He raised an eyebrow. "You're not Elizabeth."
I swallowed hard. "No."
"Who are you?"
"I'm… I'm Nikki."
Both of his dark eyebrows went up at that. "Ah, Princess Nikki. I've heard a great deal about you. It's a pleasure to meet you, even if it's not in person. My name is Kieran."
It was Elizabeth's boyfriend-the demon prince from the Underworld, though he was definitely in human form. He looked a lot like the male model on the front of my mom's vampire romance book-dark hair, cool blue eyes, and strongly handsome features. He was so acutely good-looking that it seemed vaguely artificial, as if he were made of plastic-his eyes were so ice-blue that they gave me an immediate chill. His too-full lips curled to one side as he gazed up at me.
I looked toward the entrance of the room. "Elizabeth just left. But she was waiting for your… uh… your call. I'll go get her."
"No, Nikki. It's fine. I will speak with her later. How is your father?"
I swallowed. "Not well."
"But he still lives?"
I nodded.
"Elizabeth tells me that you were to drink a potion that the king provided to you. I will assume that you haven't yet."
I touched the bottle. "No, I haven't." "Do you want to be queen of the Shadowlands?" he asked.
I shook my head. "Not if I can help it." "Then you have to drink it."
There was that phrase again. Have to. Even somebody I didn't know was telling me what to do.
I let out a shaky sigh. "I wanted to see my father again before I do anything."
Something flashed behind his eyes and it wasn't entirely pleasant. "You do realize that you're putting Elizabeth's position as the next queen at risk by delaying."
"Look," I said, sharper than I meant to, "this isn't exactly easy for me, you know. And it's not easy for Elizabeth, either. It's not like she even wants to be queen."
His eyes widened a fraction. "Of course she does. It's all she speaks of and your actions-or rather inactions- are ruining everything for her."
That was a very strange thing for him to say. I was ruining everything? "She's accepted it, of course. It's not like she has much of a choice, does she?"
"No, of course. You're right. Please forgive me for being rude. The choice is yours alone, of course." The edge of annoyance in his expression disappeared and his gaze slowly moved over my face and down my neck to the vial on the chain. "If by chance you do end up becoming queen, I want you to know that you can contact me anytime. For any reason at all. I would enjoy the chance to get to know a lovely girl like yourself on a much more personal level. I'm sure we could become very close friends."
The way he said it made me feel extremely uncomfortable. This was the man my aunt was head over heels in love with? He was a major sleaze. Really good-looking, but a jerk. I knew I'd just met him, but first impressions were enough to go by.
Besides, I'd already dealt with a good-looking jerk that evening-Chris-so I was a little more wary of this sort of thing now. I trusted my instincts. And my instincts told me Kieran wasn't a nice guy.
"I'll keep that in mind," I said dryly.
"However, if Elizabeth does become queen of the Shadowlands, I would like to give her a little something special to… commemorate this event. Do you have any suggestions for me? Perhaps jewels, or furs. More obedient servants, perhaps?"
I really didn't like this guy. At all.
"I know she likes the perfume you already gave her," I said with distaste. "She even wears the bottle on a chain around her neck."
"Perfume?" His frown deepened and confusion flashed across his expression. "I've never given her perfume before."
"Maybe I heard her wrong."
"No," he replied quickly. "If Elizabeth said I gave her the perfume, then I certainly did. I give her many gifts and I have a tendency to forget some of them."
He glanced over his shoulder at something I couldn't see. When he turned back, he said, "I must go now, Princess Nikki. Please tell Elizabeth that I wish to speak with her at her earliest convenience."
His image faded until there was nothing but shallow water in the basin.
Elizabeth had said that she received her perfume from her boyfriend. Had Kieran really forgotten? Maybe she had more than one boyfriend? She was a beautiful woman, so it was entirely possible. I hoped I hadn't ruined anything by mentioning it to Kieran.
Then again, after my very short conversation with the handsome Kieran, I figured Elizabeth would be better off without him. I did not like the way he leered at me. I mean, the guy had to be at least thirty years old-and that was assuming that demons aged at the same rate humans did.
Creepy.
And what was all that about Elizabeth wanting to be queen? I mean, I understood that she'd accepted the inevitable, but the way Kieran said it, it sounded like she was actually looking forward to it. What was that all about?
I started to wonder what was taking Elizabeth so long, so I left the room to look for her, feeling uncomfortable being in the room with the gazer any longer. I headed along the hallway to the end where it turned to the right and kept following it until I saw Elizabeth go into a room up ahead. When I got to the doorway, I saw that she had a tray with a jug of water and a silver goblet. She poured a few drops from her small perfume bottle into the jug and then stirred the contents with a large silver-handled spoon.
"Elizabeth?" I said out loud.
She turned to look at me with wide eyes. "Nikki! You startled me." "Sorry."
"I was about to come back for you." "What is that?" I asked, pointing at the jug. "I thought that was perfume you wore around your neck."
She touched the blue bottle and I noticed her hand was shaking a little. "This. . no, this is medicine. It's to help with Desmond's pain. A few drops will ease his suffering. My perfume is in another bottle." She smiled. "They all look very similar, don't they?"
I studied the vial skeptically. They did look similar. Really similar. "Could be Gatorade for all I know."
She tilted her head to the side. "What is Gatorade?"
"It's a drink. You can get it in the blue flavor if you want."
She smiled. "The human world is a fascinating place, isn't it?"
"Depends on the day, really."
"Indeed." She picked up the tray. "I'm ready. We can go see your father now if you wish." I swallowed. "Okay."
She left the room. I followed her through the mazelike hallways. I braced myself to hear another cry of pain, but there was only silence.
I tried to remain calm and not overthink things, but my brief conversation with Kieran had deeply confused me. I had a hard time concentrating on anything else.