Page 4 of Their World (Her Royal Harem: Lily #2)

Chapter

Four

After the shock of Jol kissing me wore off, we went to the kitchen to make food, and he surprised me by inviting me to his room to share the meal. While I was slightly nervous about going to his room, uncertain if he had the wrong impression, my curiosity outweighed my nervousness. I hadn’t seen his room yet, and I wondered what the mysterious demon king lived like compared to the guest room I was using.

His room turned out to have a living room, bedroom, and a patio that had a cover so you could sit outside even while it rained with a small round table. The outdoor set up was definitely one I wanted to mimic if I ever got a house of my own.

Walking around his room, I inspected the knickknacks he had on his dresser and shelves. They were all from my world and were random things like a ball, a dragon’s scale, a radio, and a picture frame with a stock photo in it. There were also several small mana stones in the room.

“They’re gifts from those who travel to your world,” he explained when he saw me looking at the picture frame. “Things that intrigued them so they gave them to me. Come, let’s eat before it gets cold.”

Following him out to the balcony, I sat in the chair he pulled out for me and waited until he sat before picking up the fork to eat. I’d taken some of the items in his “cold box” as he called it and pantry and made a basic shepherd’s pie. I had tasted it after cooking, so I knew it tasted good, but I waited for Jol to taste it first.

He took a bite, and his eyes widened. “This is delicious.”

“Thank you,” I said and ate my bite. “I’m not the best cook, but I try to learn new recipes that I know others will enjoy.”

“I’ve never had anything like this. It’s very flavorful.” He took three big bites and closed his eyes as he ate.

I knew I was spoiled in comparison to others in my world, but seeing him enjoy a simple dish so much made my heart hurt for him and his people. There was so much I took for granted, even when I tried to be understanding.

“If we can come to a peaceful agreement, I would love to show you around the main city and take you to my favorite restaurants,” I said. “My mom’s favorite restaurant has the best dessert.”

“Dessert?” he asked.

“Sweet treats,” I answered. Tapping a finger against the necklace’s gem as I looked out at the city view, I said, “I wonder if I could find a portal to go through and grab some stuff and come back like you send your troops?”

“You … would come back?” he asked softly.

Looking back at him, I frowned and said, “Of course. I’ve been nothing but honest with you, Jol. I want to help you and your people.”

“Only because we’re threatening to take over your world,” he countered.

I shook my head. “No, because I want to help. My goal has always been to help those less fortunate than me. I don’t know what war the Grand Advisor told you about, but I don’t think it needs to resort to that. I feel a sort of … kinship with you and your people. As friends, we can help each other.”

“Friends?” he asked and smiled softly. “I like the sound of that.”

“Eat!” I said quickly. “We can talk boring politics and things later. Your food will get cold out here from the wind.”

He gave me a soft smile and resumed eating.

Jol seemed like a kind male, so why wasn’t he mated? I had no idea how old he was or what he had dealt with other the last decade.

“Jol, why aren’t there very many female demons?”

His eyes widened. “Oh, there are. The females just prefer to live together in communities away from the city. They hunt together and raise their children together. They’ll come to the city to find mates or buy items, but prefer to live their lives separately from the males.”

“And none of these females caught your eye?” I asked and leaned my chin on my hand now that I’d finished eating.

“There was one,” he admitted and a dark cloud seemed to settle over him, “but she was killed.”

An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of my stomach as I guessed what he was going to say next.

“By one of your demon hunters.”

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “I can’t imagine how painful that must have been.”

“Death is part of life,” he said and shrugged, but I could see the painful memory still lingered in the tenseness of his shoulders and the ways his eyes narrowed.

After he finished eating and we cleaned our dishes, I went back to the courtyard to check on the plant. Jol hadn’t said I couldn’t come back out here, and since it was part of the castle, I figured it was safe. Dhun had whined a bit, but followed me because he didn’t want to leave me alone. Zoman was nowhere to be found, so I assumed that meant Jol felt I was safe enough without him as a continued guard.

The little plant with its two green leaves looked the same as when we’d left it and Zoman had added a chain link metal cage around it to keep birds and small animals from eating it.

Dhun walked around the courtyard, nose to the ground, snuffling loudly. Every now and then he would pause, tilt his head to the side, and start to dig a hole.

“What are you doing?” I asked after the third hole.

He stuck his snout into the hole, huffing loudly, looked back at me and barked.

I walked over and knelt to look in the hole, but there was nothing there. “I don’t understand, Dhun. What do you want? What are you looking for?”

He ran over to the plant, nudged the cage gently, then ran back to the hole.

“Oh! You think there’s a plant here?” Could he smell the plant?

Barking, he danced in a circle.

Setting my hands into the hole, I closed my eyes and tried to feel for life. Immediately, less than three inches below, I felt it. “You’re right!” I shouted as my eyes flew open and I looked at Dhun. “There is life here! Can you smell them?”

He barked and bobbed his head.

“Dhun, I need water and more of those cages. Can you find Zoman or Jol and?—”

“Well, what do we have here?” an unfamiliar voice said in a strange purring tone.

Looking up, I stared at the demon as I tried to figure it out. It had feline ears, a feline-human combination face, and a tail that was swishing back and forth behind it. It reminded me of Triston when he was in warrior shift, though his tiger stripes always showed and this demon’s body was devoid of fur. The tail had short quills like Dhun’s.

Dhun growled and stepped between the demon and I.

“Hello,” I greeted as I stood and dusted off my hands. “I’m a guest of King Jolmach’s.”

It canted its head. “A guest? We don’t have guests here. Not since the plague. I think you’re a thief and I’ve caught you red handed in the King’s Garden. The punishment for that is death, little thief.” It leapt to the ground beside me and I realized their hands were feline paws with thick claws that reminded me of Triston and his cheetah paws.

“My name is Princess Liliana,” I said with a smile. “What is your name?”

“Oh, the thief is a princess?” the demon said and laughed. In a mocking tone, they bowed and said, “Then I shall be Princess Azgon.” She laughed a tittering laugh. “Yes, yes! I like it. Princess Azgon.”

Clearly, she was mocking me, but it was okay. I was an outsider here.

“It’s nice to meet you, Princess Azgon.”

She tittered and purred. “Well, the pleasure will be short lived since I have to kill you.”

Dhun barked and growled at her.

She hissed at him. “Quiet, you traitor! We all know you were drafted to the other side while you stayed there!”

Dhun snarled and puffed up, his quills rattling in threat.

“Easy, there’s no need for any of us to fight,” I said and raised my hands.

“No fighting. Just your death,” she said with a nonchalant shrug.

Sighing, I opened up my powers, summoning the darkness. “I don’t want to fight you, but I’m not going to let you kill me, either.”

Her eyes widened at the shadow snake wrapped around my arm. “You have shadow powers?”

“Among others,” I said and shrugged one shoulder.

Azgon tapped a claw against her thigh, silent a moment, but then shrugged and said, “No matter. Thief must die.” She leapt at me and Dhun headbutted her in the stomach, knocking her back from me. She spun, kicked him in the side, and sent him flying into the garden wall.

“Dhun!” I yelled, worried as he slumped unconscious to the ground. My hair began to glow as my fury over him being hurt grew.

Her claws sliced my arm open, making me hiss in pain and jump away. My shadow snake struck as she neared again, biting down on her arm and making her cry out in pain. She tried to pull it off, but since it was made of smoke, her hand simply passed through the spot she tried to touch. Clawing her own arm, she forced the snake to release her and return to me.

We both stood, squared off, arms bleeding, snarling at each other.

“What is the meaning of this?” Jol snapped, a force similar to an alpha command made me take a step back.

“Y-Your Majesty,” Azgon said and bowed her head. “I-I caught this thief!”

“Thief? What could she be stealing from this dead garden, Azgon?” He stomped closer to us, brows furrowed and fury radiating throughout his body and making his aura red.

Azgon squatted, trying to make herself as small as possible.

Dhun got to his feet, shook his head, and trotted over to Jol.

“It’s alright,” I said, not knowing if he might kill her for hurting me. “It was a misunderstanding.” My relief that Dhun was alright lifted a huge weight from my shoulders and my hair stopped glowing.

“Dhun told you she was a guest,” Jol snapped, ignoring me. “Yet you dared to attack him and my guest?”

“Azgon is sorry, Your Majesty,” she whispered, her back bowed as she moved farther away from both Jol and I. She glanced at me and said, “Her wound is healed already. See? Azgon didn’t cause too much damage. Just … just trying to scare. No death.”

“Tell everyone you know that this woman is under my protection and the punishment for harming her is death. Get out of my sight, Azgon, or I will declaw you,” Jol threatened with a deep, vicious growl.

Azgon glanced at me one more time, this time with curiosity, before leaping up to the wall, and disappearing over it.

“Why didn’t you summon me?” Jol asked as he inspected my arm.

“Huh?” I asked, trying to process what had just happened.

“The stone. I gave you the stone so you could communicate telepathically with me if you needed me. Why didn’t you use it?”

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled it out and admitted, “I forgot about it. And I was trying to get her to understand that I wasn’t a thief.”

Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair, between his horns.

Were his horns sharp on the ends? They were pointed and looked sharp.

“What are you doing out here, anyway?”

“Oh!” I gasped, grabbed his hand, and dragged him to the new plant Dhun had found. “Dhun can smell them! I need more water and cages!”

His eyes widened as he looked from me to Dhun to the plant and back. “That’s remarkable. But wait … instead of growing these, we should be trying to grow crops. These are just flowers.”

Heat flooded my cheeks in embarrassment. “Oh, I didn’t know what they were. I’m sorry. I just got so excited that I?—”

Jol set a hand on my cheek and said, “Little Queen, don’t explain yourself.”

More heat filled my face. “Jol, I?—”

Dhun barked as Zoman ran into the garden.

“What happened? I saw Azgon fleeing with her tail tucked between her legs.”

“She attacked our little queen. I let her go, knowing she would spread word quickly to the others not to mess with Lily.”

Our little queen? I needed to explain to him that I basically already had mates. It wasn’t official, but?—

“Come, let’s go back inside,” I said. “I don’t want to cause anymore misunderstandings.”

Dhun whined, but complied.

“I’m going to go wash up,” I informed them and showed my dirt covered hands.

Dhun started to follow, but I shook my head at him. “I’d prefer to shower alone.”

“She’s in the castle, so she’ll be fine,” Zoman reassured him. He looked at me and said, “Do not leave the castle, not even to the garden.”

I saluted him mockingly. “Yes, sir.”

He scowled and I smiled, proud of myself for irritating males no matter what world I was in.

Hurrying up the stairwell, I made it to the floor my guest bedroom was on, but had to pull out my book to look at the floorplan diagram to turn down the correct hallway.

The Grand Advisor stepped out of a room just before my door and set his hand on my head. “You need an attitude adjustment, little hybrid .”

He used some weird power that had sizzling pain shooting throughout my body, like being electrocuted, and I was unable to move. I couldn’t even scream as I dropped to my knees before him.