Page 5 of Unbound By Shadows
“I will do my duty as a guard, and that’s all,” Sam interrupted.
The queen arched one eyebrow as the lines around her mouth deepened. Sam jerked a hand through his long, dark hair and glared down at her.
Although he usually appreciated that Queen Thema never treated him differently from the Malkina, this time it angered him. He was not the same as the males of her race or any other males within the realm. He was a demon. And while his people believed all demons had a fated mate, Sam had accepted long ago that he would never find his own. It was yet another birthrighttaken from him, a destiny destroyed the day he was kidnapped as a boy from the Underworld.
Mercifully, the queen’s focus on his loneliness was cut short when trumpets heralded the Nereid court’s arrival. The wide castle doors creaked open, and they both stepped forward to peer down onto the grounds. A group of Nereid was moving across the stone bridge that connected the castle to Thema’s nearby forests.
As Sam surveyed the court, he caught a whiff of fresh mint in the air, the queen’s favorite plant. Rows and rows of the fragrant leaves had bordered the castle for as long as Sam had been living there. The sharp scent made Sam remember with a pang the days when he couldn’t smell anything but the sulfur and smoke of the Underworld. He blinked as he relived the days when his eyes didn’t hurt from the blinding sunlight streaming through the innumerable castle windows, and his ears weren’t pierced with shrieks of delight over the latest castle gossip. The shrieks he longed to hear were those of victory and conquest, and the laughter of vengeances fulfilled.
Will I ever see home again?
He stepped back when Queen Thema moved past him to call down to the group, “Sister! Cebna of the Nereid, welcome to the court of the Malkina.”
A creature with blue hair and a crown of coral looked up and waved. “Sister! Thema of the Malkina, the Nereid court accepts your welcome.”
Small barnacles clung to Queen Cebna's pale face, and her webbed, fin-like ears twitched. Though they walked on two legs, the Nereid moved with slippery, supple movements much the same as their sacred animal, the fish. Unlike the felinesque Malkina, who had smooth skin save for their furred legs and pawed feet, the Nereid were covered in iridescent silver scales.
Queen Thema turned back to Sam with a smile. “I must begin the customs of welcome, but take heart, demon. I have not been having these meetings with my sisters for nothing,”
“What do you mean?”
She pursed her lips for a moment. It was an expression that Sam had seen her make countless times when she was debating which details to divulge and which to hold back. “We are working on a plan to find our lost sister. There’s been a… development recently. I haven’t yet collected all the information.”
“You know I care little for royal business,” Sam said.
“Yes, but this is different. Something has happened that’s either a great threat or a great opportunity. Either way, it could help illuminate the secret of Queen Lilith’s disappearance.”
“And yet you won’t tell me what it is?”
“Not until I have a plan. Please don’t take offense, but I don’t want you charging off to handle things your way. We both know how volatile you can be.”
Sam felt the back of his neck warm. “I see.”
“This is a delicate matter, one that requires careful planning.”
Sam shifted his weight. “May I at least ask how finding the lost Goblyn queen affects me?”
“Yes.” She smiled then leaned forward. “I believe the secret of her disappearance may hold the key to sending you home.”
After the welcome ball for the Nereid people ended at midnight, Sam gratefully fell into his bed. His puzzlement over what Queen Thema had said about him returning home made it difficult to sleep. His dreams were full of hellhounds, imps, and lakes of fire until he woke abruptly just after the sun rose.
There was a disturbance somewhere in the realm. A tug at the corner of his mind made him glance around the room. He heard no sound, but something feltdifferent.
He rose from bed and opened his chamber doors, wondering if someone had dared to make the 1,000-step climb up the tower to approach his sanctuary. There was no one. Crossing the room, he jerked apart the balcony doors and stepped onto the broad terrace.He rubbed his eyes until they adjusted to the direct sunlight. A breeze blew his hair back from his shoulders, and he relaxed slightly. No matter how sumptuous he made his chambers, he would always feel more comfortable outside than within four walls.
Sam walked around the balcony, scanning for anything unusual. He inhaled deeply but only smelled the usual scents of the forest and castle, plus the light musk of the Malkina people. He had become adept at identifying each of the seven Aurelian races by their scent—Goblyns smelled of oakmoss and Lycah of birch tar, while the Vowa emitted a pungent hay scent. Harpies smelled of fresh air, and water races like the Nereid and Drago smelled of seawater and sand.
Finding nothing unusual, he moved inside when the slightest trace of an unfamiliar aroma wisped past him.
Inexplicably, his heart began to pound with excitement. Anticipation flowed through him, along with pleasant warmth. He stood still, waiting for the aroma to drift by him again. When it came, it was the slightest flicker of a smell he had not encountered since childhood. A fruit that came from trees not found in Aurelia. It only grew in two realms he knew of—the Underworld and Gaia, the human plane.
Pomegranate.
After quickly dressing, he bounded down the spiral staircase. When he reached the first floor, he nearly collided with Arkaya, the castle steward.
“Forgive me, my lady,” Sam said, taking several steps backward.
Arkaya’s sharp green eyes fixed upon him. “You have scented an intruder too?”
