Demon Bound: The Camelot Archive - Book One, R Nicole [top romance novels .TXT] 📗

double agent and retrieve it for him. I wasn’t sure which was the most moronic thing I was keeping a secret about—Elijah or my lingering mutation.

Oh man, this was getting worse by the minute.

Edging away from the excitement, I dragged myself thought the lower city and back to my square. I’d just have to hope I was smart enough to keep one step ahead of the Dark.

11

Music ebbed through the Camelot base camp, the modern sounds of rock and pop jarring against the backdrop of the ruined castle.

Apparently, the discovery of a secret chamber warranted a party. I wasn’t about to complain about the free beer, but times like these always reminded me of my outsider status amongst my own people.

I sat on an empty crate just outside the glow of the bonfire, nursing a bottle of beer brought up from the human village below. A group of Naturals from the security team had challenged each other to do backflips over the flames, and I watched them with a heavy heart. Maybe I’d be with them right now if I hadn’t been infected.

Depression sat heavy on my shoulders and I turned around, watching the comings and goings from another direction.

Man, I hated parties…but being ostracised was the least of my worries.

I knew I should say something to Aiden about the strange building, but I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He’d want to know where my suspicions were coming from and I’d be forced to confess. Then everyone here with an axe to grind against the Dark—which was everyone after the losses from the Dark Night—would have an excuse to lock me up for good.

Maybe I’d be able to get some help, but the Regula wouldn’t let me fight again—I’d broken the rules one too many times. If I was ousted, then I’d be leaving Elijah high and dry. If there was a chance to save him, then I should take it. I’d go down in flames either way, but at least he’d be free.

I sighed and sipped my beer. Too bad Naturals couldn’t get drunk beyond tipsy.

“Hey, there you are.”

I bristled as Maisy sat next to me, shoving me half off the crate.

“Hey, yourself.”

“I’ll bet you ten quid that someone lands arse first in the fire within the next half-hour.”

I snorted and took another mouthful of beer.

Sensing my uneasiness, she knocked her shoulder against mine. “How’s the dig?”

“Okay, I guess,” I replied with a shrug. “It’s slow going.”

“Well, you’re not missing much. Things have gone silent since…you know.”

“You can say it, Maisy. I won’t dissolve into tears.”

She laughed and shook her head. “You’re the toughest person I know, Madeleine. Of course not!”

I smiled. “It’s good to hear. About the patrols, not the tears.”

“I know, right? How’s everything else? Any more echoes?”

I shook my head. “No. Whatever Ramona gave me to ease them seems to have worked.”

“Oh good. That dream the other night sounded…”

I shivered. “Yeah, I know.”

Maisy looked up at the sky and sighed. “Sometimes I wish I’d taken up another specialty.”

“Huh?” I handed her my beer and she sipped absently. “You don’t want to be a warrior?”

“How are we supposed to know what we want to do with our lives at seven?”

I frowned and began to wonder the same thing. “Well…”

“A duplicitous demon like her gets special treatment and all we get is patrol night after night.”

I hesitated as the conversation behind us broke through our own. It wasn’t like I didn’t know people talked about me, but this was different. I had the overwhelming awareness they wanted me to hear. Kids could be cruel, but adults had the means to know better.

“Give her a break, Rhys,” another man said. “She was captured—”

“Exactly,” he interrupted. “Who knows what they did to her. For all we know, she staged it.”

“C’mon,” a woman scoffed, “I saw her when she came back. She was definitely not a willing participant.”

“You’re so blind, Felicity,” Rhys declared. “Demons lie. It’s their nature.”

I tensed, his words hit home. He was right. I was lying about everything, including the demon mutation that lingered inside me.

Maisy tugged on my sleeve. “Don’t. He’s not worth losing your position over. Let it go.” She offered me my beer back as a distraction but I shook my head.

“She almost killed all those innocent kids at the Academy,” Rhys went on. “She almost cost us Arondight! You know it’s only a matter of time before she kills us all.”

“Stop talking like that,” the woman named Felicity hissed.

“Once a demon, always a demon.”

“She wouldn’t be here if she was compromised,” the man said.

“Zero tolerance.” Rhys’s volume increased and I knew he was making sure I heard every single word he said. I was well-versed in the art of a bully, after all. “We should send her back where she came from.”

“Rhys, cut it out,” Felicity said. “You don’t mean that.”

“Maybe he’s right,” the man muttered. “We won the war, but the Dark will do anything to stay alive.”

“I say we throw her back,” Rhys declared. The chatter of the party began to quiet as everyone turned to hear what was going on.

I lowered my gaze, my cheeks burned and my hands shook.

The sound of crunching boot steps echoed behind me, each one moving closer to where Maisy and I sat.

“Demon spawn should go back into the rift,” Rhys continued. “All we need to do is pick her up and throw her into the chasm. It’s only a matter of time before she turns Dark and kills us all. Once we’re gone…” he clucked his tongue, “no one will be left to protect the world from being consumed. How does it feel, Madeleine? Huh? How does it feel knowing you will murder eight billion people?”

I rose to my feet. By this point someone had turned off the music and the entire camp was silent. It didn’t mean much to me, we could’ve been on Mars for all I cared.

Turning, I struggled to keep hold of my rage. It wasn’t