Darkness Rises

Chapter 13

We walked down to the foyer and Rhys winnowed us all in. I looked around and saw they everyone else had already set their masks, I did the same.

Nyx stayed outside with me while everyone else went in. There was a knock on my mental shields.

'You doing, ok?' Nyx's voice asked.

'This place is dark and creepy, please tell me you don't come here often,' I replied, glancing at him.

'No, Mor and my parents do but I usually don't come, you don't have to either,' he said, not looking at me.

Rhys's power flared a little then, and I took Nyx's arm. He lead me into the large throne room, and we stopped at the bottom of the dais, Nyx bowed, and I curtsied before we both turned.

"This is my niece Jasmine, you will treat her with the respect as any other member of my family and court," Rhys said from behind us, pure command lacing his words.

A male stepped forwards and Nyx placed a hand on my lower back.

"How come we have never heard of her," the male asked with a sneer.

"No one knew I existed, my mother kept me hidden from this place," I replied, glad my voice was cold and hard.

The male walked forwards another step.

"How dare you talk to me girl," he snarled.

I felt power rallying behind me, but I shook my head ever so slightly and it stopped.

"Who are you?" I asked the male.

"Kier, I am the steward here," he replied looking smug.

"Tell me Kier, why you hate me so much even though you have never met me before, is it because I am a girl, a child or something else entirely?" I crossed my arms.

"You have no power of me, no matter what you think," he snarled.

"Oh, so now you want to talk about power, do you fear your High Lord's power Kier?" I asked, glad this was the way it was heading.

"Yes," he had paled a little.

"Then I suggest you fear me too," I told him with lethal quiet.

"And why is that?" he asked as he composed himself.

"Because mine is the exact same," I told him, and he began to laugh.

"You don't have the same power as our High Lord," his laugh was hideous.

I didn't hold back, my power flowing out of me like pure black tentacles. They became an extension of my body, sucking in the light.

Kier stopped laughing.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't teach you a lesson," I said, stepping forwards.

"You wouldn't dare," he hissed, and my power pushed him to the floor.

"Just try me," I hissed back.

He glared at me for a while so I concentrated my power on his heart, while training with Rhys I had discovered that my power worked a little differently than his, I can make it faze through things, including people.

"My power is currently wrapped around you heart, I know you can feel it, apologise to me and I will take it out again." I told him, walking over and stopping right in front of him.

"I'm sorry Jasmine," he gasped out and I pulled the power out, he sagged to the floor, pressing a hand to his heart.

Nyx appeared at my side and offered me his hand, I glanced at Rhys who dipped his chin, so I took it, and he took us home.

"You are either very brave or very stupid," Nyx breathed as he pulled his suit off and put on some more of his more casual clothes.

"I'm a bit of both, most brave things are stupid though if you think about it," I replied as I tugged the dress of my shoulders and pulled on a night dress.

"That couldn't be more true," he laughed as the bag of sweets appeared on my bed.

We both sat and began making our way through the lot. We had gotten through a quarter of it when Rhys and Feyre walked in.

"How much trouble am I in?" I asked as I took in their faces.

"None at all, that has been a long time coming, we were worried about you," Feyre said as she sat on the bed next to me, slipping an arm around my shoulders.

"I'm great, I feel so much lighter now that my power has been lessened and I've been eating sweets for the first time." I replied with a grin.

"Jaz, you've stained your whole mouth blue!" Rhys exclaimed.

"So has Nyx," I grumbled.

"I'm taking the bag," Rhys laughed as he plucked if off the bed and it vanished back into a pocket world.

I leant into Feyre as Rhys made Nyx show him how blue his own mouth was.

"How often do you have to go there?" I asked as I felt my eyelids droop.

"Not often and you don't have to come appart from Winter Solstice," Rhys replied.

"Good, that place is miserable," I mumbled as my eyes closed.