Page 2 of The Prince of Demons
Who would the child become?
Could she redeem herself?
Could she redeemher mother?
The crowd waited with bated breath. And they waited. And they waited some more.
Giggling, Luna snatched the long thread, waving it up in the air like a prized trophy. Huzzah went up in the crowd. Her parents captured each other in an embrace. At least she chose something, they thought. At least she didn’t destroy the house in the process.
Onlookers smiled and let out a series of, “I knew it! I knew she would choose that one!”
So lost were they in their distraction, that they didn’t notice what pulled at the end of the thread. All at once, applause turned to gasps. Parents yanked their children back. Surprise became horror.
Above, spirits cheered.
“How did that get there?” her father whispered.
“Impossible,” her tight-lipped grandmother uttered.
“Cursed!”
Behind her, one of the relatives fainted.
In front of Luna, her mother wished she could faint, or build a time capsule to go back and prevent this nightmare from ever unfolding.
Because at the end of the glowing, luminescent thread, an onyx tiara awaited.
Silly mother. The Fates made no mistakes.
ChapterOne
THE ORACLE MUSINGS
Welcome to The University of Aether, freshman! You may be wondering—who’s this? And you’ll never know. Because I, like the future, am chaotic and hidden from most. But there is nothing I love more than a little story, some future gossip, and a riveting prediction of the future—which is why I send out all my notorious wisdom to my fans. Since you’ve decided to follow me, I’ll let you in on secret number one—a pair of starborn lovers will meet today!
If this goblindidn’t shut up, I was going to throw him out the window.
“What happened to that boy you were staring at this morning? The one with magnificent hair?”
The lamp above me sputtered at the sound of my goblin’s voice. It was rich and ancient, and if I weren’t so devoted to him, I’d tremble from it.
I frowned. “What happened to ‘just one date, and I’ll leave you alone for the rest of the week’? No pressure, no drama?”
I dotted concealer over the rosy splotches on my face. The same rosy splotches I suspected prohibited me from getting dates. Gaksi wouldn’t know the struggle. Demons didn’t have beauty standards that called for glass skin and a transparent, pleasant personality.
A raspy chuckle swayed my overhead lamp back and forth. The light went out. My American girl doll jumped, followed by the haunting image of a 20th-century figurine laughing. Mocking me.
“That bad, huh?”the doll rasped.“Maybe you should let me do the lover hunting. It’s not like I can do any worse than you.”
I chucked a pen at him.
The doll’s eyes closed before the pen knocked it off my bookshelf, and the candle beside my desk flared to life. Blue light danced above the wick, prancing in excited little jumps.
“Who are you taking to the first college party? Don’t tell me you’re going alone!”
His cheerful, eerie male voice haunted me from the other end of the desk. I turned my head away, ignoring him, and continued typing on my computer. This calendar wouldn’t plan itself.
“You can’t fall behind on your studies,” Mother had warned me.“With a face like that, you’ll need every advantage you have.”