Crowned In Shadows by Amber Ella Monroe
Chapter 2
Sadie
How ironic that my sister’s mission and my mission led us to the same place. Our paths commingling with two warring clans of shadow demons. Our missions aligned. But what about our goals? What did my sister hope to accomplish by raising the evil Asmodeus?
I knew what I wanted to accomplish. I wanted to live in peace with my three demon protectors. I wanted them to make amends with their father. And most of all, I wanted them by my side as Kings as I truly believed it was their birthright.
But what did my sister want? Surely she didn’t have a vision of seeing Asmodeus sat upon the throne of Shadow World. If she did, there would be trouble ahead in paradise. For that vision did not sit right with me.
I sat by the bedside, watching Sydney’s chest move with each shallow breath. Her skin radiated heat, and tiny droplets of sweat trickled down her forehead. All the while, her mumbled delirium echoed through the room, the words becoming nothing more than a jumbled mess. I desperately wanted to help her, but I feared that whatever had taken hold of her was too powerful, and all of her magical energy had been sapped away.
As I worked on her medicine, I was mindful of my mother’s instructions as I carefully grinded the herbs into a fine powder. I poured the moon water into the mortar and used a pestle to mix the herbs and water into a paste. All the while, my sister slept peacefully and softly snored, letting me know that she was still alive and able to return from her slumber. I labored over the potion for a long time, knowing that this might be my only hope to restore her strength and wellbeing.
I remembered how I pushed myself to my limits in the past, but I was comforted by the fact that I could always rely on Altair, Dominik, or Morpheus to restore me. Upon my request, Altair had tried to give Sydney some of his energy, but it didn’t work. We assumed that since Sydney and my demons weren’t connected, the energy transfer couldn’t work on her like it did between me and them. But we tried anyways—even after what she had done.
Pleased with the mixture, I applied the salve to her forehead and temples, whispering a common healing spell, hoping it would help to ease her fever and bring her out of her slumber. Then, I sat over her some more waiting for the spell to take effect. After what seemed like an eternity, the fever broke and her mumbled ramblings ceased. But still, she didn’t awaken. All we needed was time—a luxury we did not have.
I heard the sound of clanging pots and pans coming from the kitchen. Altair, Morpheus, and Dominik were up to something in my apartment. I thought back to the vision Apollyn shared with me in Shadow World of them cooking and making a mess. I imagined they were doing the same thing at this very moment.
As soon as we teleported back here, I noticed that my cabinets and fridge were filled to the brim with food and staples as if they were planning meals for a household of twenty. When asked where they got the money to buy all the food, they told me they went to the grocery store and told the cashier to put it all on credit and strolled out with three shopping carts full of stuff. There was probably already a warrant out for their arrests. I needed to teach my demons how to actually live in the human world.
I smiled and left the room to join them. Sure enough, they were nearly shoulder to shoulder in my little galley kitchen with about five pots on the stove—four on the burner and one in the center. I was met with the clattering of saucers and plates. Their heads poked out from behind the cabinets, engaged in an intense discussion as metal pots flew to and fro. Each of them had a wooden spoon in one hand and a kitchen utensil in the other.
“Guys? Really?” I stood in the doorway, admiring the sight.
Dominik parted from the group with an apron wrapped around his waist. “We learned a thing or two while you were gone. We know how to cook human food now.”
Altair grinned. “Yeah. We did. Thanks to that show, Hell’s Kitchen, or whatever, where that guy roasts all the chefs, I think we might be on to something.”
“Yeah. And we’re only halfway through the seasons. Dom kept it on replay even while he slept.” Morpheus laughed, stirring something delicious-smelling in a pot.
I was glad to see they could find pleasure and happiness despite what was going on around us. We certainly needed it. I also liked to think that we couldn’t keep all these hellish nightmares from interfering with our happily ever after. After all, that was the point in all this, right?
“We thought we’d make you some food while you tended to your sister,” he said. “All you’ve eaten are fried crispies.”
I grinned. “Potato chips,” I corrected. “Now, let’s see what you’ve got here.”
They parted for me and I made my way over to the stove. “Pasta. My fav. Fettuccine. Spaghetti. Linguine. Is that clam sauce? Wow. How will I ever eat all of this?”
“Don’t worry. We’ll help you,” Altair offered.
I giggled. “I’m sure you will.”
I glanced over at the sink full of dirty pots, pans, and spoons. “You know you’re supposed to clean up as you go, right?”
Morpheus and Dominik exchanged alarmed expressions. “I thought the kitchen staff did that.”
I burst out in laughter. “But there’s not a kitchen staff here, is there? In the human world, we clean up after ourselves. Hell’s Kitchen is a restaurant, so they hire staff to clean up.”
“I see,” Dominik replied.
I reached out and turned on the faucet, but Altair stopped me. “We don’t want you to do anything. Just sit down. We’re almost done.”
I smiled and sat at the table near the entrance where I could see them finish the food. I got a kick out of watching them stumble over and bump into each other as they worked. Three sexy demons cooking for me in a tiny galley kitchen…who would’ve thought.
As they worked, I doodled on the palm of my hand with a finger, making mental notes just like I used to do as a child. I tried to connect the dots to make sense of all of this.
My men interrupted my train of thoughts, bringing over piping hot serving bowls of pasta and delicious rolls. I hadn’t had a feast like this in so long, I knew this was the beginning of me eating until I was sick of pasta.
“Sadie, we want you to eat. Our father wasn’t feeding you properly since we have noticed your weight loss and you need your strength, especially after what we have planned for you,” Morpheus said.
I smiled at their thoughtfulness as they brought out a pitcher of freshly squeezed lemonade. “It’s quite the opposite actually. Apollyn offered a full spread every night, but I just couldn’t face him many nights so I didn’t go down for dinner.”
“He probably just wanted to have you for himself,” Dominik bit out.
“Not like you think. Not like that. He’s only interested in my powers, which I know is a self-serving move. He beds demonesses, not human women. I’m not attracted to your daddy, Dom. In fact, I’m not attracted to anyone else but the three of you. I’ll never choose. I need all three of you by my side.”
“Good. Because we’ll never ask you to choose,” Dom replied. “You still should’ve eaten like a queen while father kept you there, though.”
“I ate when I could but it seemed like a chore just to keep myself nourished when all I really wanted to do was get back to all three of you.”
Altair leaned down and pressed a kissed to my lips. “You won’t deprive yourself anymore.”
“But, do tell.” I leaned back, admiring the spread. “Why are you trying to fatten me up? What do you have planned for me?”
“You need your vitamins. Kings have heirs. And we want some, too.” Dominik grinned.
“Oh, okay…” I blushed. This conversation again. Ever since they escaped the void, they’d been discussing the future more often, it seemed. And they wanted me to give them babies. I would one day, but not until all of our enemies were gone. “Then, let’s eat.” I pointed to the empty chairs around me. They all dived into a chair and we dug right in. The food was delicious and I was super impressed with how much they had learned without me.
We ate in nearly completely silence because we were stuffing our mouths. Only when there were scraps left, did we begin more conversation.
“Oh my gods,” Dominik bellowed as he propped his feet up on the table. “I can’t move.”
“I can.” Morpheus plucked another roll from the basket and ate it in two bites. He rubbed his belly.
I giggled. “If we keep eating at this rate, one of us is going to have to get a real job.”
“Real job?” Altair laughed. “What do you mean, real job? We have gold bars in a vault at one of these human banks somewhere.”
I threw up my arms. “Well, why didn’t you pay at the grocery store?”
“Dominik’s the one who said we could tell them we want to use our good credit and we’d come by to pay the bill later,” Morpheus said.
I laughed. “That’s not quite how it works.”
Dominik nodded. “Ah, then I’ll take the blame. We’ll send the grocer a check. Promise.”
“Mmmm, this was so good, though.” I bit my lips. “You know, Sydney will be awake soon. Maybe we should have left her something.”
“You don’t even have to worry. There’s a plate in the fridge for her. That’s the thing about keeping prisoners. We have to feed them,” Altair joked.
I threw a cloth napkin at him. “My sister’s not a prisoner.”
He rolled his eyes. “At this point, she doesn’t trust us because she knows we can’t trust her. I know she’s your sister and all, but we have to approach all the possible outcomes wisely.”
I sighed. Altair was right. “She probably had no idea we’d end up here. She raised the immortal enemy of my boyfriends…”
“Fiancés,” Morpheus corrected, buttering up another roll.
“Right. Whether she likes it or not, you three will be my husbands. I’m not sacrificing my happiness or you or anything else for Asmodeus who I know for a fact contributed to my parents’ death. I can’t forgive that, and I won’t.”
“But you want us to forgive our father for killing our mothers?” Dominik quipped.
“That’s not what I said. Or meant. You must’ve snuck in my head and got it all wrong. I want you all to talk it through with him. He shouldn’t have murdered them. He had his reasons. I don’t think you three ever cared to listen,” I said.
Altair leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed. “What did he tell you?”
“It’s not my place to summarize his confession. You need to hear it from him,” I declared.
“We’re not going to talk to him. Our father is a lazy bastard,” Dominik stately, flatly. “So there…we don’t care about his reasonings. Case closed. What we do care about is the new threat—Asmodeus. He’s worse than our father. Trust me when I say this. He will kill anything in his path. I am quite surprised that your sister is still alive.”
“My sister is a bit like me. We’re stronger than you know. We won’t die easily.”
Morpheus nodded. “I could see that fight in your sister, too. You’re right. She’s like you. She went and did something she had no business doing.”
I blushed in shame. “I had my reasoning for everything I did. I’m sure she does to.”
Altair shrugged. “She just won’t tell us…or you. Which means she plans on sitting back and allowing Asmodeus to do whatever the hell he wants to achieve whatever goal he’s trying to achieve. It’s not hard to conclude that he wants Shadow World. He wanted it even when my father was King. Says he should’ve gotten the throne as the eldest son of Udite. It doesn’t matter. He didn’t fight hard enough and he’s not wise like our father. He lost. Our father won. But you know what, father won’t be sitting on the throne for too much longer. He’ll get what’s coming to him, too.”
“So, clearly Asmodeus is the bigger threat. What else do you know of him?”
Morpheus remained silent, brooding over his own thoughts until he finally spoke up. “We need to be cautious. We don’t know what kind of powers he’s obtained. Lots of old spirits reside in the Land of the Damned. We also don’t know what kind of allies he has. We need to be prepared for almost anything.”