A Demon's Wrath: Part I (Peachville High Demons) by Sarra Cannon Page A

killer had a chance to get farther away.
We couldn’t let the trail go cold. We had to find that field of
black roses and search for any clues that might have been left
behind.
    Lea handed me a fresh glass of water. She pressed
her lips together and furrowed her brow.
    “It’s been two weeks,” she said,
sinking back down into the chair by the bed.
    I sat up with a jerk, then immediately regretted
it. The sore muscles on my side burned as if they’d been ripped
open and held to a flame.
    Lea placed her hands on my shoulders and gently
pushed me back against the pillows. “It’s going to take
time,” she said. “You have to be patient.”
    “What’s happening to me?” I
asked.
    She shook her head. “They aren’t
sure,” she said. “We’ve had three shamans in to
examine you, but they can’t seem to find anything physically
wrong with you except that your aura is weak. In meditation, father’s
shaman could sense a rip down the left side of your power, as if—”
    “As if a piece of myself had been ripped
from my body.” I already knew. I felt it the moment my brother
was taken from me.
    “I’m so sorry,” she said. She
lifted my hand toward her face and nuzzled her cheek against my
knuckles.
    I pulled away.
    I didn’t deserve her affections. If it had
been Aerden standing inside the veil with her, he never would have
died. Instead, I took his sacrifice and passed it off as my own truth
while he was being tortured.
    I would never forgive myself.
    Hurt registered on Lea’s face, but she
recovered quickly, standing and pacing the floor beside my bed.
    “Your parents will want to know you’re
awake,” she said. “Do you want me to go get them?”
    I looked around for the first time since I’d
regained consciousness. Instead of my own room, I was in a room I
didn’t recognize. The walls here were adorned with strips of
gold woven together in an intricate pattern. The fabrics were lush
and heavy in colors like deep navy and burgundy.
    “Where am I?” I asked. “Are we
in the castle?”
    “Yes,” she said. Her hand fluttered to
the golden locket she now wore on a long chain around her neck. “Your
home is here now that we are officially promised to each other.”
    I brought my hand to my lips. Our kiss hadn’t
been mutual, but all the veil needed was a kiss.
    And now I was promised to a princess I didn’t
love.
    But I had also made a promise to my brother. I
told him I would never hurt Lea. I promised that she would never know
the truth about the stone I gave to her.
    I held my hand out to her and she walked toward
me. She placed her small hand inside mine and I slowly brought it to
my lips, tears welling up in my eyes.
    “Lea,” I said.
    “Yes?” she whispered.
    “Can I trust you?” I asked.
    She drew her eyebrows together and tilted her head
to the side. “Of course,” she said. “Why are you
asking me that?”
    I pushed myself up again, wincing slightly at the
pain, but learning now to ignore it and move beyond it. I had no time
for rest. I’d already lost way too much time as it was.
    “Because I need to know that if given a
choice of loyalty, you would choose me above all others,” I
said. I knew I was asking too much of her. I knew it was wrong when
she believed my love for her ran deeper than it did, but I needed
her. She was all I had in this world. “I need to know that you
would never betray me. Not even if the king himself asked you to.”
    My heart thrummed in my ears.
    Her lips parted and she sucked in a deep breath.
She raised a hand again to her locket, closing her fist around it.
    Finally, she nodded. “I am yours now,”
she said. “I would die for you if you asked me to. And I will
never, ever betray you.”
    I kissed her hand again, then leaned back against
the pillows, worn out from even such small exertions.
    Guilt pierced through my chest.
    Would she have given so much of herself and been
willing to make such sacrifices if she had known the truth?
    But it was