The Assassin Queen (Book Four)

Chapter 19- Ryia

Ever since Simon gave me the information of the demon knight's weakness I haven't seen or heard from him. I was starting to get worried but I pushed that back along with the dull edged ache of Leo's death. It was strange because even though I know he is dead I still find myself talking to him. Visiting the tree so that I can talk to him. I still find myself looking for him in the halls when I'm alone. Even after I had had a moment with Alexandria it didn't fully fix anything. Leo was still gone. I started to feel the baby move in my stomach, it made me so awfully sad that Leo couldn't feel our child moving in my stomach. That all didn't hurt as much when I was studying and making plans to kill the demon knight. Thanks to Takeshi's knowledge we now know that to kill the demon knight we need to have weapons that are rinsed in blood, the kind didn't matter as long as it was blood of something once living. Having dedicated most of my time to planning out a way to kill the demon knight I hardly ever slept and only ate when necessary. I walked down to Leo's tree where I promptly sat down. "Hey, so I've been researching demons a lot and you won't believe all the information we've uncovered. I don't know what you've seen but I felt the baby kick for the first time this morning and it has definitely picked up some of your leg muscles, because it hurt like hell," I laughed, I could nearly feel Leo laughing beside me. "I haven't hunted in nearly a week and I think I have cabin fever. It would be my fault though, I mean I've been so insistent on coming up with a full proof plan to take down the demon knight that I haven't been doing much else recently. I'm worried about Simon, I know that you never got to meet him how he truly was but I just know you two would have been the best of friends," I sighed sadly. Ouch! I felt another kick, damn it if it didn't hurt. "Damn, its like this kid can feel your presence and it isn't strong enough for the little sucker!" I laughed and leaned fully against the tree. "You'd be surprised by how often I reach for you at night, how easy it is to forget what you don't want to remember, and how much it hurts when you remember". Tears started welling in my eyes. "You know what? I think the kid is right, this presence isn't enough, not nearly so, not after feeling your warmth everyday. My fire just feels like a cheep imitation of what you held in your eyes. Everything is so much darker and colder since you... left, then again what did I expect life to be without you? We never really did think that far, did we?". My laugh sounded so much more bitter than before. It had been a little over a month since his death and I still came out here every day. I sat in silence for the longest time just savoring his presence. My eyes fluttered in the peaceful calm of the meadow. Soon I was asleep and could have sworn I felt Leo's warm arms fold around me as I let sleep win and closed my eyes. In my dream Leo sat in front of me at a small, beautiful, decorative table. "L-Leo?" I asked approaching him carefully as though one wrong move would make him disappear. I slowly reached out to touch him but the moment my fingers grazed his skin he dissipated. "I see you're still in love with that fae prince aren't you?". A deep, rich voice asked as a slender man with coal black hair and eyes to match, his ghost pale skin that set off and showed a smooth boyish jaw line and the fit suit that showed off the fact that though slender he had muscles. "You, what are you doing here?" I asked backing up slowly. "You don't know who I am and yet your instincts tell you all you need to know. How interesting, you are to birth my demise and yet it is not the one you currently carry" his eyes were studying me intently as though picking out every weak spot I had. His posture was perfect as was his speech, just like a king's and then it hit me. "You're the demon king aren't you?" I asked more stating facts than waiting for an answer. "Guilty as charged, and now I'd like to have some words with you".