Chapter Ten
"I believe you have something that belongs to me." Lukais' deep voice jerked Pandimora into full alertness. Adrenalin surging, she quickly looked for Drew but found herself alone. He had not transported with her. She held her fear in check. What had gone wrong? Was he all right?
"Do not look for the human. I pulled you from the crystal cave. Of what use is he to me?"
She stiffened, lying on her side on Drew's bed, the covers crumpled around her. Her hand holding the crystal lay underneath her. Lukais stood about ten feet in front of her. Somehow Lukais already knew she'd found the crystal.
The elder appeared surrounded by a hazy aura, as if in a tumultuous state standing here in the earth realm. Pandimora blinked several times, puzzled by how out of focus everything appeared.
"You are fully ensnared by the human," Lukais remarked with derision. "And you do not seem to care Aisywel is thrown into chaos due to your continued rebellion." He put up a slender hand. "I understand, Pandimora. I myself felt such romantic pangs in my younger years. But the humans are too different from us. They will only bring you anguish and betrayal as you will discover in time."
Pandimora studied the elder curiously, the white hair neatly flowing back from his wide forehead, just touching his shoulders. His pale blue eyes pierced, making her want to squirm, but she resisted. She reminded herself of what he had done. All the time she had grown up she'd felt him to be a mentor, caring for she and her sister. But all that had been turned upside down the day she fled Aisywel, fearing for her immortality.
"That is your history with a human," she said softly. "Not mine." She didn't want it to be hers.
She created clothing to cover her body from his gaze. While faeries felt no shame or embarrassment about the body, some part of her deep inside wished to conceal from Lukais' gaze not only the physical body she had shared with Drew, but also her true light form. She fretted over Drew, wondered if he was still stuck in the cavern. She couldn't recall anything beyond standing within the crystal pillars as Drew handed her the crystal, and then awakening here.
"If you once loved a human, Lukais, then you understand how compelling such a relationship can be," she said now, trying to stall for time. Part of her wondered if the failure of his relationship with a human had removed all vestiges of sympathy for their race. The crystal grew hot in her palm. She knew he wanted it.
"The earth plane will never sustain you, Pandimora. You are a creature of the fae, no matter your lineage. You will never be happy with such a boring, pallid existence. Come back to us and forget all that has gone before."
"I can't," she remarked stonily, surprised she no longer felt shaky under his penetrating stare. "You have created great disharmony with your deeds. It is you, not I."
"Your tongue has grown sharp while you have been away, and your words are most disrespectful. The crystal belongs in my care. I must have it now."
She tightened her hand around the crystal rod, wondering how she'd keep him from taking it.
He lifted his dark eyebrows, waiting.
Pandimora sat up, the crystal still behind her.
Lukais gave a slight sigh and imperiously held out his hand.
She used every bit of power she possessed to resist, but her hand lifted towards him nonetheless. His brows came together in anger. "I am through with your defiance, Pandimora. You will obey me as your high elder."
Pandimora looked down and instead of the clear beauty of the crystal, in her hand was a nubby brown stick. She tightened her fingers around it in surprise. In truth she didn't know where the crystal had gone. She held tightly to the stick, silently thanking it for substituting itself for that of the crystal.
"If you had requested I give you the crystal wand before all this mistrust I would simply have handed it to you," she said. "But I doubt your sincerity."
He looked taken aback, but quickly recovered. "It is blasphemous, Pandimora, for you to question my decisions and intentions. You have lived your entire life in serenity and play thanks to my calming authority over the worlds. Why suddenly throw away that which you have known your entire life?"
"I have not turned my back on my beloved Aisywel," she declared passionately. "But I'm not like you, Lukais. I have not hidden away anyone's family. I have not struck down another faerie."
"I have not taken your family," he said, but his voice seemed stiff to her. "It is clear you care more for the humans."
"I care for both worlds," she said defiantly. "You exiled me from my home." Intense pain slipped through her guard. "You took my memories."
"You saw with your eyes Clare was out of control."
"Perhaps all I saw was a limited version of what occurred. You have control over the crystal."
"You were shown the truth of that time long past." He touched the silver amulet suspended on a fine chain from his neck. It winked at her mesmerizingly, but after a brief glance Pandimora kept her gaze away from it. She would not be mind washed and she feared he would use any means to subdue her.
"Our world is at a crossroads, Pandimora. If you choose not to cooperate, I will have no choice but to suspend you in the space between dimensions until you go before the elder high council." His presence became more imposing, but Pandimora made herself remain still.
"If you were meant to have the crystal, it would have been allowed," she said defiantly, and she quickly leapt from the bed and ran out into the living room.
Pandimora flinched at the deep roar behind her. It reached higher than the heavens and stronger than any known human sound. She was grateful Drew was not present because it might have ruptured his human ears.
She searched the counter top for the protective device Irfin had given her, but it was gone. She turned her back to the counter, its hard surface pressing against her spine as the elder advanced. Nervously, she pinched her wrist and looked down at her unmarred skin in surprise. It was then she realized the elder had invaded her dream. She pinched again and again, but she could not surface from her dream.