Мишель Роуэн - Reign or Shine

Her lip curled back from her sharp teeth. "You have no power anymore, Desmond. I can't be stopped now." She shook her head. "She won't be queen.

She's not capable of it-it's impossible. She's too young. Too human."

I felt the life being squeezed out of me. She was choking me.

"Please," he said, and now his words were less fierce as his strength faded again. "Let her go. I beg you, Elizabeth. Don't hurt her."

I didn't want to die. But the air was being squeezed from my body. She was so strong. Stronger than me.

I was scared.

"Darklings don't fear anyone or anything," the king of the faery realm had told me in the forest. I'd seen the fear in his eyes.

And in the field Dax had confided that Elizabeth was afraid of me, even before she knew I'd been able to turn Darkling.

I gasped for breath, but I tried to concentrate. I tried to look past the fury and the rage I saw in Elizabeth's red eyes. I looked past it and deep inside all I could see was fear.

I clutched at her wrists and my hands glowed red. Her brow lowered. I focused a line of energy through my hands and she jumped back from me, much like I'd jumped back from Michael's amulet.

"You're afraid of me," I gasped, holding a hand to my nearly crushed throat.

"I'm not." The look in her eyes betrayed the truth. "You're the only one standing in my way. Your father can't help you. Your Shadow can't help you. Nobody can help you now."

"You're wrong." I clenched my fists. "I can help me."

"Dax," Elizabeth barked. "Please restrain her."

She looked over but Dax had left the room completely. I hadn't even noticed when he ran away but I wasn't all that surprised. He'd lied to Elizabeth about my turning Darkling-or at the very least, he'd withheld information from her-and he would have expected a serious punishment after that. Obviously he didn't want to stick around to see how this all played out.

Or maybe he was just sick of being told what to do.

"Elizabeth," my father said again. "Stop this now."

Michael began to stir from the floor where he lay and started to push himself up. I was so relieved to see he wasn't seriously hurt.

Elizabeth shook her head but looked a bit more uneasy than before. "I can't." Her hands began to glow with green light. "It's time, Nikki. Time for me to be queen."

She raised her hand and launched a swirling ball of energy at me.

However, I'd just launched one at exactly the same time. Mine was bigger.

The two orbs of power, hers green and mine red, hit each other full-on, but because mine was larger it sent a shockwave to her side of the room that knocked her backward. She lost her footing and fell heavily to the floor.

I glared down at her. "You were scared of me because you knew all this time that I could do that, didn't you? That my power is greater than yours."

She lowered her head. "Please spare me."

I felt fury spiral inside of me and willed myself to calm down. Being Darkling brought with it a nearly uncontrollable need to destroy, and at the moment Elizabeth seemed like an excellent target. But I knew I had to calm myself down. Michael came to my side and touched my arm, and looking at him made the rage inside of me still a little.

"What should we do with her?" he asked.

"I have no idea."

"Elizabeth," my father said. "Come here."

She didn't stand up, but instead crawled to the side of his bed, refusing to meet his eyes. I could tell she felt defeated and she was acting like it. My hands continued to glow with power just in case she tried something funny.

"Where is the antidote?" he asked.

She gasped sharply. "Please, Desmond-" "Elizabeth, I understand how easy it must have been for you to fall in love with Prince Kieran." He paused to breathe raggedly. "I, too, fell in love with someone who was forbidden to me. It didn't make the love any less important. Listen to me. Give me the antidote. If you do this, all will be forgiven. I will let you continue to live here in the castle with me and there will be no punishment."

I touched Michael's arm. Was he serious? After everything she'd done he was willing to forgive her?

Elizabeth's demon eyes widened. "Do you speak the truth, brother?"

"I do."

She slowly got to her feet. "I didn't know that the poison would cause you such pain. I thought it would act quicker. I'm sorry for that."

His gaze was fixed on her. "It's fine. It's over now."

She took in a shaky breath and let it out, and I watched as her demon form faded away and she became human again. It was easier to see her expression now. She was crying. She reached into her left pocket and pulled out a small clear bottle.

"Is that it?" my father asked. She nodded.

"I'm surprised you didn't destroy it," he said. "Obviously some part of you knew what you were doing was wrong, and you wanted the chance to fix this.

Please, give it to me."

She uncorked the bottle and held it to his lips. "It might be too late."

"We shall see." My father drank the antidote and closed his eyes.

I concentrated on staying in Darkling form and stood at the end of the bed, vigilant to whatever happened next. I didn't want to hope for a miracle, but that's what I was praying for anyway. Elizabeth's hands were shaking as she placed the now-empty bottle on the bedside table.

For all I knew she could have just given him a full dose of poison. If that was the case then I was afraid of what I would do to her. I wasn't ready to forgive.

Not yet. Probably not ever.

It took ten full minutes before we could see any change in my father, and even then it was slow and subtle. My father's form began to change in the bed and become smaller, shifting slowly back to human. I went to his side to hold his hand, and after another five minutes he opened his eyes and looked up at me.

"I'm so proud of you, Nikki," he said.

"Are you…" I swallowed. "Are you going to be okay now?"

"The magic of the potion makers works very quickly," he said. "But the poison did a great deal of damage to me. It will take some time for me to fully recover. But I think I'll eventually be okay."

"I'm very glad to hear that," I said and smiled. "Because I really didn't want to be queen. Like, at all."

"I didn't think so."

My concentration had lapsed and I felt my Darkling slip away with the oh-so-pleasant sensation of a hundred Band-Aids being ripped off my brain simultaneously. I staggered, but Michael was there to catch me. I looked at him gratefully as I leaned against his solid form.

"I trusted you," my father said, and I realized he was speaking to Elizabeth. "And you betrayed me."

She didn't look at him. "I'm sorry."

"Your love for Kieran must be very great."

"I thought it was." She swallowed. "But perhaps Nikki is right. It's possible that he may have been using me."

"Do you really think so?" my father asked calmly, but the edge of sarcasm in his voice made me realize that he was anything but calm. I noticed then that despite his human appearance his eyes were red again. "Let me ask you this, Elizabeth. Our father-did you kill him as well?"

She didn't answer for a very long time. "During my first visit to the Underworld I fell in love with Kieran, even though we were very young. Our father refused to let me go back to see him again. He was a horrible, cruel man. Kieran suggested that something could be done about it. He sent me the potion."

"You mean, the poison," my father corrected. "Nikki, Michael, please help me get out of this bed." We supported him so he was able to swing his legs out and get to his feet. His chest was bare but he wore loose-fitting black pants.

Elizabeth shied away from him as he approached. "You said that you'd forgive me and I could continue to live here."

"I did say that. But I've been rethinking my decision. What you've done is unforgivable, Elizabeth."