule to say we can’t reveal our true forms to them in our own territory.”

  Darcy paid the bill, and we headed outside. When we stepped out into the sun, Darcy grabbed my arm.

  “What?” I questioned, looking at him.

  “More humans have arrived,” he said, nodding at a group of men and women a bit older than the last couple, perhaps in their early thirties. They’re standing, looking at a couple of storefronts in the village, and joking about getting bit by a vampire. One of the women pretends to bite another on the neck and the other screams in mock fright.

  “I’m starting to think the ball isn’t a good idea after all,” I said, watching them with concern. Darcy placed his hand on my lower back and urged me to walk with him.

  “It’ll be okay.”

  God, I hoped he was right.

  Chapter Nine

  Later that night, as I was preparing for the ball, Darcy told me he needed to talk to someone back in the human realm as well as get a message to Eva and Ash about the humans attending the ball.

  “I’ll try and return as fast as I can. I can’t wait to dance with you,” he said with a wink and then a kiss. Then he leaves the castle for the portal back to the human realm. Phones won’t work here, so he needs to go there in person. And then I was alone with my thoughts. But not for long. There was a knock at the door, and I scrambled to make sure I was covered. I realized I was still standing in the middle of the room in my towel.

  “Uh… just a minute!” I called out. Shit. What if it’s my father? I looked around for something to put on but had nothing but the clothes I had on this morning. And the pink dress from the night before.

  Thankfully, a woman’s voice halted my panic.

  “It’s just me, sweetheart. Your mother. Can I come in?”

  I certainly wasn’t expecting her.

  “Um… sure.” I wrapped my towel tight around my breasts and ran to the door. When I opened it, her face lit up. “Hi, Mom.”

  “Emmaline… you look so beautiful. May I come in?”

  “Uh… I’m just in my towel. I haven’t even done my hair. But sure. Come in.” I pushed open the door wider for her and walked to my closet. I still had no idea what I was going to wear to the ball. But my maid had placed a couple of options in the closet for me. None of them were what I would choose normally.

  My mother entered the room and closed the door softly behind her before making her way over to stand behind me. She just stood there a few feet from me, not touching, just looking at me. I knew because I could see her reflection in the mirrored closet door to my right. I turned to face her. She smiled at me, and then looked down at her hands as if she were ashamed she was admiring her daughter. She also kept peering over her shoulder at the closed door, as if she were expecting my father to burst in at any moment. I stepped forward and reached for her hands.

  “Mom… how are you?” I studied her sunken cheeks and eyes. Her skin was still pale and had a sickly pallor as she had in Darcy’s club when she cast a spell on me.

  “I’m good, sweetheart. But I’m not here for me. I’m here to help you get ready for tonight. Where’s your dress? Oh, and let me see what I can do about your hair.” My hair was tied on top of my head in a messy wet bun, but she reached for it and pulled it down, then began unraveling it in her hands and brushing her fingers through it, turning me around in the process.

  “Mom, stop.” I stepped out of her grasp, and she immediately pulled her hands back and bowed her head. I instantly regretted telling her to stop. “I’m sorry. I’m worried about you, Mom. Dad has you under his thumb. He’s still controlling you. You have to learn to stand up to him.”

  “I’m fine, sweetheart. You don’t need to worry about me. Let’s get you ready.”

  “No!” I can’t handle it anymore. She is in complete denial. “Snap out of it! Don’t you see? He is controlling you! He made you cast a spell on your own daughter, for crying out loud!” I had grabbed her by the shoulders and hadn’t realized I was shaking her when she pulled back, and her eyes started to glow white.

  “I am not under his control. I am only pretending to be.”

  “What? What do you mean?” I said, scrunching up my nose in confusion.

  “The spell I cast over you was only temporary. Your supernatural senses should return by midnight tonight. I did it to make your father think he was in control. But he never was.”

  For the first time in a long time, I felt hopeful. I smiled and threw my arms around my mother. She began to laugh, and when I stepped back to look at her, I saw she looked healthy again. Her hair and coloring were normal and brighter, and her eyes were no longer sunken. She really had been faking it. I sniffed and wiped my eyes. They were happy tears.

  “I can’t believe it. But what are we going to do about Father? He’s bound to find out sooner or later.”

  “You leave that to me, sweetheart,” she said, patting me on the arm. “You concentrate on dancing with your handsome King and having fun tonight. Speaking of, I saw him leave. Where did he go?”

  “He had to sort out some emergency business things. He’ll be back.”

  My mother stood behind me and turned me around so we both stood in the mirror. I was a mirror image of her. I smiled, and she kissed my cheek before whispering, “Wear the red one.”

  I smiled and looked at the red dress hanging in the closet. It was perfect. And Darcy’s color. He would love it on me.

  After my mother helped me into the floor length tulle and silk gown, she did my hair, pinning it up with my old tiara. As I looked at my reflection in the mirror dressed in my tiara and ball gown, I realized I looked like an actual princess once more. If all went well tonight, if we could prevent my father from finding out my mother had been fooling him the entire time, and as well as preventing any humans from killing any of the supernatural creatures, then I felt I could do this. I could become queen.

  Chapter Ten

  I wrung my hands nervously as I made my way to the ballroom. I could hear music, human music. Looks like food and newspapers weren’t the only things that had been introduced here.

  The ornate doors to the ballroom were closed when I reached them, and two armed guards stood sentry outside in full armor and weaponry. It was a bit much, I thought, but the humans would love it.

  I shook my head dislodging that thought. The humans shouldn’t be here. I walked toward the guards, and they immediately pivoted and pushed open the doors simultaneously. I walked through as they announced me to the already crowded ballroom.

  “Please welcome Her Royal Highness, Princess Emmaline.” I raised my head high, lifting my chin and walked as confidently as I could into the ballroom. I had nothing to go from other than what I used to do growing up. I didn’t have any advisors and only one maid, who I hadn’t seen, which was suspicious. My father had displaced many of the staff while I was gone. That or they had left.

  The music immedia
tely softened, and all eyes turned their attention to me as I walked down the three marble stairs into the grand ballroom. I managed a small smile and a nod, greeting the people, but I was far too nervous to do much more. I scanned the room for any signs of Darcy but didn’t see him. I hoped he returned soon. I couldn’t do this without him.

  I walked through the center of the ballroom toward the refreshments table. I needed wine, ASAP! I took a flute of champagne off the richly decorated table, hoping the bubbles would lift my spirits and make me feel a bit more optimistic about this ball. Why did I decide to throw it again? I immediately downed the first champagne quickly and grabbed a second before walking to the side of the room where I hoped I could hide and be invisible for a while.

  But I wasn’t alone for long.

  “Nice party,” said a seductively yet slightly snarky female voice to my left. I turned and almost dropped my drink when I saw who was standing beside me.

  “Queen Amber? Your Majesty, I… forgive me, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t invite you.”

  I had read about Amber, the Fae Queen, and her part in the Trans-Realm Treaty. I had read about her beauty and her love of fall and how she always dressed like she was wearing autumn leaves. But I had never met her. I had heard about her Faerie magic and tricks and her love affair with her personal bodyguard.

  She laughed. Her voice was musical, like wind chimes moving in the fall breeze.

  “That’s because your handsome vampire invited me. Didn’t he tell you he extended the invitation across the realms? He invited all the leaders,” she explained, waving her hand about flippantly talking about Darcy’s invitation as if she were telling me about what she had for lunch. I clenched my jaw and gave a fake smile, taking another sip from my champagne flute.

  “Did he now? This party has turned out to be much bigger than I had planned.” I looked out across the ballroom and spotted two other familiar faces. I almost choked on my drink. Queen Amber must have followed my gaze because she laughed again.