(Skeleton Key) Princess of the Damned

Princess of the Damned

by Wendy Knight

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and events are fictitious in every regard. Any similarities to actual events and persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used. Except for review purposes, the reproduction of this book in whole or part, electronically or mechanically, constitutes a copyright violation.

Princess of the Damned

Copyright © 2016 Wendy Knight

Cover Art by J.M Rising Horse Creations

To all my readers who suffer from depression.

May you find an escape from your darkness.

L
ANDON HAD NEVER SEEN HIS OWN
reflection. He saw
hers
instead. He grew up watching this girl in the mirror grow with him. Grew up memorizing every feature, every movement, every horror she endured. He could see into her palace, into the darkness she was trapped in.

When he was little, he told his parents about her. His parents thought she was an imaginary friend, and they humored him. But she didn't go away.

She couldn't see him, but the older he got, the more she sensed him.

And then she started talking to him.

She didn't need the mirror. She couldn't see him at all, but that didn't seem to matter. When she was alone, she sang to him. And she told him her nightmares. Except the nightmares were her life.

She was a captive of the Queen of the Damned.

And when Landon was seventeen, he fell in love with her.

L
ANDON WATCHED
E
IRESS WHILE HE BRUSHED
his teeth and got ready for school. There was nothing else he could do; she couldn't even see him, but he was loath to leave her. She sat in the middle of her bed, rocking back and forth, humming and petting her pet dragon. Tears slowly soaked her cheeks and every so often, she would sob. The ball must have been horrific last night.

He put his toothbrush away and closed the mirror, trailing his finger down the reflection of her cheek, as if he could dry her tears.

She smiled and raised her head a little. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Any time." Landon smirked, because he knew she couldn't hear him, and yet here he was, talking to the mirror again.

Some people might think he was crazy, talking to a mirror.

Of course, if they knew he was actually talking to the princess trapped inside, they'd have him committed right away.

That was why he'd given up telling anyone about her.

"Landon! Cassie's here!"

Landon swore, backing away from the mirror. With every step, Eiress's shoulders hunched and she curled in on herself even more. "I'll be okay," she said quietly.

With one last, desperate look, he stumbled away, feeling his soul tear slightly as he left the bathroom. He rounded the corner, grabbed his bag, and jogged down the stairs. He caught another brief look as he passed the front hall mirror—Eiress crying over her pet dragon.

It nearly froze him in his tracks.

"Hey babe. We're gonna be late." Cassie almost hit him with the door as she stuck her head in, frowning. "I knocked like ten minutes ago."

This happened, sometimes. He'd get lost in the mirror, end up standing there for hours when he thought it had been minutes. Usually when she needed him most.

He tore his gaze away. "Sorry. Let's go."

He opened the passenger door for Cassie, like a good boyfriend would, and mechanically settled behind the wheel and started his truck. Cassie lived three houses down. Her family had moved in last summer, and he'd been giving her a ride to school since the first day of class.

He wasn't exactly sure when he'd become her boyfriend, though.

She chattered while he drove, something about her job and how her boss was a jerk. It took her all the way to school and into first period to tell it, and he half-heartedly attempted to listen.

School was the same, voices and conversations that he barely heard.

"Landon, what can you tell us about the American Revolution?" "Landon, explain to me how you come to the correct answer for this equation." "Landon, don't mix baking soda and vinegar. You'll cause an explosion!"

After that, he fought harder to get Eiress out of his head. At least until he got to work after school.

His mom owned an antique store. He helped out when he didn't have football practice, and since it was April, that meant every day. He didn't mind though. The job was easy, and as a bonus, there was an ancient, mysterious mirror framed with ornate mahogany. For some reason, his mom had never been able to sell it.

Probably because Landon had changed the price to $2 million, and she'd never noticed.

Of all the mirrors he'd seen Eiress in, this one fit her best.

He dropped his bag behind the counter, helped find places for all his mom's new treasures, cleaned the glass display cases, and finally settled down next to the mirror to do his homework.

Eiress looked up, her bright red hair and bright red lips the only color in a world of grays, whites, and blacks.

And she smiled.

His heart immediately broke and healed, all at the same time. To say she was beautiful would be an understatement. To say she was astoundingly beautiful when she smiled was akin to blasphemy. It was like looking into the sun. She made the pale skin work, and the elaborate dresses she always wore—like something out of the Renaissance period, only enhanced her beauty. Landon had drawn her a few times, in regular girl clothing, pretending she went to high school with him.

It didn't matter what she wore. She was still heartrendingly beautiful.

Eiress held up her knitting. "I'm making Kaida a sweater. He wasn't thrilled about the measuring part, but he'll get used to it. Without his fire, he's nothing but a lizard." She grinned as the little dragon curled around her wrist, settling in her palm, and hissed at her. "But such a cute one."

In her world of nightmares, she'd rescued Kaida when a dragon had attacked her castle. The dragon had been killed, and the evil souls had gleefully killed the babies in the nest left behind. All except Kaida, who Eiress had rescued and named after the brother she'd left behind when she'd been taken. The brother she hadn't seen in fourteen years.

Eiress kept talking, and while Landon hadn't been able to focus on one single word all day long, now he heard nothing except her voice. The cars outside, the customers, his mom, they all faded into the background, and it was just Eiress.

"The ball last night was harsh. So many evil souls from your world, but I sent them to hell. Elizabeth and Mary granted three a reprieve. I wasn't fast enough in my sentencing. Maybe if there were more princesses to help me…"

She trailed off, and she absently stroked Kaida's scaly back. There were no princesses because the ones Mary had managed to capture and drag back to the Isles of the Damned only lasted a few days, a week at most, before they gave up everything to escape the nightmare that was their new life. And dying in the Isle meant there was no happy afterlife. They, along with the damned souls, went to hell.

Eiress had lasted fourteen years. She said it was because of Landon. He liked to believe her.

"Anyway, the three—the three that made it back. They had evil souls. Very black. They prey on children and worship drugs. Be careful out there." She smiled, but her smile was sad. Changing the subject abruptly, she plopped Kaida onto the bed in front of her and held up her knitting. "I think gray is his color, don't you?"

"Yeah. It's a good color on him. Goes with the black scales very well," Landon said.

"Did you say something, dear?"

Landon jumped, and nearly fell over. The cute little old lady peered at him over her spectacles in alarm.

"No-no ma'am. I didn't realize I was talking out loud."

She blinked at him suspiciously.

"Can I help you with something?" He struggled to his feet, shaking out his legs, wondering how long he'd been sitting there, staring into the mirror.

"I'm looking for a clock. Mine fell off the wall and broke. See?" She held out her hands, showing him the remains of a clock that looked like it had fallen off the wall and then been smashed with a bat two or three hundred times.

Landon nodded, taking her arm. "Clocks are right over here." He led her away, glancing over his shoulder at the mirror as he did.

Eiress smiled, raising one hand in goodbye. Kaida curled his way up her arm and hissed.