This Is My Kingdom Come by Megan Rees (red white and royal blue hardcover txt) 📕

“I use it to keep the swooning Pureblood girls under control,” Leon replied bitterly, turning to Will and Cassie. “I haven’t got a name out of her yet, but she claims to be twenty four which I find hard to believe taking her height and strength into consideration.”

Will narrowed his dark blue eyes. “Interesting. Is she aware we have a member of The Order with us who will be able to fish out any lies lurking inside her?”

“She didn’t ask,” the fair haired Halfblood responded. “Anyway, is Emma about? I could do with some assistance with a couple of wounds.”

“I could have a look at them.” Adele offered politely.

Leon shook his head. “Its fine, Adele. I think Emma knows more about how to treat these types of wounds. She is medically trained, after all.”

“Besides, I actually need to ask a favour off you,” Luna chipped in. “Our rather unsocial friend-”

“Friend?” Ash snorted, rolling his eyes. “Don’t make me laugh.”

Luna ignored his comment and continued. “Anyway, Oscar claims to be from the High Kingdom, but we have no proof of his past and can’t help him unless he tells us the complete and utter truth. Would you be able to walk in his memories and find out if he’s actually hiding anything?”

Adele nodded curtly. “Of course,” she said quietly. “I’ll put your interrogation forward after lunch and let you know. In the meantime, you could probably try and get some information out of the prisoner to find out what happened to Cody and why Celeste was shot.”

“Thank you.” Luna felt relief crash over her like a wave.

As the large group tucked into the feast, Luna spotted Adele occasionally glancing over at Leon with an unreadable expression in her good blue eye. I only wish I could see into her head to see why she keeps staring at Leon. She looks so worried about him – is there something we haven’t been told?

“So, was this Celeste the only one to witness Cody being taken?” Oscar questioned, munching on a homemade chocolate chip cookie.

Leon’s brown stare hardened. “Don’t you listen?”

“Calm it, buddy. I was only asking to see if I could help at all,” Oscar responded airily. “You may not realise it, but I do want to help out. I wouldn’t have accepted to come if I didn’t want to help.”

Leon just grunted. “We’ll find that out when Adele walks in your memories.”

Oscar looked fascinated at the thought. “She’s a member of The Order? I thought they died out a few centuries ago. Any survivors were executed.”

“That execution was only a rumor,” Adele informed him. “There are still five of us alive, I think. My little brother Rory and three other members survived the attack on our headquarters as well as me, but I don’t know the whereabouts of any of them. They’re likely to be around the Normal world.”

“Interesting.” the brown haired teenager replied thoughtfully.

Luna let out a small yawn, feeling sleep creep up on her like a shadow. “Would anyone object if I had a quick nap? I’m exhausted and just want to sleep.”

Cassie shook her head. “I don’t blame you. If you want to go upstairs, that’s fine by me. I’ll send for someone to wake you up when we’re ready to question the young woman.”

“I don’t think I’ll make it up the stairs…” The young Pureblood trailed off, her eyes feeling heavy as she allowed her head to drop to the side. Ash sensed her tiredness and draped one arm over her shoulders, drawing her close to him and allowing her to rest her weary head on his shoulder. Luna was just able to murmur her thanks as the deep ocean of sleep pulled her down into its depths.

~

“I think we should leave her be for now,” Cassie suggested, biting her lip. “Let her sleep in here. We can take our conversation into the kitchen.”

“I’ll stay with her in case she freaks. You can let me know when you intent to question the prisoner.” Ash offered, feeling a little reluctant to leave the wavy haired teenager.

“She’ll be fine, Ash.” Atlas replied a little dryly, but he stiffened slightly. Ash was curious immediately. What’s got into him now?

Adele quickly left the room and returned with a light blue blanket, gesturing to Luna. “Get her up onto the sofa so she’s comfortable.” she ordered lightly.

Nodding, Ash gently hauled her up onto the sofa and placed her head onto one of the pillows, allowing Adele to drape the blanket over her. She really did look exhausted, but Ash couldn’t understand why. He only wished he could look into her mind and see what was troubling her, what was making her so tired. She usually had barrels of energy at the ready to irritate certain people, but now she looked the complete opposite. She almost looked ill.

Whatever’s up with you, I hope you’ll be okay.

“Ash?” Atlas’s sharp voice cut into his thoughts like a dagger. “Could I have a word?”

The dark brown haired Pureblood shrugged. “Sure. Won’t do any harm.”

Atlas decided to wait until everyone had left before leading Ash out of the living room and into the hallway, ignoring all the laughter from the kitchen. He took off his glasses and cleaned them quickly with the hem of his white t-shirt before placing them back on and staring at Ash. “Is there something I should know about?” he inquired.

Ash narrowed his dark green eyes. “What are you on about?”

“You and Luna. You seem closer than usual, plus someone from your cabin mentioned to me this morning that you were dating,” Atlas responded a little briskly, crossing his arms. “Care to enlighten me on how long this little fling has been going on for?”

“When are my affairs any of your business?” Ash retorted angrily, clenching his fists. “And for your information, we’ve been dating for just over a month. We didn’t tell you because of the time you were going through at the time, plus I was in jail so we didn’t want to establish it officially until I was free.”

“Who knew about this?” Atlas demanded. “I’m absolutely thrilled that you couldn’t trust me enough to tell me!”

“The only ones who knew were Cody and Nick, but Nick found out unintentionally. Luna told Cody and he was cool with it,” Ash responded a little calmer. “I don’t see the problem.”

“That’s one thing I hate about you,” Atlas grumbled. “The way you go from fuming to cool.”

“Coming back on topic, what does my relationship with Luna have to do with you?” Ash questioned icily.

“Don’t you think I know the real you? That sarcastic, bloodthirsty creature who has never loved another living thing in his entire life? That lying little cheat who won’t take no for an answer? That broken toy that won’t allow himself to be tossed in the dirt because he’s too special to bear it?”

“I recommend you stop there, Atlas. I might have to take action otherwise.”

“No, I won’t! I know that you’ll hurt her and I refuse to let you make her life a misery!”

Ash sucked in his breath and blinked at the black haired teenager in genuine surprise. “Make her life a misery? My life is a misery.”

Atlas gritted his teeth and pointed a dagger threateningly at Ash, making him hold his hands up. “Put the dagger down. There’s no need for us to fight.”

“You killed my sister: of course there’s a need for us to fight!” Atlas screeched, throwing the dagger straight at him. Ash quickly snapped into action and thrust his hand forward, making the flying dagger fall to the ground abruptly with a clatter. “That’s a warning, Atlas. We all know who will win this fight.”

“I don’t want you to go treading on your best friend’s heart. She was like Rune’s sister and I’m going to look out for her, which means you’ll have to deal with me if you hurt her. Luna already lost so much already and if she looses you, I can’t possibly imagine-”

“Okay, I’ll give her the fact that she watched her father die in front of her, her mother lied to her and she lost Rune, but I think even she can vouch that she’s not the victim of whatever plotlines are messing with us. I lived as a silent, suffering shadow for seven years and was lied to about my parentage. No one wanted to be my friend until you three came into my life and took me under your wing. I learnt that my parents deliberately abandoned me and didn’t try to interfere with my life. I have to live with the guilt of knowing that I made a stupid decision to go along with Rune’s suicidal idea. I was tortured for a month because of this miscarriage of justice that you caused and I have lost my status of being a good Pureblood because I was kicked off the training program. You have every right to voice your opinion on me because I know I am a damaged monster, but I am the author of my story and the author says it’s time to change the protagonist’s fate.”

Atlas opened his mouth to speak, but Ash just cut him off by raising his hand as he made his way up the stairs. “Enough has been done. Leave the monster alone.”

Ash lifted his head lightly from the book in his lap and glanced at the door. “It’s open.”

The door handle turned down, and Adele poked her head in. “I’ve gone through Oscar’s memories and have a result.” she announced.

“And?” Ash urged, closing the book and rising to his feet. He’d been waiting for this news for most of the afternoon and was itching to get answers.

“He speaks the truth. He is from the High Kingdom, but what you may not be aware is that the Herrings are their royal family,” Adele explained. “Oscar was heir to the throne, but since his uncle Stefan came into power as King he was played down and now his cousin is next in line. It also appears that the King is conspiring with Alpha to kill his nephew.”

“Interesting,” Ash remarked thoughtfully. “The only thing that I’m still confused by is why he came to Nighthollow rather than elsewhere.”

“He was fascinated by your journey and believed you could help him. He might be older than you, but he is desperate to take back his kingdom. The least you could do is try to help rather than being so cold. He could benefit you in some way – you might learn something from him.” Adele went on, crossing her arms.

“He’s a spineless rat, Adele. He may act all innocent, but I sense something dark lives in him,” Ash replied icily. “This might seem sudden, but he offended me deeply and I will not forgive or trust him. If the others are willing to go ahead and help Oscar, I will assist but remain hostile to him.”

Adele narrowed her blue eyes fiercely at him. “He’s just a child, Ash – not much older than you at that. He’s