I set up motion detection magic around the entrance to the room that led to the balcony. Kelser and I crouched low, so we wouldn’t be visible from down below. The door was open. I peered in. Kelser did too.

Kol stepped forward. The king’s bedroom was remarkably bare and minimalist. It had a martial feel to it, with swords and suits of armor adorning the walls, and inscriptions etched in iron decorating the ceiling. The floor was made from a type of dark wood. If I hadn’t applied air magic to Kol’s shoes, they might have given her away by making sounds as they tapped on the hard wood floor. The bed sat in the middle of the room, far from every wall. Raised slightly above the floor, it almost looked like an altar, with its drab, dark sheets, and dull wooden frame. There were no pillows and the mattress did not look soft at all. Honestly, it looked worse than the bed at the inn we were staying at, which was a thought that made me frown.

There was a small lump in the middle of the sheets. Kol walked up to it and put a trembling hand over the top of the sheets. She took a deep breath, bit her lips, and slowly but firmly pulled the sheet off the lump. It came off like a scab on an old wound, revealing the thin frame of the sickly king underneath.

Kol let the sheet fall from her hand. She stood still. The king’s chest rose up. Then it fell. His cheeks were sunken in. His hair grew in patches along a pockmarked scalp. His nose had boils on it and skin folded over his chin in loose waves. Every breath was faltering, with the king’s chest only barely rising as if there was a great weight pushing against it. Kol was still standing still.

My frown deepened. Wasn’t the king supposed to be feeling better? We were going to request an audience tomorrow. He was in no condition to be meeting anyone anytime soon! What was going on?

I spread motion detection magic everywhere. In the room in front of the king’s quarters. In the rooms on either side. On the balconies. The roof. Even in the rooms on the floor below. But nothing. Nobody was moving. Some guards shuffled about, but nobody was making any sudden or unusual movements. So this wasn’t a trap? But then why had we been led to believe that the king was feeling better?

I turned my head and stared outside. Outside, where the moon and red star hung innocently in the night sky. Their light was even. They looked just like they always had. Nothing unusual at all. Somehow, that made me feel more unnerved than ever. I strained my ears and covered every possible angle with motion detection magic and magic hands.

Kol’s hand seemed to move on its own, the rest of her body still frozen in the same pose. Her hand touched her father’s forehead, where his skin was paper thin and full of blemishes. She cupped her hand and ran it along the king’s face, passing over visible veins, pronounced wrinkles, and the other marks of age that were almost comically exaggerated on the old demon’s face. Her hand traveled down to her father’s hands, where thin, bony fingers pushed up against the skin as if they wanted to burst out of their cocoon. Kol grasped his fingers. She fell to her knees by his bedside, hands still intertwined. She pressed the hand to her forehead, sobbing. She collected herself quickly, bringing the hand to her lips. She held it with both of her hands and looked at her father again.

The old demon stirred from his slumber. His eyelashes, most of which had already fallen out, flickered. His eyes cracked open, a tiny sliver peeking out from behind the skin. Kol leaned closer and whispered. I was straining my ears but could still only barely hear her saying her father’s name and telling him it was Kol, his daughter. I could see the old demon king’s face quite clearly from here. There were hints of confusion on his wrinkly face. His mouth opened just a bit, but no words came out.

“Father,” said Kol in a low, trembling voice, “what happened to you?”

The old demon king closed his eyes. His breathing became slightly faster, and he winced in pain. Kol almost cried out. The demon king opened his eyes again. He stared at Kol, water pooling in his eyes. A sound escaped his mouth, but his lips didn’t move. He coughed, but suddenly brought his hand to his mouth, and muffled the sound. He used his other hand to tell Kol he was okay. Done coughing, he reached his other hand towards his daughter’s face, and touched her chin. His arm trembled and almost fell back to the bed, but Kol caught it and held it up to her face. The demon king smiled.

“Kol… you’re back,” said the demon king, in a low, hoarse voice. “Or did I join you somewhere else.”

“No, father,” said Kol as she pressed his hand to her face again, “it’s me. I came back. I came back from over the mountains. I brought friends, father. People who can help me, who can help you, father! Tell me, father. Tell me what happened to you!”

“Friends?” The demon king tried to chuckle but ended up coughing instead. “My little Kol, making friends? I remember it was only a hundred years ago, you were hiding behind my back in front of strangers.”

“That was a long time ago, father,” said the princess. “I am the heir. I have to be strong. I have to… no, father, please, you have to tell me what happened to you!”

“Nothing happened to me, my dear,” said the demon king, “I am old. The candlewick of my life has burnt bright for so long it is almost all gone. That is the way of the world, that’s all.”

“No, father, that can’t be. You were fine when I left two years ago! How could so much change so quickly?” said Kol. “Was it because of me? Did I worry you so much?”

“No, child, do not blame yourself,” said the king, “I was already sick before you left. I just did not want you to worry.”

“You hid it from me?” asked Kol. “For how long?”

“Many years,” he said, “many, many years. I did not want my children to know. Not when they were already at each others’ throats and refusing to listen to me. I sent Alek all the way up North so he wouldn’t meddle in the court and what did he do? He went and turned all the generals to his side! And I have no idea what Norn is doing in the East. Oh, child, my little Kol, I did not want to leave you to come back. Why didn’t you stay on the other side of the mountains? Now, you have to face everything on your own!”

“No, father,” said the princess, “not on my own. I have friends, remember. Look. They helped me sneak in here.”

The king’s gaze finally moved towards me. Kelser and I made sure our invisibility was dispelled and greeted the king. The king frowned.

“They don’t look… what are they?” he asked.

“Kelser is a human,” answered Kol, “they live on the other side of the mountains. And Cas is an elf.”

“An elf?” said the demon king, “from the fairy tales and legends? Does that mean he—”

“Yes, father, he knows magic! He even taught me some! All the humans know magic too, Kelser over there is incredibly powerful. I don’t think all the guards in the castle could stop him if they came at him. We managed to get inside the palace without being noticed, after all.”

“I see,” said the king, “let me apologize to our guests for meeting them like this.”

“Considering the circumstances, we’re just glad we could meet you at all,” I whispered. “We were told you would be feeling better tomorrow, and were planning to seek an audience after making a grand entrance. We only came tonight because we learned of something too dangerous to not share with you.”

“My ministers and friends must have wanted to keep the people calm. Spreading rumors about my improving health has become standard practice. But in fact, my condition has only been deteriorating for the past few months. I believe I do not have much time in this world,” he said. “What is it that you could not wait to share with me?”

“It’s about Alek, father,” said Kol. “He’s marching on the capital!”

The demon king froze. “Alek is… rebelling against me?”

“He must have found out about your health,” I said, “the rumors must have kept him at bay before, but now that he thinks you’re dying, he wants to solidify his position before anybody else can take control of the capital.”

“Does he know that you’re back, Kol?” asked the king.

The princess shook her head. “I showed my face to the people in the South, but word of that shouldn’t have reached him yet. It’s only a matter of time until he finds out. I’d wanted to let you know so you wouldn’t make him the heir but now I might have ruined my chance at a surprise attack.”

“No, no, you haven’t ruined anything,” said the king. The king groaned. “There is still time. If the royal herald hasn’t come to tell me about his return, he must be at least a few days away. Come, help me up, we have some work to do.”