“And give up my immortality?” he asked, his deep voice rumbling in his chest against her back. “In a heartbeat,” he finally said after what felt to Elora like the longest pause in history. “But you’re half elf, so the rules are different for you. Your life will be longer even if you stay in the human realm because you will age much slower. Regardless, Little Raven, where you go, I go. That is just the way it is.”
She smiled to herself and leaned her head back on his chest. She snuggled down and pulled the blanket she had retrieved from the hall closet up over them and as she yawned she said, “Well I happen to like the way it is.”
He chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “I love you,” he whispered in her ear. “Rest now, Love, because tomorrow we hunt.”
“How could I have not realized that Cassie was the same bloodline as Lucy?” Tamsin asked his Chosen as they sat on the edge of the bed in Cassie’s parents’ room. “If I’d have recognized the relation I might…,”
“Have what?” Syndra interrupted, her voice rough with frustration. “Would have been able to stop a mad man? Would have been able to predict the choices of a raving lunatic? You can’t possibly take the blame for this mate. You are no longer king and yet you still think it is your duty to bear all the responsibility for both humans and elves.”
Tamsin stared at her in awe. Only she could remind him that he was not all knowing and all powerful. No matter how badly he wanted to be able to prevent bad things from happening to the people he cared about, he couldn’t. That was the way it was in their realm and the human realm. Free will gave people the right to choose their own destiny, good or bad.
“I know,” he finally agreed. “I just hate to see yet another human hurt because of our people.”
“I understand that, and we will do whatever we can to make it right.”
Tamsin took her hand in his and kissed it tenderly. “Unfortunately, I have a feeling that before it’s all said and done, there is going to be a lot that we have to make right.”
“I don’t remember the last thing I said to my parents,” Cassie’s small voice pierced the darkness of her bedroom as Trik lay beside her on her bed. Her head was pressed against his chest and the steady beat of his heart seemed to bring her a small measure of comfort. “I don’t remember the last time I told them I loved them.”
“Regardless, they know that you love them, Cassie,” Trik assured her as he ran his hand down her hair soothingly.
“But I lied to them. I didn’t tell them anything that was going on with me and had I been honest with them I might have been able to prevent this.”
“I could argue too that had I chosen to leave you alone instead of pursuing you, then this would have been prevented,” he replied. “Don’t play the blame game, Love, because you will never win. There is only one person to blame and that is Tarron.”
“When did you get so wise?” she asked playfully, though her voice still wavered.
“I’m an old married man now; isn’t that supposed to make me wiser?”
“No, I think it just makes you unavailable,” she chuckled.
“Ah, Beautiful, I became unavailable the moment I laid eyes on you in that boardroom.” He pulled her tighter against him and thanked the Forest Lords, not for the first time, for bringing her into his life and for her willingness to forgive his many transgressions and love him any ways.
“It’s not hard you know, loving you,” she told him picking up on his thoughts.
“Tell me that in a hundred years,” he challenged.
“Let’s just get through tomorrow,” she sighed softly as she let Trik’s warmth and familiarity soak into her tired bones. Her emotions were raw like exposed nerves and she so badly wanted to just forget. She didn’t want to think about the hell her parents might be going through, she didn’t want to think about the Rapture still being given to people in the casinos, and she didn’t want to think about the Book of Elves and all the power it held and whose hands it might be in. She just wanted to be in the arms of the man she loved and who loved her. She wanted to rest in the knowledge that he would do everything in his power to protect her and bring her parent’s home safely. She wanted to be happy for Elora and Cush and the love that she had seen on their faces when they looked at each other. She wanted to be happy for herself and the new marriage that she had yet to really take in.
“Breathe, Cassie,” Trik whispered against her ear and his warm breath sent pleasant shivers down her skin. “I’ve got you.”
She turned her face up to his and he gladly gave her what she wanted, pressing his lips firmly to hers, pouring into her mind all of the love he felt for her. His soul cried out for her and her soul answered as it always did, finding wholeness in him alone. Trik whispered to her in the beautiful language of his people, and she felt peace and love flow over her as he loved her. He listened to her thoughts and gave her the comfort she needed, comfort only he could give, and she took it greedily. Deep into the night they reveled in their passion, and as Cassie drifted off to sleep, Trik made her a promise. “I will destroy the one who has caused you such pain, my love. For you I would destroy the world.”
“Are you going to destroy it?” Ilryana asked her mate as they stood out in the quiet night on the street in front of Cassie’s house.
Lorsan looked up at the house that currently cocooned his enemy in false security and safety. He could bring it down before they had even opened their eyes and destroy them without their knowledge, but then what would be the satisfaction in that? No, he wanted to see the look on Trik’s face as he died. He wanted Trik to know that it was Lorsan who was delivering that killing blow, and he wanted his little mate to be watching as the final breath of life was taken from Trik’s body.
“Not tonight, Love,” he told her. “Tonight we will let them think they are safe from my wrath. We will let them have tonight, but tomorrow is a new dawn. Come,” he took her hand and turned away from Cassie’s house, “we have plans to make, deaths to arrange, cities to destroy, and a certain dark elf to deal with. He has something that belongs to me and I wish it returned.”
“My goodness, we do have a full schedule,” she smiled at him as they walked off into the cool night.
“You know what they say—no rest for the wicked.”
Lisa handed Tony a second glass of wine she had found in the Tate’s cabinet and sat across the bar from him. He was handsome, no doubt, if not a little young. But not too young for a drink.
“Can I ask you a question?” Tony asked.
She laughed. “You just did.”
He smirked. “How have you stayed so young? How do Oakley and Elora not remember their dad? Why didn’t you stay in the elfin realm?”
The questions just seemed to pour out of him as smoothly as the wine had from the bottle, and Lisa thought that the wine probably had something do with that. She considered him and then thought, what the hell. “It’s a long story,” she told him.
“I’ve got all night,” he held out his arms as if this would prove his point.
She nodded. “Very well, only two others know this story and they are asleep in Cassie’s parents’ room right now. I’m not going to tell you how old I am because that’s just not something a woman should have to reveal. Let’s just say that I look incredible for my age. When Steal died,” she paused, not prepared for the amount of emotions his name still evoked and swallowed down the pain that, even after all this time, still lingered. “I didn’t think I would survive and had I not had Oakley and Elora, I probably wouldn’t have. It felt as if a part of me had been ripped from my body. Some days I couldn’t breathe; I only continued living day-to-day because my kids needed me and I loved them.
“When I realized that I was going to have to pull it together if I wanted to give them any kind of life, I sought out Syndra and asked for her help. I told her about the book, and she and Tamsin both wanted it hidden away from the elfin realm. We knew it had to be in the human realm if we wanted it safe from Lorsan and we bot
h thought that the best way for the kids and I to be safe was to become fully human, and by that I mean completely submerge myself in the human realm again.”
“So I moved us from the hideout I had been living in in the elfin realm and Syndra helped me get this store started. She altered the kid’s memories at my request because I didn’t want them to have any memories from that part of their lives. Eventually, I did tell Oakley and Elora about the elves, but only that I knew Syndra. I played dumb about just about everything. I knew that one day I would have to tell them more, but not until Cassie met Trik did I realize that that day had come much too fast. There’s still so much I need to tell them, but it’s hard because telling them means reliving it for me and it’s painful.” She took a sip of her wine and used the time it took to swallow to pull herself together.
“And why do you look like this?” Tony motioned to her.
She looked down at her clothes and then back at him. “I shop at Kohl’s?” she said but it came out as a question.
He laughed. “You’re young.”
“Oh,” she snorted. “Right, how have I not aged? That’s a Syndra secret and one that I promised long ago never to reveal. So, that’s all I’ll say about that.”
He held his hands up. “Fair enough, I won’t pressure what’s not yours to give.”
“So what about you?” Lisa asked. “How did you end up with the dark elves?”
“It’s a family business,” he spat out in obvious disgust. “I never wanted to be a part of it, but saying no is never an option for the men in my family. We were basically servants to the dark elves, you served or…,”
“You died,” she finished for him.
He nodded as he took a sip of his wine. “Exactly.”
Lisa felt the wine slowing her thoughts and she knew that it was time to call it a night. She stood and set her glass in the sink. “Tony, it’s been nice talking to you, and as one who has been around the dark elves I will say you have fared rather well for yourself. And if my heart was available and you weren’t so young, I might even consider you an option,” she paused and then laughed. “And that’s the wine talking.” She waved as she walked from the room. “Goodnight,” she called out over her shoulder.
Tony watched her go, his heart beating just a tad faster than it had been. “I wouldn’t count me out just yet, Lisa, not just yet,” he whispered to the empty kitchen.
“You have to keep moving your feet. It keeps your opponent off balance and a moving target is much more difficult to stab than one that is standing still handing out a written invitation,” Rin told Oakley as they stood in Cassie’s back yard.
The only light that shone on them was the large full moon and the night sky that was peppered with stars. The cool air burned Oakley’s lungs as he, sword in hand, once again took up the stance Rin had shown him. Oakley hadn’t asked. Rin had simply walked by him once things had calmed down and told him it was time he got in touch with his other half.
“You are half elf, Oakley. You have the reflexes, the speed, all of it; you just have to learn to use it,” Rin continued to talk as he attacked and Oakley deflected and danced around the yard.
“Will I have a Chosen?” Oakley suddenly asked.
Rin stopped in mid attack and lowered his sword and met the halfling’s eyes. “Probably, but it might be centuries before you find her. I’ve yet to find mine. And it took Trik, well…,” he chuckled, “we won’t talk about how old the king is behind his back.”
Oakley smiled but it faded fast as he thought about not finding the one person who would complete him for another hundred years. “How do you do it? How do you keep going?”
“We fight.” Rin grinned mischievously. “Why do you think there are light and dark elves? We got sick of just sitting around waiting for our Chosens so we started killing each other.”
Oakley laughed. “Good to know that humans aren’t the only stupid race.”
Rin snorted. “You do realize that means you got a double dose of stupid, right?”
Oakley grinned. “I’m so glad my sister wasn’t here to see me walk into that one.”
“No worries, I’ll tell her.”
“Wait, isn’t there some warrior’s code or something about not humiliating each other,” Oakley asked.
Rin got back in a battle stance and looked at Oakley with one brow raised. “I tell you what. You tag me one time and I won’t tell your sister that you labeled yourself as stupid squared.”
“Triktapic.” Trik opened his eyes at the sound of his name. He was no longer in Cassie’s room. He was in the forest and the Forest Lords stood before him. He knelt and bowed his head as he felt their glory pour over him and through him. For the first time in a long time, he felt hope—real hope—flow through his veins.
“You have done well, our servant. Although you feel discouraged and are weary, know that you will be victorious. Stay on the path that is true. It will be hard, it will be narrow, and your enemy will attack from all sides, but if you fight the good fight you will conquer them. We created you for such a time as this, Great King of the Elven race. We have given you the power and the strength you will need to be victorious. Utilize those around you and accept their help, for no man was created to be an island. Take comfort from your Chosen and heed her wisdom; protect her with yours. Through her, your line will continue to lead the elves. We are pleased with you, Triktapic; you have found favor with us.”
Trik felt his heart swell as tears fell from his eyes. “Thank you,” he choked out the words and then they poured out of him unchecked. “I fear that I will collapse under the weight of what I must do. I feel Cassie’s pain and fear and I can’t take it from her and it tears me up inside. How do I do what I must when I know she is hurting? How do I move forward knowing that others could be hurt because of my choices and my leadership? How do I be what you created me to be?”
He felt enveloped in protection as a hand touched his forehead. And if he could remember a time that his mother or father held him, he imagined that this is what it must have felt like.
“You move when we tell you to, you go where we tell you to, you do what we ask, you love who we love, you sacrifice freely, you forgive, but you deal out justice where we show you it is needed. You trust your Creators and when you stumble, know that we will help you get back up. This is not too much for you, Triktapic. It is enough, but it is not too much. We have given you wide shoulders for which to bear it and a strong back to carry the load and when it is too much, you kneel before us and we will carry it for you. You are loved, you are chosen, and you are blessed. Do not forget what we have told you; do not forget us, for we never forget you.”
Epilogue
“I have to wonder if there really is such a thing as too late and part of me, the romantic in me, wants to say that it’s never too late. But then I’m faced with an evil that I’ve never experienced, and it’s so dark and so hideous that I find myself wholeheartedly nodding that yes, there is indeed such a thing as too late.” ~Cassie
“I can’t go with you; I’m sorry, Tarron. I love you, but that’s not the life I want. I don’t want to live forever. I want to live for the eighty or so years allotted to me. I want to live this life I have to the absolute fullest and experience everything it has to offer with the knowledge that it could be the last time I experience it. That’s what makes life so precious, don’t you see?” Lucy implored him.
Tarron had stopped listening after I can’t go with you. His mind had shut down at those words, and all he could hear was her voice ringing in his ears with the finality of rejection. She was choosing to live as a human without him because he had already told her that he would not lower himself to the status of mortal. Didn’t she see what she was giving up? Didn’t she see the gift he was offering her, and yet, here she stood throwing it back in his face. He felt bitterness take root and wrap around his heart like a twisted vine crushing out any compassion or affection he might have had for his Chosen despite the fact that she was human.
/>
“Then you will live a short, miserable life because to be separated from your mate against your will is painful. That is the life you choose,” he told her.
“You could stay here with me,” Lucy said hopefully with her wide innocent eyes. “Don’t you want to be with me? You told me that you loved me, Tarron. Is one lifetime of our love not enough for you?
Those eyes at one time could have persuaded him to move mountains for her, but not anymore.
“I already told you that I would not choose a mortal life. Why would I when I can have many lifetimes?”
“Then I am not the only one choosing to live in pain,” she countered, though not rudely.
Lucy was never rude; she was the gentlest creature he had ever met and by some cruel twist of fate, the Forest Lords had given her to him. They should have known that he could never handle something so fragile and pure.
“I will always love you, Tarron. I will be here if you change your mind and I’ll always take you back,” her voice echoed in his mind as she turned and walked away from him. It was the last time he had ever spoken to her, and it was the last time he had allowed himself to feel anything but anger until now.
Tarron woke with a start as sweat dripped down his brow and across his back. His breathing was rapid as the fresh memories of Lucy flooded his mind and the pain that always followed wracked his muscles. Even after her death, the thought of her could evoke pain in him. He hated her and yet he loved her still.
He pulled the picture he had taken from Cassie’s house out of his pocket and stared down at the blonde beauty that so closely resembled his Lucy. He rubbed a finger across it gently as if he were caressing her precious skin. “You will be mine, and this time you will choose life. This time I won’t let you go.”