House of Darken (Secret Keepers #1)

I wrinkled my nose at him. “I thought there were no clouds here? In Overworld.”

“There aren’t,” he replied. “This isn’t Overworld. It’s a land between. A neutral zone we use for meetings. Daelighters couldn’t survive here for long. There’s no food or sustenance, so we only use it for mass gatherings of the four houses. Works well because we don’t tend to cross into each others’ territory. All the wars and fighting and such … we’re suspicious aliens.”

He shuffled me along, keeping us with his family, who were moving away from the golden ball of light. I noticed then something I’d missed earlier. A few hundred feet away were five raised platforms, shiny and metallic; one sat a little in front of the other four. The Darkens were heading toward one of the middle ones in the back four.

“Overlord families stand on the platforms,” Jero told me as we caught up to Marsil.

Marsil reached out and placed a firm hand on my shoulder, giving it a brief squeeze. “Are you doing okay, Emma?” His gentle voice soothed some of the nerves inside. “You’re handling all of these new experiences really well.”

“Was it hard for you on Earth?” I counter-questioned him, knowing there was no way I could lie and say I was calm. It felt like I might only be one more “new experience” from a screaming breakdown.

He nodded, completely unashamed to admit he had struggled. “We know a lot about Earth. We have adopted customs and languages and many other practices from your world, while also sharing some of ours with you, but knowing and experiencing are two vastly different things. Even the smell of Earth was odd. It doesn’t smell like home. It took me longer than I expected to adjust.”

Funnily enough, I hadn’t had the smell problem with this place. Which kept this niggling thought in my head that maybe I’d been here before. Could my parents have come back when I was really young?

Realizing Marsil had bared his soul and I was just standing there lost in thought, I cleared my throat. “I’m eternally grateful that I’ve had you guys to help me out. I’d definitely be less calm navigating on my own.” I was hoping my true depth of my gratitude was clear.

I surprised Marsil – and myself – by leaning forward and giving him a quick hug. Jero was next. He chuckled and hauled me in. As I pulled away, I could feel a burning gaze on me, and I wasn’t at all surprised to see it was the oldest Darken brother. He was standing beside Star, already up on the platform. His gaze lowered to my hands, which were still flat against Jero’s chest.

I lifted one brow, narrowing my eyes on him. What? my expression said.

He opened his mouth, but at the same time Roland said something and Lexen had to turn away to answer his father. All breath rushed out of me.

Jero chuckled again. “As much as I enjoy your hands on me,” he drawled, “making Lexen jealous is a bad idea. You’re playing with fire.”

I snorted out some laughter, dropping my hands off him as quickly as I’d put them on. “I’m not trying to make him jealous. That would be an absurd action.”

“Whatever you say, pretty girl.” He smirked and, turning away, gracefully vaulted up onto the platform.

Again I was last, and since I wasn’t sure if I should be up there, I kind of just hovered near the edge. There were a lot of Daelighters around now. From my low vantage point I could not see the full scope of the numbers, but I saw enough to know this cloud land was filling up. Along with all of the platforms.

The noise was almost overwhelming. The acoustics in this place were perfect for bouncing sound around, making it appear that the thousands of Daelighters were really ten times that number.

As I remained standing at the edge of the raised platform, minding my own business, people-watching, a few young, overexcited boys bumped into me. They looked to be about fourteen, but I had no idea what their actual age was because of that metamorphosis aging they did here. I let out an oomph as they knocked me into the side of the platform, which was definitely not made from anything soft or cloud-like.

Pulling back, I grabbed my aching ribs, freezing at what sounded like a burst of thunder.

Before I could look up, there was a harsh command from above. “Don’t move a damn muscle.”

Every single Daelighter around me froze. Tilting my head back, I found Lexen standing right above me, his eyes a blaze of white lights. In fact, the blackness seemed to have faded away to be replaced completely by starlight. Everyone in the vicinity – myself included – was completely mesmerized.

When he spoke next, it was not in English, so I couldn’t understand, but I definitely recognized the fear in the eyes of those around me. Especially the four teens who’d hit me.

Knowing it had been an accident, I straightened. “Lexen!” I demanded, hoping to break whatever tension was lacing the air.

Everyone gasped. Like a loud, dramatic hand slapped over their mouths kinda gasp.

Those blazing eyes locked on me and I had to force myself not to flinch. I reminded myself I had been through far worse than a pissed-off dragon lord, so I hurried on: “It was an accident. They’re just kids.” Kids who were probably twenty years older than me, but whatever. They looked like kids.

Some of the darkness flickered back into his eyes as he narrowed them on me. “They hurt you.”

He pointedly looked at where I was still holding my ribs. I released them, swinging my arms as casually as I could without wincing. “It. Was. An. Accident,” I repeated, getting a little annoyed now.

Cue another series of shocked gasps.

Jero and Marsil stepped up on either side of their brother. The overlord and his admirals. I had to admit it was an impressive sight. Scary. Intimidating. I was really feeling for the Daelighters around me. This was the Lexen from Starslight Prep, the enforcer, the one who everyone feared.

I’d never seen him that way though, so with almost no hesitation I turned and faced the small crowd, who were still frozen in place. “Go,” I murmured to the boys. “You’re not in trouble. I’ll keep them occupied.”

I winked at the closest boy to me, and he managed a shaky smile. “We are so sorry,” he choked out, his accent heavy. “Thank you.”

With a few final terrified glances at their overlord, they sprinted off into the crowd, and everyone else who had stopped to look did the same. I turned back to the Three Stooges.

“I have to join Father,” Lexen said to no one in particular, even though his eyes were still blazing and focused on me. “Keep an eye on her.”

“Her is standing right here,” I muttered under my breath as he turned away.

Marsil dropped off the stage, and before I could stop him he pressed a hand to my side. I gasped, even though his touch had been gentle. My breath was coming in and out roughly as I fought through the dizzying pain. Holy crap, why did bruised ribs hurt so much?

“You need to see a healer,” he said, lightening his touch even more. “We should go now.”

I shook my head, still panting. “No, you all need to be here, in case there is trouble. I’ll be fine. It’s just a bruise.”

He gave me a look that was far more like Lexen than his normally calm stare. “Okay, then, get up on the stage if it’s just a bruise.”

I sucked in deeply and straightened the best I could. “Okay … I will.”

I eyed the five-foot-tall structure, squaring my shoulders. I could deal with the pain long enough to not weaken the House of Darken by taking away some of their royal family at a time like this. Before I could do more than lift my arm, though, a loud voice boomed out. It sounded like it was amplified over a speaker.

I turned to see what was going on. All of the Daelighters appeared to be gathering before the front platform now – which held about two dozen beings. I was going to guess this was the council’s stage, judging by the fact that I could see members of all four houses on there.