A Demon's Wrath: Part I (Peachville High Demons) (3 page)

I swallowed a thick lump in my throat. “If
you don’t speak now, then you’ll have to live the rest of
your days wondering what might have happened if you’d told her
the truth.”

“If I tell her the truth, I’ll have to
live all my days knowing that even though she knew how I felt, she
still chose you,” he said. He looked up, his blue eyes filled
with tears.

“You don’t know that,” I said.
“Maybe she only loves me because she feels she has to.”

He pressed his lips together, anger evident in the
sharp inhale.

“Everyone knows,” he said. “It’s
obvious in the way she looks at you. The way she touches you.”

I wanted to tell him it wasn’t true, but how
could I?

“I can’t let this come between us,”
I said. “I won’t.”

Aerden snorted and straightened his
shoulders.”What will you do, then, brother? Refuse to marry
her?”

“Maybe,” I said, lifting my chin. “I
would do that if you asked me to.”

“And shame our parents? Defy the King of the
North?” He laughed. “You don’t have the nerve.
Besides, you’d break her heart.”

His eyes darkened again and he went back to
staring at the ocean.

“I’m going to break her heart,
anyway,” I said. I held the golden locket out for him to see.

“What’s that?” he asked.

I explained the secret of the heart stones and his
eyes filled with shadows.

“We have to tell her the truth before it’s
too late,” I said. “If we both go to her and explain our
feelings now, we can leave it for her to decide. It’s the only
way.”

“No,” he said, standing. “She
would still choose you, can’t you see that?”

“You don’t know that.” I stood
and put my hand on his arm, but he pulled away from me.

“I do,” he said, “and if you
don’t, then you’re blind. I’d rather carry this
secret inside me until the day of my passing then have to go through
that. If you can’t understand that, then you don’t know
me at all.”

“I know you better than anyone in this world
or the next,” I said. “And what I saw in your eyes this
morning when you looked at her nearly broke my own heart. Why can’t
you just put aside your pride and tell her how you feel?”

“You can’t even begin to understand
how difficult this has been for me,” Aerden said, his voice
echoing against the rocky cliffs. “Every single time I’m
with her, I struggle not to tell her how I feel. I fight against my
own heart, begging not to feel this way for someone who is promised
to another. Then, when I see the way she looks at you…”

He walked three or four steps along the jagged
edge of the cliff. The look of longing in his eyes when he stared
down at the water sent a ripple of fear through my spine.

“I can’t do this to you,” I
said. “I can’t see this sorrow in your eyes for the rest
of my days, knowing I was the cause of it.”

“You won’t have to,” he said.

The slight tremble in his voice unnerved me. “What
do you mean?”

He clenched his teeth and his jaw rippled with
tension. “Nothing,” he said.

My stomach twisted tight. “Tell me,” I
said.

“I’ve been thinking about going away
for a while,” he said.

I shook my head, not wanting to believe this could
be true. “Where?” I asked. “For how long?”

Aerden picked up a stone and tossed it into the
raging waves below. “As long as it takes,” he said.
“Maybe forever.”

The world fell out from under my feet. “Aerden—”

“Don’t try to talk me out of it,”
he said. “I’ve been thinking about this for a long time.
It’s what I need to do. Maybe if I spent some time traveling, I
would find something more to live for. Maybe I could forget about
her.”

“There has to be another way,” I said.
“I’ll tell her the truth. I’ll tell her I don’t
love her, but that you do. I’ll tell her I can’t marry
her, but that you’ll marry her in my place. In time, she will
learn to love you.”

“No,” Aerden said. “It’s
not your place to tell her how I feel.”

“This can’t be the way our lives go,”
I said. “You’re a part of me. You’re my other
half.”

He hardened his expression. “No,” he
said. “We are separate. We’re not children anymore and
the time has come for us to stand up and accept the choices that have
been made for us. They chose you, Denaer, and there’s nothing
we can do to change that.”

“Where will you go?” I asked. “How
will I reach you?”

“I met a woman who said she knows of a place
where my magic will be appreciated,” he said. “It sounded
amazing. I think it’s what I need right now.”

“What woman?” I asked, panic flowing
through me. “Where did you meet her?”

He sighed. “Let’s talk about this
another time,” he said. “I’d really like to be
alone for a while.”

“Promise me you won’t go anywhere
before I’ve had a chance to say goodbye,” I said.
“Promise me you’ll be there tomorrow for the ceremony.”

Aerden placed his hand firmly against my arm.
“I’ll be there. I promise,” he said. “But I
want you to promise me something, too.”

“Anything,” I said.

“Promise me you will try to love her,”
he said, his eyes filling with tears. “She deserves that.”

“I will,” I said.

He pulled me into a hug, then turned away.

I left him there at the edge of the Black Cliffs,
a dark feeling swirling in my stomach.

I tossed and turned throughout the night.

When I finally fell asleep, I dreamed of the sea.
And when I woke, I felt restless.

I knew I didn’t have much time until the
preparations for today’s ceremonies would begin, and I still
hadn’t put my feelings into the heart stone.

I had left the golden locket on the table beside
the window, but when I went to retrieve it, it was gone.

I searched every corner of my room, and when I
realized it was nowhere to be found, I collapsed onto my bed.

Where could I have left it?

I’d been so sure it was there by the window.

Then, a thought tugged at my brain and I stood.

Aerden
.

I shifted and flew through my rooms as fast as I
could, traveling through the long corridor that connected our two
towers.

His room was a twin of my own, situated up a long
staircase and at the top of a tower. We each had a suite of rooms
including a bedroom, bathroom, closet and small welcoming room.

He usually kept his outer door closed, but as I
reached the top of the stairs, his door stood wide open. An uneasy
feeling knotted in my stomach.

With heavy steps, I entered his room, praying this
was all in my head. I told myself I’d see him sitting at his
breakfast table, fully dressed and ready to face the day.

But I already knew he was gone.

I could feel his absence.

We’d always had an incredibly strong bond.
Even when we weren’t together, I was always connected to him,
as if he were simply an extension of myself.

Sometimes when we sparred, I could sense his
movements before he made them. I could anticipate his thoughts.

But when I focused in on his energy now, I
couldn’t sense him anywhere.

A cold vine wrapped around my spine, and I
shivered. I walked through the entryway and into his bedroom.

There, on the table near his bed, was the golden
locket. Underneath, he’d left a note. My eyes filled with tears
as I sat down, the note clutched in my trembling hand.

Dear brother,

I have broken my promise to you, and I hope
that you will find it in your heart to forgive me.

I cannot stay in this city and watch the
kingdom celebrate your happiness while my own heart is breaking. I’m
not sure I could survive the pain.

But I also couldn’t live with the pain of
knowing Lea’s heart had also been broken.

You said telling her the truth was the only way
to make things right, but I found another way. A better way that will
give her great joy and allow you to both be happy together.

When she opens the heart stone inside this
locket, Lea will see that she is loved. She will understand how much
she means in this world, and it won’t matter that it was my
love instead of yours. She will never have to know.

All she needs to know is that the love inside
the stone is pure and true.

Please let me do this for her. For both of you.

I don’t know how long I’ll be gone
or where I’m going, but I will reach out to you when I can.
Someday, if my heart can heal, I will come home and stand by your
side.

I love you, brother.

Aerden.

The Human World – Present Day

A knock on the door startled me out of my memories
of the distant past, bringing me back to my bedroom at Brighton
Manor. I let the memory stone fall back into my pocket and took a
deep breath as the images of that day so long ago faded away.

It was exactly one hundred and one years ago today
that Aerden was taken from me and the agony of that day still felt
fresh in my mind.

The door cracked open slightly and Harper stuck
her head just inside the door. The smile on her face radiated warmth
and happiness, dispersing some of the cold anger and regret in my
heart.

“Hey sexy,” she said. “Can I
come in?”

My hand absently brushed the stone in my pocket
and I nodded. “Of course.”

She opened the door and slipped inside, then shut
it behind her.

The sight of her took my breath away. Her blond
hair had grown longer over the past few months, but tonight she was
wearing it up in beautiful, thick braids that coiled around her head.
A beautiful white rose was placed near her temple and she wore band
of beads around her forehead like a crown.

We’d decided not to completely abandon
Peachville’s tradition of an annual Halloween Ball. This year,
though, no one from the Order of Shadows was invited.

Harper and I had decided to go as a couple from a
silent film we’d watched together. My costume was easy. All I’d
needed was a tuxedo.

But Harper had gone all out. Her dress was a shiny
satin that hugged all of her curves. She wore several long layers of
pearls that draped perfectly across her body and swayed as she walked
toward me. Nestled between the pearls, she still wore her mother’s
locket, too, even though the magic inside it had been extinguished
along with all of the blue portals.

“You look incredible,” I said,
reaching for her and pulling her into my arms.

“And you look half-dressed,” she said
with a laugh as she snuggled against my cheek. “What have you
been doing up here all this time?”

I shrugged and look down at the discarded bow tie
on my dresser. “I couldn’t figure out how to tie this
stupid thing,” I said. I felt slightly guilty lying to her, but
I couldn’t tell her the real thoughts that had occupied my mind
for the past half hour. I wanted to have all of the memories inside
the stone before I told her about it.

“Here, let me,” she said.

She picked up the tie and moved her arms around my
neck, lifting my collar and placing the bow tie in the right
position.

“Since when did you learn how to tie a bow
tie?” I asked.

She smiled and the sight of her cherry red lips
made my neck flush with warmth.

“I didn’t,” she said.

Then, she stepped back and closed her eyes. With a
simple wave of her hand, my tie moved on its own, twisting around
until it was tied into the perfect bow.

I smiled and studied it in the mirror.

“A glamour?” I asked.

“Not exactly,” she said. “Just
something I’ve been working on.”

She studied me, her lips curling down into a
frown.

“Is everything okay?”

I nodded. “I was just thinking about how far
we’ve come,” I said. “How much we’ve been
through just to get here.”

I wrapped my arms around her waist. Her dress
dipped low in the back and I placed my palm flat against her bare
skin, so grateful for the warmth of her body against mine.

I lowered my lips toward hers, but at the last
moment, she placed a finger against my lips and shook her head.

“This lipstick is real, I’ll have you
know,” she said. “No glamours tonight. If you kiss me
now, you’re going to look like a clown instead of a handsome
movie star.”

“It’s worth it,” I said.

I lowered my lips to hers and she wrapped her arms
around me, tilting her head up. I lost myself in the love that passed
between us in that moment. Every sorrow I’d ever experienced
had led me here, and I knew that I would go through it all again for
her.

When we parted, she smiled up at me, then rubbed
her thumb across my lips. She held it up so I could see the streak of
red.

“I told you,” she said.

I laughed and watched her practically float away.
She placed her hand on the heavy wooden door and turned back toward
me before she left.

“Don’t be long,” she said.
“Almost everyone’s here already.”

I blew her a kiss and she pretended to catch it
before she disappeared into the hallway.

I touched my hand to the stone in my pocket,
thinking how I never dreamed I would ever love someone as much as I
love her.

And how I was certain I didn’t deserve her.

I wanted nothing more than to join her and our
friends downstairs, but there was still work to be done. I reached in
my pocket and took out the stone again.

All my memories of the days leading up to the
engagement ceremony were just the very beginning of the story.

When I found Aerden’s note and the golden
case that held the heart stone, I mourned his absence, but at the
same time, a part of me understood why he did what he did. He was
willing to sacrifice his own happiness so that Lea and I could find
happiness, but he didn’t want to stay behind and watch us
together every single day.