Song: Wild Heart - SPELLES

The back of Julian's estate was jaw dropping with a large infinity pool that seemed to stretch out to the lake bordering the end of the property. Around the pool there were paths that wound through the grounds with hedges, trees and flowers flanking on each side. In the distance, I saw a large arched trellis that seemed to lead to the lake below. Bordering the lake on either side were large mountains covered in trees.

We sat at a table on the outside patio as we ate our breakfast. Once finished, we sat in relative silence while Julian worked away on his phone. More than once, I caught myself closing my eyes and listening to my surroundings and breathing in the scents of the flowers nearby. I listened to the birds as they sang from tree to tree, and was delighted at the animals that chittered nearby.

It was like home and it made my heart ache.

I wondered how Kymra was. I wondered what her games would be, what she would say, how she would act around him to convince him she was me. Or at least convince Robyn that she was me while pretending he was Damien...just thinking about it made my head hurt.

"Who else knows of your plan?"

"Kymra's plan," he corrected without looking at me. "Three of us and one other. No one else."

"Who is this other?"

He shook his head. "A stubborn asshole." His grey eyes looked at me. "But a powerful ally if he accepts."

The breeze suddenly picked up around us, making me rub my arms after I crossed them. "Why wouldn't he accept?"

He shook his head. "He's unpredictable. Kymra warned me not to trust him but we will need his help."

I stood from the table, looking out to the horizon as the late morning sun rose higher in the sky. I closed my eyes against the exhaustion I still felt in my bones. "When can we start?" I turned back to him. "I'm afraid for Kymra. Robyn is a sadist. When he finds out what's happening-" I shook my head and looked back at the lake. "I hate to think what he will do to her."

"She is more than capable of holding her own," Julian answered. "She worked in the Keep when he was king. She knows what to say to him to keep him unsuspecting, she knows him well enough."

I turned back to him with a furrowed brow.

"Kymra is smart," he insisted as he placed the phone on the table in front of him. "She is handling it."

I took a deep breath. I trusted Kymra but Robyn—he was ruthless. I wouldn't be surprised if he already knew. And if he knew...my parents would be the first to pay the price.

Panic began to creep through my core. He had to know. He had to know. I was with him long enough that he begun to unravel me in my dreams. He knew me inside and out.

Kymra wouldn't be able to deceive him.

I shook my head fiercely. "This isn't going to work. It's just not—it just—it won't." I felt my hands begin to shake as I crossed them. My nails gripped my elbows of my crossed arms. "He has to know by now. He has to."

He watched my hands and approached me carefully. "Emylin, I can guarantee you that nothing is wrong. He doesn't suspect anything."

I shook my head and the fear I had felt in the rooms I was locked in came back. "I have to see my parents. They will be the first he goes after."

I began to feel a pressure build within me. I could feel it begin to grow as the seconds passed. If he did have them, what would he do first? Would he only hold them prisoner until I went back to him? Would he torture them like he had in my dreams so many times?

I was stupid to believe Julian or even Kymra. My parents would pay for my stupidity and defiance. I had to go back. I had to go back to Robyn and think of a plan while there.

"Emylin," Julian's calm voice called to me.

I looked at him and realized my eyes were brimming with tears. "I have to go back," I choked out. "I can't put them in danger."

He shook his head slowly, approaching me as he did. "You are doing the right thing. If you go to them now, you will put them in danger."

I shook my head. "He has to know by now. He has to know, Julian."

He gently placed his hands on my shoulders and watched me. I recognized pity in his eyes, and somehow...remorse? He inhaled deeply, not in annoyance but in determination. "If we were to see them now and see they were safe, will you believe in our plan? Will you train with me?"

I took a deep breath. "If they're alive and well, I will do whatever is necessary to keep it that way."

He chuckled and let me go. He raised his hand nervously and scratched the back of his neck. "Kymra is going to kill me." He took a deep breath. "All right, it's a Thursday morning, where will they be?"

"Thursday? Work, definitely work."

Slowly, he nodded. "Before last night, Kymra and I, we had to watch your parents—to make sure her suspicions were correct. He has soldiers on them, lesser fae, we suspect that it's to make sure you do as he says—he's using them as collateral."

I swallowed.

He nodded solemnly. "This means we have to be very careful. They cannot catch us. If we are caught, they will report back. If we harm them to prevent that, Robyn will become suspicious and the plan will have failed before we have put it into action. You must do as I say."

I nodded again. "Yes, I understand."

"We will have to blend in. Glamour and wear human clothes." He sighed again. "Kymra is really going to kill me."

It took us less than twenty minutes to get ready. My mother worked in a busy financial district, my father as a construction site manager. They worked on opposite sides of the city but with spectering it wasn't much of a concern.

On the construction site, I was able to see my father easily. My worst fears were unfounded. My father was busy with site workers. The pointed to different points of the unfinished building in hard hats, immersed in their conversation.

I had been standing far enough away that we were hidden enough.

As soon as we appeared, we mingled among a crowd of people in a nearby building. Julian was able to spot the soldier stationed to watch my father easily. It was an older looking man sitting across the street. Ocassionally, he would look up but, otherwise, didn't look to look suspicious.

"He wouldn't put his best guards on them," Julian explained. "I suspect he's keeping those for himself."

I nodded in acknowledgment finally able to somewhat breathe once I saw my father was all right. "I don't know how I feel about faes watching them," I sighed. "It feels wrong."

He shook his head. "I know but this is the only way, Emylin. Kymra is smart, nothing will happen to them, I swear it."

I looked at him in his sunglasses, a Black Sabbath t-shirt, and jeans as he stood next to me. He was dressed so ordinarily, but the women were staring, looking at him more closely than I was comfortable with. The glamour he wore dimmed his otherworldly features somewhat but not enough. It was like being with Damien again.

My heart constricted.

"And my mother?" I asked him.

He nodded firmly and we left the group we were blending in with. When we rounded the corner out of view, we spectered into a small broom closet.

As soon as we appeared, Julian muttered a curse falling back. An empty bucket crashed to the floor next to us making a loud banging noise echo in the small space.

I squeaked, falling over when my unsteady feet touched the ground. Julian fell back into the wall trying to catch me, absorbing most of the fall. His hands held my upper arms in place as he laughed. "That mop wasn't there before."

I only shook my head. "Why a broom closet?"

"Gets us past security. Apparently, your mother works for the government and you need clearance for this part of the building."

It made sense. "Yeah, you need a badge for the bathrooms downstairs. Otherwise, they don't open." I remembered when I went to the building after school one day and had to hold it in until my mother could badge me in.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Just don't ask."

Julian let me go and straightened. We barely had space to move in the small room and standing face to face, I could see the top of my head only barely graced his chin. His chest was broad and despite the dim light in the room, I could see the contours of his chest and shoulders. He reached behind me and with a small click, the room was bathed in light. "Instead of checking me out, you can just open the door, Emylin."

Indignation flared and without a second thought, I pushed him back into the closet as hard as I could, making him fall back into the mop and buckets we barely missed the first time.

I exited the room and immediately knew where we were.

Somehow, we were next to the large lunch room of the building complex I knew my mother worked at. It was a large food court with different types of restaurants throughout and in the middle, a distribution of benches. My mother always ate lunch there and if I sat near the window, I would be able to see her when she came in.

Quickly, I made my way to a vacant set of chairs near the window, grabbing a pamphlet on an empty table next to it. I tried to look natural as I watched the crowd over the pamphlet. I glossed over the words but looked up at the double doors as people walked in and out.

Someone set a paper coffee cup in front of me and a piece of paper. I squinted at the paper and saw it wasn't an ordinary piece of paper. It was a laminated badge. A fake badge with my picture on it.

"You dropped it as you left the broom closet," Julian whispered as he sat across from me in his own chair. "Also, you're being incredibly conspicuous. At a food court without food?"

I cleared my throat. "Maybe I'm reading."

He raised an eyebrow. "It's a two-page pamphlet and we will be here a while. I hope you're all right with just regular coffee."

I inhaled sharply. He was right. I grabbed the cup from where he set it. "Fine."

He chuckled. "I won't even say anything about you not being polite."

"Bite me," I mumbled as I put the cup to my lips.

The air-conditioned room was well below freezing and the warm coffee was welcoming, at least.

He sighed, sitting back in his chair. He tilted his head as he watched me. After several minutes of silence, he spoke. "Since we'll be here a while, why don't we talk."

I shrugged, still watching the doors. "I suppose."

"You've been friends since the Siege," he began quietly. "Do your parents know about Damien? Do they know he's king?"

I shook my head. "Nothing like that. They think he's a friend from college. Human." I laughed quietly. "Mom secretly hopes he's going to ask me out one day."

Julian smiled too. "Do they know you grew up together?"

I shook my head. "No." I laughed. "One time when I was nine, he gave me a pig nose for hours. He went to some party and when he came back he turned it back. He said he forgot." I rolled my eyes. "He wasn't allowed to do magic on me since. His rule, not mine." I sighed. "But he did use it once to help me win a contest against-" I stopped, feeling the all too familiar lump in my throat.

Damien was gone. My childhood friend was gone. He was counting on me to get him back.

"Emylin," Julian's voice was soft.

I met his eyes. "We'll get him, right?" My voice cracked as I asked. "We'll get him for what's he's done to Damien?"

Julian nodded. Despite my panic attack earlier, he was understanding. He was patient. He wasn't passing judgement. "Yes. We will. Train, Emylin. Gather your strength. Learn. That is how you will stop him. We will help you in every way we can." He subtly nodded towards the doors.

When I turned to where he pointed, I found my mother. Her blonde hair was tightly placed into a bun, her phone was placed firmly against her ear as she spoke animatedly. She didn't notice us on the other side of the room watching her. I wanted to run to her much in the same way I had when I was a child. I wanted to run and collapse in her arms and let her soothe me with her words and tell me everything would be all right. I wanted to get lost in the familiar scent of her perfume. Instead, I sat quietly in my seat, unmoving.

"We stop him," Julian continued quietly as I followed her with my eyes. "We keep everyone you love safe." He grabbed my arm and nodded to the other side of the room.

A woman followed behind my mother and I knew what Julian meant. The woman was the one Robyn assigned to my mother.

As I watched them, I found the resolve to continue. Robyn didn't know anything like I thought he did. I was wrong. Kymra's and Julian's plan was working. My parents were alive and well. They were living their life as if nothing changed. Everything seemed more or less normal.

And I would keep it that way. I would kill Robyn for what he did to us. I would stop him. I'd help them all. I'd get Damien back.

I looked at Julian. "Can we start as soon as we get back?"

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Thank you everyone for your well wishes! I still can't believe that Friends with the King of the Underworld was Longlisted for the
2018 Watty's!!

Thank you for your support it means everything to me ❤️
Please let me know what you think!

Also, don't forget to read the prequel for all of those that miss Damien ❤️