Page 27 of Their World

All who were gathered gasped and murmured to each other.

“A descendent of the Third to Reign?” one of the females asked. “Are you sure?”

She nodded and her ears flopped about. “Without a doubt. She uses the shadow powers that are passed down through the Third to Reign’s lineage only.”

“Then you would have been the heir to the throne, had your family not snuck you away,” Druth whispered. Her eyes widened. “You cannot let Grand Advisor find out you are her descendent.”

“What? Why not?” I asked.

They all looked at each other nervously, but seemed unwilling to say more.

“Can we teach you a dance?” the silver-furred demon asked me as she slipped the book back into my bag. She had written on several different pages.

“A dance?” I asked as she gently gripped my fingers with fur covered hands and helped me to my feet.

She nodded, and her canine-like ears flopped around. “It’s one that all females are taught once they reach puberty. We perform it for the ones we wish to mate with.”

My eyes widened, and I nodded quickly. “Yes, please!”

She smiled and led me over to the fire that they started as the sun had begun to set. “It’s not too hard, so I bet you will pick it up in no time.”

After watching the dance a few times, they showed me step by step, slowly, until finally, after an hour, I had the steps down.

“There you go!” the silver-furred female praised. “Keep practicing and you’ll learn to do it faster and faster until you’re ready to show the ones you want as mates.”

“It’s late, Lily. We should head back,” Zoman said. “We were supposed to be back by nightfall, but you were having too much fun and I didn’t want to interrupt you learning your dance.”

“You’re welcome back here, anytime,” Druth said. She handed me my bag and whispered, “There is more written now in your book. More about the power you possess.”

“Thank you,” I whispered back and clutched the bag to my chest.

The silver-furred female took my hands gently in her paws and said, “My name is Talrinir. I hope you visit us again.”

“I will try,” I promised. “Thank you, Talrinir.”

As she pulled her hand back, I realized that she had left a small folded note in my hand. Quickly, I closed my hand into afist and stuck it into my pocket to hide. I wasn’t sure what the note said or why she felt the need to hide it from Zoman and Dhun, but I assumed it was important.

I said goodbye to everyone and hurried to catch up to Dhun and Zoman, who were at the edge of the town already.

“Thank you for bringing me here today,” I said and smiled at both of them.

Dhun wagged his tail and Zoman returned my smile.

The trip back to the castle was pretty uneventful, there were a few times that demons started to get close to us, but immediately turned away when they realized it was Zoman with me.

Back in my room, I pulled out the piece of paper and gaped at the words written.

You must leavethis world before Grand Advisor realizes who you are and kills you.

Come see me in three days.

~T

Heart pounding,I sat on the chaise lounge and reread the two sentences a dozen more times.

Two knocks at the door made me yelp. I shoved the paper into my mouth and quickly swallowed it. I almost choked and had to chug some water before I asked, “Who is it?”

“It’s Zoman. King Jolmach has asked me to come escort you to his room. He would like to eat dinner with you.”

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