Page 9 of Their World (Her Royal Harem: Lily #2)

Chapter

Nine

After an hour of running, I came to Talrinir’s small village, where a dozen or so females huddled together in the middle, children crying and encircled by them.

Their terror was evident, and I knew it had to be the trio.

As I ran by the females, I had to slide to a stop before running right into Trey in his dragon warrior form.

“Trey!” I screeched.

Kayden suddenly gripped my shoulders and kept me upright. “Lily? Is that really you?” he asked, pulled me forward to smell me, and wrapped his arms around me in a bone-crunching hug.

I shoved his chest. “Now’s not the time for that. We need to leave. Now!”

One of the females snapped and asked, “What do you want?”

Turning, I held my hands up placatingly. “I’m sorry they scared you. We’re leaving. You don’t have to worry. You and the children are safe.”

“They talk?” Trey asked, having shifted to human form.

“I have a lot to tell you, but we can’t do that here. We?—”

Trey pulled me into his arms and crushed his lips against mine. He pulled back and I noticed the short beard along his jaw. Resting his hand against my cheek he whispered, “Lily, we’ve been going mad trying to find you.”

“I’m fine,” I whispered, and patted his arm. “Now, where’s Mason? We?—”

The male in question pulled me out of Trey’s hold, a hand on each of my arms, and shook me. “What were you thinking?” he shouted. He also had a beard, making it three for three. It wasn’t a look I was used to, but it was one I definitely didn’t hate.

“What?” I gasped as I pushed at his chest. “What are you talking about?”

“You went with them. You?—”

“I was teleported!” I shouted to get him to stop. “I didn’t come here willingly.”

His body tensed a moment and then he staggered forward a step and hugged me, his nose against my neck. “I thought you were dead.”

“We really don’t have time, guys! We can have our tearful reunion later. We have to leave!”

“We can’t leave without a portal,” Trey reminded me.

“I know, but we need to head in that direction,” I said and pointed to the north.

“Why that way?” Kayden asked.

“Because their king is headed this way from the west,” I explained. Grabbing Mason’s hand, I tugged and said, “Let’s go. I’ll explain on the way.” I gave the females one more look, but Druth just nodded and made a shooing motion with her hand.

Thankfully, the guys stopped fighting me and we ran north.

“Here,” I said and shoved the book into Kayden’s hands. “I wrote down as much information as I could. We’ve been wrong about everything. Everything! They aren’t violent, mindless creatures. They have their own society. They are wonderful, intelligent people with a civilization and culture of their own. They’re just trying to survive and the people that come through don’t always know how to speak. We’ve been killing innocent creatures without realizing it.”

“This is a lot of information,” Kayden whispered as he flipped through the book. “Wait, they have a king?”

“Yes, and one of you killed his to-be mate. He’s after you all to kill whichever one of you did it.” I glanced at Mason, who still held my hand. “I—I think it might have been you.”

Mason shrugged, unworried and said, “I’ve killed a lot of them.”

“What do you mean they’re trying to survive?” Trey asked.

I had to slow down, my heart pounded and lungs burned from running to them and continuing to run. “Haven’t you noticed the burnt land? There was a war and a plague and it wiped out their crops. They’ve been coming to our world to get resources and food to survive. There’s also this advisor … I will talk about him later, but he’s told them that to survive they have to go to war with us, but I’ve been trying to convince Jol?—”

“Who’s Jol?” Mason asked, a bit of growl in his tone.

“King Jolmach, their king,” I explained.

That made all three growl.

“You’re on a nickname basis with the king?” Kayden asked.

“This is not the time for this!” I shouted and pulled my hand out of Mason’s.

Kayden gave Trey the book, picked me up, and they started running again. “Where are we headed to, exactly?”

I clutched the necklace in one hand and said, “I’m hoping the necklace will give us a portal. One that we can take to get home.” I knew the portals were the Grand Advisor’s doing, but I had to keep playing dumb to some of his schemes.

“Princess!” Jol bellowed from somewhere behind us.

“Shit! He’s faster than I thought he would be,” I whined. Mason started to turn, but I shouted, “Just run!”

He growled, but they kept going.

“Please, necklace. Please give us an escape,” I begged.

The sooner I could get them home and get the book to my family, the sooner I could come back and work things out with Jol. I hadn’t lied. I would one hundred percent return to help them. Even if it meant possibly coming to face him and fight him.

A portal opened about fifty yards in front of us. “There!” I shouted and pointed.

The guys sprinted forward and we made it through the portal.

Pushing out of Kayden’s arms, I turned to face the portal, fear coursed through me as I watched Jol run closer.

“You!” Jol snarled and pointed at Kayden.

My eyes widened and mouth opened. Kayden? It had been Kayden?

“I will have your head!” Jol bellowed.

“I’m sorry!” I shouted at him. “I can’t let you kill them!”

The portal started to close and I backed up, arms out to make the guys back up as well. “I’m sorry, Jol.”

His eyes bore into mine. “This isn’t over, Little Queen.”

I nodded. “I know.”

The portal closed and I fell into Kayden. “We’re in so much trouble,” I whispered as tears streamed down my face.

After being hugged and kissed by every single one of my family members and Maya, an emergency meeting was called with the full family so I could give them an update. I took the necklace, wrapped in a cloth again, and set it outside away from the house, just in case I was right that the Grand Advisor could hear us through it.

When my phone connected to the network, hundreds of missed calls and text messages came through, making my phone vibrate and beep so much it grew really hot. I ended up turning it off and leaving it in my room.

Standing before my family, I took a breath and tried to gather my thoughts.

“I wasn’t there very long,” I started, “but over the past two weeks?—”

“Weeks?” Mom asked, interrupting me. “Lily, you were there months .”

My mouth dropped. “Wh-What?”

Everyone nodded.

“Time must move differently from there to here,” Nana Jolie said.

That explained the trio’s beards.

Scrubbing a hand down my face, I said, “Okay, well, there’s a lot you need to know and not much time to tell you.”

It took three hours to explain everything about their world, their people, and the war, plus the plague that had happened to them. When I finished, they stared at me like I had grown a second head. I had left out the part about me being part demon. I felt like that should be shared with my parents first.

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” I whispered, “but they aren’t our true enemies. Nana Jolie, Auntie Leona, I’m ninety percent certain the Grand Advisor is a siren in disguise or a hybrid siren and mage, and think the portals are his doing … somehow. And I think he uses the necklace to listen to what the wearer is discussing.”

“Well, fuck,” Great Aunt Leona said and sighed, dropping her head back to look up at the ceiling.

“Do you think it could be another lost brother?” Nana Jolie asked Grandpa Nico.

“I can’t rule it out as a possibility,” he muttered and scowled deeply. It had come to light that Grandpa Nico’s father, who had been King of the Mages then, had had several children outside of his marriage.

“I think we can help them,” I said. “I was able to use my limited elven powers to get one of their plants to grow, so if we had other, more powerful, elves go with me, they could help the rest of their land. We could take some of our crops, get them to grow there, and help them fix their world.”

“Do they want help?” Trey asked. “If the Grand Advisor is right, they will only focus on fighting us.”

“Jol … their king, he wants his people to survive, and if we can give him an option that doesn’t include bloodshed, I’m certain he will take it.” Biting my lip, I admitted, “He is upset that his to-be mate was killed, but I’m certain that I can convince him to?—”

“Wait, you’re planning to go back ?” Trey asked, scowling.

“Yes,” I said and nodded. Why was that even a question?

Everyone blinked at me, shocked and upset.

“You’ve been gone for months,” Mason whispered, “but you want to go back to face him? He was hunting us down in full armor and?—”

“He wasn’t hunting me,” I clarified. “He was after Kayden.”

“You think he won’t harm you now that he knows that Kayden is the one who killed his to-be mate?” Great Grandpa Dan asked.

“He won’t,” I said, though, if I was being one hundred percent honest, there was at least a ten percent chance in my mind that he might turn on me. Though, as their long-lost demon princess, a royal from the bloodline he had sworn to protect, I hoped it was really more like a one percent chance. “I am going to bring vegetables back with me that are resilient, plant them in his garden, and nurture them to life to prove he doesn’t need to come to our world. To show him there is another way.”

“No,” Mason growled. “You are not going back there.”

“You don’t make decisions for me,” I snarled.

“It’s out of the question,” Caleb snapped. He had been quiet the entire time, so it shocked me when he spoke so sternly.

“Dad, I can talk to King Jolmach. I can convince him war isn’t the only option. We have a bit of a friendship now and he will listen to me. You have to believe me.” I understood they were worried about my safety, but this was something I had to do.

“You want to risk your life, face off against a demon warrior who could kill you just as easily as listen to you, to convince him to let us regrow crops for him?” Branson asked. He shook his head. “It’s out of the question, Lily. Absolutely not.”

“I am an adult and I am making this decision on my own,” I said with a glare.

“You are an adult, but you are under my power,” Caleb snarled. “You will do as you are ordered and I order you not to go back to that world and risk your life. We will send someone else who?—”

“Who else?” I hissed, getting to my feet and slamming my hands on the table. My hair glowed bright, rainbows dancing around the room, drawing all of their gazes. “Who else has a rapport with them? Who else spent time getting to know them on a personal level? None of you! I can do this! I will do this!”

“Let’s discuss this calmly and in more detail,” Mom said coolly. “If we are going to send them crops, which crops?”

All of my adoptive fathers had their arms crossed over their chests, brows furrowed, and I knew our argument was far from over. Trey, Mason, and Kayden would be on their side as well, so I was going to have my work cut out for me convincing them to let me go back.

“Potatoes would be a good start,” I said and sat again. “Plants that are hard to kill and grow in rough climates and provide good nourishment.”

“We can send dried meats as well,” Triston commented. “Things that don’t spoil quickly.”

“Yes,” I said with a wide smile, “that’s perfect. They do have refrigerators of a sort, though I’m not sure if it’s all of them or just in the castle.”

We discussed other options for over an hour before we decided to call it a night. Mom pulled my fathers away before they could restart our argument about me returning.

Heading to the couch, I plopped down and closed my eyes with a deep sigh. The longer I stayed here, the less time I had to convince Jol not to attack. In truth, I had no idea if he would launch the attack now, at any moment, or what steps they needed before attacking us.

“Nothing will be decided tonight,” Trey whispered as he sat beside me. “You should get some rest.”

Mason sat on my other side, picked up my hand, and rubbed his face on it. “We missed you so much, Lily.”

Opening my eyes, I looked into his troubled ones. “I’m sorry it was so long for you all.” Turning to look at Trey and then at Kayden, who was next to Trey, I said, “It really was only a few weeks for me.”

Trey patted my hand. “We’re just glad that you weren’t hurt or imprisoned, or anything worse.”

He meant tortured.

“I was treated very well,” I assured them. “The bed I slept on was even softer than my own here.”

“Are …” Kayden paused in his question, but after a breath he continued. “Are you trying to go back because of the king?”

My brows furrowed as I contemplated his question, then realized what he was asking. “Oh, no, it’s not like that with Jol and I. We’re friends.” Though, the Grand Advisor had said I was a good match for Jol. And the kiss Jol had given me had confused me. And we had eaten in his room and … no, no, it wasn’t like that. Jol was just happy I was helping them. “Jol is kind and treated me well, but there are no amorous feelings between us,” I assured them.

Trey and Kayden seemed to relax a bit more at my assertion, but Mason still sat tensely beside me, his hand holding mine.

I set my hand on his cheek, making him look up into my eyes. “I’m here and I’m safe.”

Pulling me onto his lap, he held me gently with his head rested against my shoulder. “It hurt so much to be apart from you.”

Kayden came to sit on Mason’s other side, so all three could touch me simultaneously.

“Thank you, for coming to rescue me,” I whispered. “When I heard you were there … it made my heart soar.”

“We will always come for you,” Trey said, and rested his forehead against my other shoulder.

“We would have come sooner if we could have,” Kayden whispered, “but there were no portals.”

Mason remained silent as he held me, seeming to still need to confirm I was actually here with him.

Exhaustion hit me and I yawned. “I’m sorry, all the talking and drama seems to have exhausted me.”

They all stood to leave.

“We’re going to stay at Ezio’s tonight,” Trey informed me. “We’ll be back tomorrow morning, okay?”

I nodded. “Okay.”

He leaned down, kissed my cheek, and said, “Sleep well, Lily.”

Kayden kissed the side of my head before following Trey.

Mason lingered, his thumb stroking the back of my hand.

“Mas?” I asked softly.

“I’ve never been lucky in life,” he whispered. “So, when you disappeared, I feared the worst. However, I’ve always felt a connection to you, one that thankfully stayed even after you removed the shadow power, and that connection didn’t disappear when you did. So, I did everything I could to try to find a portal, a way to get back to you. I even defied your father, our alpha and king, in doing so.”

My eyes widened. What did he mean by that?

“No matter what happens, know that I will always, always find a way to you.” He looked deep into my eyes and said, “My life is with you, Lily, wherever you decide to go. So, please, if you leave, if you go back, take me with you.”

Tears brimmed in my eyes and I wrapped my arms around his neck, and buried my nose against his throat, drawing in his familiar and comforting scent. “I didn’t leave you on purpose, Mason. I did not teleport there of my own free will. And I didn’t have a chance to return to you before you showed up. I swear. I would have returned at the earliest opportunity that I could.”

His arms wrapped around me and he hugged me tight. “Swear you won’t leave me behind?”

“I swear I won’t purposefully leave you behind,” I whispered. It was the best promise I could make, considering the portals opened whenever they damn well pleased.

“I don’t want to leave you,” he whispered. “I just got you back.”

“Too bad, pup,” Mom said. “You’re not mated yet and she needs sleep. You can come back in the morning.”

He huffed slightly and gripped me tighter.

“You were going to tell us something before you left,” he whispered. “Will you tell us tomorrow?”

Right, I had forgotten about that.

I nodded and sat back to smile at him. “Yes.”

He kissed me lightly on the lips, lingering a moment to inhale my breath, and reluctantly released me to leave the house.

Mom set her hand on my shoulder and said, “Go to bed, sweetheart. Tomorrow is going to be busy and chaotic.”

I hugged her and rested my head on her chest. “I fear that the chaos is only beginning.” Remembering the other information I had to share, my throat tightened as I said, “I need to speak to you, Tony, and all of my fathers before we go to bed.”

She scowled, but nodded and went to gather them into the dining room.

As I stood before them, I felt a deep sense of worry. Although they had always treated me as their own, I wasn’t their blood. Would they see me differently once they found out I had demon blood? Once they realized that I wasn’t a hybrid like them, but a demon hybrid? Would my loving, wonderful family, my adoptive mother, my brother, and my four fathers, would they disown me and cast me aside?

I drew in a deep breath and said, “There’s something else I didn’t tell everyone. Something I wanted to tell you all first.”

“Go on,” Caleb urged, clearly worried, as he sat up straighter at the table.

It was best just to rip it off, like removing a bee stinger. Taking a deep breath and praying I wasn’t about to be kicked out, I said, “I’m part demon. According to them, I am a royal who went missing when I was a child. I’m … they claim I’m a long-lost Princess of the Demons.”

They blinked at me silently, eyes wide as they absorbed what I had said.

“And … there’s a prophecy.” I pulled out my book and turned to the page, handing it to Mom to read. I pulled out the snake and lily charm and set it on the center of the table. “I met with a group of females, who are the few who keep written records, and after seeing me shift, they all believe I am the prophesized one. Prophesized by my grandmother, the former queen. That’s why I must go back. Jol isn’t just a friend. The demons, they are my people, and I need to save them.”