Page 2 of Their World (Her Royal Harem: Lily #2)

Chapter

Two

Dhun had returned about an hour later carrying items in a bag that was secured to stay on his back. I assumed King Jolmach had attached it, but didn’t bother asking.

While he’d been gone, I had taken my phone out and tried to call or send a message, but there was no service. Did it only work when a portal was open and near you? I’d been able to watch Dhun through the video call for about thirty seconds before the phone had been destroyed.

I drafted an email to go to my entire family and the trio, so if a portal did open and I wasn’t able to make it through, maybe the email would send during that window of time.

The book I’d been provided was leather bound, had blank, lined pages, and had a price sticker from one of our popular bookstore chains on the back.

“Using stolen goods,” I whispered, and shook my head. “I never thought I’d see the day. Mom would be so disappointed.”

Dhun canted his head, looking confused.

The first lefthand page I titled “Hierarchy”, the second left hand page I titled “King Jolmach”. I gave each item the two pages, so I had enough room for notes. About the middle of the book, I titled it “Creatures” and gave each creature a page to draw them as best as I could, note their attributes, and if I was stuck here long enough, whatever else I learned about them.

With Dhun in the room, I was able to draw a hellhound a bit better than the ones I’d seen for a short time, since I could stare at him as I drew. He seemed to realize I wanted him to stay still, so he sat straight and still, only moving his eyes to look at the page. Once finished, I showed it to him.

He yipped and danced around in a circle.

“I take it you think I did a good job drawing you?”

He bobbed his head.

“Tomorrow, I think we should walk around the castle a bit,” I said. “So, I can see the other types of demons.” And so I could map out the castle and draw the floorplan.

Dhun panted and curled up on the rug.

“Okay, fine, bed time it is,” I said and closed the book. Laying on the bed, I wondered what everyone back home was doing.

Would my parents be able to sleep? Would my brother and Maya console each other? Would the trio be causing havoc somewhere?

Knowing the trio, Mason was trying to jump through the nearest portal while Kayden was holding him back until they developed a plan.

Imagining that scenario put a smile on my face and allowed me to fall asleep.

The next morning, King Jolmach knocked on my door and escorted me back to the kitchen for breakfast. He pushed a plate of meat and scrambled eggs towards me.

“Did you sleep well?” he asked.

I nodded. “I did, how about you?”

Simple conversation would help keep things civil between us and hopefully keep his guard down to give me as much information as possible.

“About as normal,” he said with a shrug.

“Is there a plan for today?” I asked. “Would it be okay to take Dhun with me and explore the castle? I swear not to leave it.”

He stared at me a moment, looked down at Dhun, and said, “I have to speak with my council, so I won’t be able to escort you. If you stay in the castle, you should be safe. I’ll send one of the warriors with you just in case. Dhun is still young and inexperienced.”

Dhun huffed and lowered his head, his ears drooping sadly.

“Do the other warriors talk, too?” I asked.

“If they choose to,” he said with a half-smile.

“King Jolmach, have you?—”

“Just Jol, please,” he said, interrupting me.

I smiled. “Jol, have you heard from your Grand Advisor?”

He shook his head. “Not yet. I’m sure he’ll reach out soon.” Looking down at Dhun, he said, “Ensure you show her the boundaries of the castle and don’t stray from them. Tensions are high amongst our people right now.”

Dhun barked his acknowledgment.

“Do you have communication devices?” I asked. “Like phones or other electronics?”

“We have magic stones that we can use to hear each other across far distances,” he answered. “Are you wanting one?”

“I thought it might put you more at ease if I had one, in case I needed to call for your help,” I said and shrugged. “It was just a thought.”

“I was going to suggest it, actually. I’m glad we seem to be on the same page. I have to admit, I was worried when I first met you and how you acted the first couple of days, but it’s refreshing to have someone who can adapt so quickly to the situation. Perhaps the Grand Advisor really did know you were the person we needed.” He pulled out a clear teal stone and held it out on his palm. “You just grip it, picture the person you want to speak to, and it will send your voice to them.”

“To the stone you have?”

He tapped his temple. “To their mind.”

Was this how the person who said I was going to become a goddess had communicated with me?

“So, it wasn’t you who communicated with me previously?” I asked.

He scowled. “Someone communicated with you?”

I waved my hand and smiled. “Forget about it. Where’s the warrior who will go with us?”

Pulling a stone from his pocket, he closed his eyes and said, “Come to the kitchen.”

Several minutes later, a warrior demon, a bit shorter than Jol, walked in and bowed to him.

“This is Zoman. Zoman, this is Princess Liliana. I want you to shadow her in case anyone tries to harm her. She and Dhun have agreed to stay in the castle and only explore the interior of the castle, so they shouldn’t need your help, but it will make us both feel better to have you there as well.”

Zoman dipped his head and bowed. “As you wish, my king.” His voice was softer than I expected, somewhat melodic, and it was obvious he had great respect for Jol. Once again, I felt a sense of familiarity, of pack, like he was a hybrid shifter.

“I need to grab a couple things from my room first,” I said and looked down at Dhun. “Can you carry things in your bag for me?” He still had the bag across his back that he’d used to bring the book and other items to me.

Dhun barked his agreement.

“Great!” I said and turned to Zoman. “I will do my best to avoid causing you trouble today.”

He just stared at me without responding.

Got it, I wasn’t his king and he clearly didn’t like me.

Jol said, “I’ll come find you for lunch.”

“Okay,” I said with a smile and headed out of the kitchen and in the direction I thought went to my room.

Dhun trotted at my side, more pep in his step than I’d seen so far.

“You seem to be in a good mood,” I commented.

He yipped his agreement.

“He thinks it is a great honor to be assigned to you,” Zoman said. “He thinks being your friend will boost his status amongst the hounds here more than it has already.”

“Is that why they left you alone the last time I saw you? Because you’d stayed with me for a bit?”

He barked an acknowledgment.

“Well, I’m glad I could help you,” I said and smiled down at him. Stopping at a turn, I looked both ways. “I think I’m lost,” I admitted.

Dhun trotted to the left and looked back to make sure I followed.

“Thanks,” I said and followed him.

I put the book, pen, and water bottle into Dhun’s pack and put my phone in my pocket.

“Ready? I asked Dhun.

He barked his agreement and trotted to the door, where Zoman waited for us.

“Sorry you got babysitting duty,” I said as Dhun led the way down the hallway to start my castle tour.

“The king gave me an order and I will follow it, no matter how menial it may seem to others,” he replied.

“You respect your king,” I stated with a nod. “That must mean he is a good king.”

“Without his leadership, we would have all died without resources to survive.”

The resources they were stealing from my world.

“When did all this devastation happen?” I asked. “Was there a battle or something that destroyed the area?”

“It started with a battle, then the gods cursed us, and we all would have died if the Grand Advisor and King hadn’t come up with this new plan.”

If the portals were random, how did they plan to get to my world to fight? Would they just continue sending as many through at one time as they could? Or had Jol lied about not controlling the portals? That large one they’d come through with the giant werewolf-demon had seemed unique and it had stayed open long enough for Jol to go through to fight.

There was definitely more I needed to learn.

Stopping Dhun, I pulled out the book and started drawing the floorplan as we reached the end of this hallway and turned down another. It was odd that we’d walked down a very long hallway that had zero doors, aside from the one bedroom I was using. Unless it was like the door Jol had opened earlier and I just wasn’t able to see the seams?

That seemed much more probable.

We got to the end of that hallway, but there were two large glass doors that led to a balcony. I pushed open the doors and stepped out, closing my eyes and tilting my face up to enjoy the sunlight. I took a deep breath and immediately regretted it as a foul odor filled my nose.

Opening my eyes, I walked to the edge of the balcony and looked out across the field we faced. Demons milled about, going about their day, but many looked almost robotic as they walked.

“Your water supply didn’t suffer?” I asked.

“Thankfully, it has only had a slight decrease in amount, but the freshness is still good. We do have to travel deeper to obtain the clean water, but we have developed rope and pulley systems to bring it to the surface,” Zoman answered.

So it was just living plants that wouldn’t survive. I wasn’t a super talented elf, but when I had a chance, I would try to use my magic to heal the land, to see if it was possible. If I was stuck here anyway, where was the harm?

One of the demons walking down below wasn’t a type I had seen before. I flipped through the book to a page for drawing the creatures and drew as much as I could tell from this distance.

I sensed Zoman get closer and a second later he said, “You’re drawing us?”

“Each type,” I said with a nod.

“Why?”

“I’m trying to understand you all, and the more I know about you, the better I’ll understand.” I flipped back to the picture of Dhun I’d drawn and showed it to him. “What do you call him?”

“Dhun,” he replied.

I shook my head. “Not him specifically, but his type.”

“Oh, we don’t have names for the differences in appearance. We’re all just demons.” He shrugged.

Interesting.

“You have different names for your people?” he asked.

I nodded. “Dragons, werewolves, mages, elves, humans, and hybrids.”

“Which are you?” he asked.

“Hybrid,” I answered with a smile. “Because I’m a mixture of multiple races.” Realization hit me. “How did you learn our language?”

“The Grand Advisor found items to teach us and now it’s required for those with higher intelligence to learn, so we are able to communicate with those in your world,” he explained. He seemed like he wanted to say more, but turned away instead.

We continued on, going down a stairwell to the floor below the one we had just explored.

“Can we actually start from the first floor?” I asked.

Dhun barked his confirmation and continued down the stairwell until he reached the first floor, then went down a few hallways so we stood at the front door of the castle. He looked at me and I nodded. “Perfect, thank you, Dhun.”

Turned out there was a room with a throne and seats for Jol to hold audience with his people.

“We haven’t really used this room much since the war,” Zoman admitted.

Hard to hold court with your people when you were trying to simply survive.

As I stared at the throne, an odd sense of familiarity filled me. There were no designs on it, but there were a few mana stones embedded into it. What did it mean?

There were a few rooms that Dhun pushed his head on the door to open and show me, like a large meeting room with a huge table that had at least fourteen chairs around it. Following him up a particularly narrow staircase that seemed to go up at least four floors, we stepped out onto the roof of the castle.

“Whoa,” I whispered as I grabbed my hair to keep it from whipping me in the face. From up here, I could see miles around the castle.

Most of it was burned or dead, a blackened landscape that showed why they were becoming more desperate to find a solution to save themselves.

Far in the distance, I saw several giant demon creatures, like the one that had come through the portal after me that Dad had fought. There were a couple werewolf looking ones, a giant version of the bull-headed demons, and one that looked like a T-rex, but with bright blue fur.

“Do those giant ones ever attack the cities?” I asked curiously.

Zoman shook his head. “No, they are herd creatures and prefer to stay far away. Once, they tried to attack the city, but King Jolmach defeated their leader and the rest fled, never returning.”

“What do they eat? There doesn’t seem to be a food source for them.”

“Other demons,” Zoman answered. “Those who are unfortunate enough to venture into their territory. There are many demons without humanity, with very little intelligence, and they live out there, in what we call the wildlands.”

Being forced to survive by eating your own people? How terrible!

What could I do to help? How could I help them and protect my world simultaneously?

There had to be a way. I had to think of a way. What good was I as a princess if I couldn’t figure this out?

Far in the distance, I thought I saw a glint of green, an aura of life, but when I blinked, it was gone. Had I imagined it?

“Can you take me to a spot that used to be a garden or where plants used to grow?” I asked Dhun.

“There are none within the castle,” Zoman said quickly.

“Is it possible for you to take me there?” I requested. “If you need to check with Jol?—”

“King Jolmach,” Zoman snapped.

“Please? I want to see if I can help,” I explained.

“Help?” Zoman asked and both he and Dhun canted their heads, brows furrowed. “How could you help?”

“I’m not certain I can, but I’d like to try. It’s not like I could make things worse, right?” I gave him my best smile, but he still looked extremely skeptical.

Zoman pulled out a communication stone from his pocket and turned away, whispering to it. After several minutes, he turned back and said, “It will have to wait. The Grand Advisor is ready to see you now.”