“I’ve never seen anything like that before. It looks almost like a fairy tale,” I murmured, awe lacing my words.
Daniel made a sound of agreement. “My best friend is the overlord minor there. He will take over from his father one day. Lexen and his draygone are the rulers of this land, and they would not tolerate anyone hurting her.”
Draygone?That had sounded an awful lot like dragon, only all drawled out and slow. But surely they didn’t have dragons … that would be …impossible?The fact I was on an alien planet and still somehow thought things were impossible was not speaking highly of my intelligence.
Only one way to find out. “Is adraygone… a dragon? Like the myth on Earth?”
Daniel’s lips twitched, probably at my lame attempt of mimicking his accent. “Yes, they would be closest to your dragon. Daelighters have been crossing to Earth for thousands of years, long before our treaty arose, creating the similarities in our language.”
Okay, that was pretty cool. Also, the fact he had a best friend with a pet dragon … yep, Daniel would definitely be the quarterback in my high-school fantasy.
“So, overlord minor is like … second in line?” I asked, trying to piece this world and its leaders together.
“Yes,” he confirmed. “Overlord major is the highest leader of the house, together with their partner. The overlord can be male or female, depending on who is more suited to the crown. But always in the same family group. There are other roles for members of the overlord’s family, but the major and minor are the most important.”
And Daniel was an overlord major. Almost. Which was a really big deal. Before I could freak out more, he pointed toward his left.
“That is House of Royale.”
There seemed to be three distinct landscapes surrounding this disc, all of them extending out into the distance with no end in sight. House of Darken was the largest, taking up a decent portion of the space, but the House of Royale, where he was pointing now, was a close second.
It was a world of only water, beautiful blues and golds mingling together in a long calm line of tranquility. My heart started to hammer hard in my chest as I stared and stared. “Daelighters live there?” I asked, taking a few steps forward.
“Yep, they’re our legreto … water dwellers. Able to exist on both worlds.”
Wait a freaking minute.“Water dwellers?” I choked out. “Like … merpeople?”
I loved mermaid movies when I was young – literally my favorite for years. I knew every line of the few I owned word for word, and watching them were some of the only times I could remember being happy.
Before Daniel could stop me, I was sprinting toward the edge of the round circle, heading toward the world of blue, green, and gold. Low, heady laughter followed me as I ran, my heart almost bursting with joy as I let the beauty of the water entrance me. Somehow, Daniel was right at my side when we reached the edge. I stared down into the clear depths, trying to see something.
“Xander Royale is another one of my best friends,” he explained, and I tore my gaze from the water to him. “He’s the overlord minor of Royale. I’ll make sure you meet him, one day, when everything calms down. He might even be able to show you some of their world below.”
I gasped and reached out to grasp onto his shirt. “I would love you forever.”
He chuckled again, tilting his head to the side, examining me. I swallowed roughly, suddenly feeling a little exposed. Probably a little too soon to throw out the L word, even if we were soul-bound.
“What?” I asked when he continued to stare at me that way.
“You’re just really different to the person I first met in NOLA. You should let your guard down more. It’s a good look on you.”
Heat filled my cheeks. I willed the blush away, but as usual, my bodily functions never listened to my mental commands. Feeling like he was waiting for me to respond to his last statement, I shrugged. “I almost died – I mean, I’m still covered in my own friggin' blood.” My eyes went back to the water. “It changed me. I’m feeling everything so much stronger, and honestly … I can’t find the energy to continue holding onto my anger and fear any longer. None of that stopped my mom from being taken. Or stopped me from being killed. All that happened was I missed out on the life I could have had.”
I allowed the water to fill me with joy again. “I’m doing things different this time around, even if I’m still a prisoner to some extent.”
Daniel didn’t reply, but he did settle in closer to me, his side pressing against mine, our arms brushing against each other as we stared out into the distance.
“Daniel!” The call jolted us from that moment of peace.
Standing a dozen feet away from us was another Daelighter. I knew this because one, we were in Overworld, and two, he was as tall and beautiful as Daniel. His skin was a perfect shade of dark brown, eyes much lighter, although I couldn’t make out the color from this distance. Daniel started walking and I felt a new sort of happiness coming from him. He was genuinely pleased to see this other guy.
As we got closer, light green eyes – sparkling unnaturally – met mine. A sense of calm and peace weaved through my body, and I wondered if this new guy had some sort of hypnotic power. Whatever it was, he carried an ancient energy. Those sparkling eyes saw everything.
He, too, had symbols in his dark hair; one side was shaved short, the other had these long braids interwoven with glittering bands of material. His skin was completely flawless, as was the rest of him.
“Hello there.” His low voice was as rich in tone as his skin. “I’m Chase, from House of Leights.”
He pronounced it like “lights,” only he dragged the “le” part out, letting it roll off his tongue.
