Forever Fae (9 page)

She gives me a smile and curtsies ever so gracefully.  I finally hear her lovely voice speak my name.

“Good evening
,
Prince Ryder, it’s such a pleasure to meet you.”

“Please, call me Ryder,” I say.

She replies softly, “Well, then please call me Calista.”

She reaches out her hand to mine and I grasp it gently.  The moment our hands touch, the electricity surges through our bodies and the images come flooding in.  We both gasp, still holding on, while the images continue on
in a silent movie only
Calista and I can watch.

Chapter 8

Alasdair- Dark Sorcerer (Black Forest)

             
The ceremony is taking place as we speak.  I wonder who
has won the title of
Princess Calista’s Guardian.  Whoever it is will have to be taken care of soon.  I can’t have him interfering
with
our plans.  I can feel Gothin approaching and I know he has news for me.  I’ve been waiting to hear news from my informants.

             
“Master, you have an urgent message from the Summer Court.  They wish to speak to you through the scrying bowl,” Gothin says.

             
“Excellent, Gothin,
I will see what news my most trusted servants have for me.”  I dismiss him so I can be left in peace.

             
I take my solid form and retrieve the dagger from my belt to prick my finger.  The drop of blood will allow me to see my servants and talk to them secretly.  They slowly appear in the reflection of my bowl.

             
“Good evening,
M
aster
.  We brought you news from the ceremony,” one of the men says.

             
I reply, “Very well, continue.  Which warrior won the title?”

             
“Merrick was the warrior who won.  His fighting is magnificent and efficient.  He’s a fearsome warrior and also Calista’s best friend.  He
will not be taken down easily.”

             
“I’ve heard of this Merrick.  Yes, he is a skillful fighter,
and I
will have to figure out what to do with him.  Is the princess still planning on visiting the
Elv
an
Kingdom in a few days?” I ask.

             
The Summer Court traitor says, “Yes,
M
aster
, she is still planning on the visit and she will have a contingent of guards with her as well.  We have the route she will be taking and are making arrangements to intercept her.  We also have a spy in place in Endelyn with the
dwar
ves
.  He is taking place in the meetings while King Madoc is visiting there on business.”

             
My other informant interrupt
s
, “I have some news,
S
ire
, that may not be good.  Prince Ryder seems to have taken a notice to Princess Calista and
she
to him.  I could practically see the connection there.  If they figure out the prophecy, there’s going to be no way to stop it.”

             
This
is
not good and thinking of them together infuriates me.  Let’s just hope I get the
p
rincess
in my grasp before things escalate. I need Calista’s power and I need the power of
T
he
Four. 

             
Agitated, I say, “Go back to the party before someone notices you
’re
missing. Do what you can to keep the
p
rince
and
p
rincess
apart.  If you find anything else
,
you better come to me quickly.  My tolerance is running thin.”

             
I dismiss them both.  Only a couple more days and I’ll have the power within my grasp.  Having to wait has really grated on my nerves.  I leave the main headquarters and walk to one of the prisons.  The guards at the door move aside to let me enter.  I look around and see that I have about twenty people in
th
e
prison.  The other prisons I have are scattered across the forest. 

             
I look each prisoner in the eye and ask, “Now which of you would like to join me and which of you would like to die?” I see a mixture of hands of the people that would like to stay.  The guards escort each one of the prisoners up to me and I use my mind control to make them pledge fealty.  I do this one by one until I am left with one last couple.  I do not use mind control on everyone because it is still nice to fully drain the energy from some.  I need to refuel my power at some time.

             
I glare at my last couple and they give me defiant looks.  Excitement bubbles inside me because it’s more fun when the prisoners are
bold
.  They must be husband and wife from the way they are holding each other.  I walk up to them with my guards flanking me
.
Ev
en
though I do not need their help
,
it still makes me look intimidating.  I reach for the woman and the husband lunges for me.  I didn’t want to have to do
it
, but I take my dagger and with a lightning fast move I slash his neck clear through to the bone.  Blood sprays in an arc across the walls and coats my hands and body with the warmth of his life force.  His head falls off to the side and rolls across the floor until he disintegrates into a pile of ash.  The wife screams
and tries
to reach his body before he disappears, but she doesn’t get there in time.  Pity, I really wanted to take his magic, but he made that too difficult.  Now I will enjoy the delicious essence of the woman.  I take my talisman off and put it around her neck.  She
stop
s
screaming and looks at me with hate
-
filled eyes.  I just look at her and smile.

             
The woman says, “You may be able to steal our power, but you are still nothing.  They will all defeat you and your body will rot in
H
ell
where it belongs.”

             
My smile fades and I can’t stand to listen to her ranti
ng anymore.  I yank the talisman   from around her neck,
take my dagger
,
still dripping with blood
,
and thrust it into her heart.  My dagger is made of iron so stabbing a fae in the heart is lethal.  The poison of the iron will travel through the bloodstream and the fae will be dead in minutes.  I do not have fae blood in me
,
so handling anything with iron does not bother me.  The dagger was brought over from the mortal realm when the other sorcerers came to the Black Forest.  It has definitely come in handy.

One thing is
certain,
I need to make sure my guards gag the prisoners before I plan on coming
back
.  My tolerance is too little to be dealing with these people spouting no
nsense.  I will end up with mostly
dead fae
instead of
magic if I can’t stop killing them.

Chapter 9

Calista

Falling leaves. 
Crisp
,
cool air and lots and lots of colors.
  I am surrounded by red, orange, yellow, green and brown.  The leaves are blowing in the wind and cascading from the trees.  Even though there are hundreds of leaves falling, the
trees
still look overly abundant with them. It’s magnificent.  I have never seen anything like it.  I’m walking through a meadow hand
in
hand with someone, but I can’t really see his face.  All I know is I
fe
e
l
happy and I feel at home.  This place does not look familiar to me, but I feel like I’ve been here a million times. 

I reach down to touch the ground, and I can feel the life and the newness of the land. I’ve always had a connection to the land because of my affinity for the earth, but this feels like more. I also notice that my body looks different and feels different.  My skin
is
paler and it doesn’t feel as hot.  I can tell that the land was made because of me and the man I’m with.  We somehow made this land through our magic, but how?  Did the land choose us, or could this be part of the
p
rophecy
?

The man I’m with gently pulls me over to a bed of leaves on the ground and I lay in
them
with the man beside me.  I breathe in the cool
,
fresh air and listen to the leaves bristling around in the wind.  This is my
home;
this is where my heart is.  I feel the power of this land more than I do when I’m at home in the Summer Court.  The power here thrums through me and I can feel the same power flowing through my companion.  His power matches my own, but I’ve never met anyone with the same amount of power as me.  He leans over my body to where he’s half laying on top of me and half to the side.  His body being so close to mine sends chills all over
me
and I’m silently begging for more. 

He trails a hand down my face to my collarbone where he stops to lay a gentle kiss on my neck.  My blood boils and I wish he would kiss me more.  He slides his hands
f
a
rther
down my side, lightly grazing my breast.  My breathing becomes rapid and my heart is pounding.  I can hear it in my ears.  He stops at my waist and puts a tight grip on my hip.  I can tell he wants to devour me, but he’s teasing me and taking things slow. I don’t want things slow.  His other hand cups the back of my head, while turning me toward him.  He leans down, lips parted.  I can feel his breath on my face and I lick my lips in anticipation
of
his kiss.

His scent is so different, it’s intoxicating.  It’s a mixture of a summer breeze and a winter snow.  I can’t place it with anything else.  His lips are so close
,
I can’t wait to taste him…then our lips connect
.

***

I am thrust out of the vision and I’m back in the Great Room where everyone is staring wide-eyed. 
What just happened?  I
abruptly let go of Ryder’s hand and look around the room.
  I don’t know how long
the
vision lasted, but it must have been a f
ew minutes because my father is
lo
oking frantic and my mother is
running her hand
s all over me to make sure I am alright.  Merrick is
by my side in an instant
,
trying to p
ull me away from Ryder.  I try
to shield my mi
nd from him so he won’t pick up on my feelings.
  I have no clue if he saw the vision
because
our minds are connected.

“Please don’t shield your mind from me.  I only want to help you.  What did you see?”
Merrick asks
,
concerned.

“Nothing, Merrick.
  It was a strange vision and it made me a little confused, but I’m fine.  Please don’t worry about me
,
”
I say to reassure him.  His expression is grave, but he takes a couple of steps back to give me some space.

I look around at everyone and announce,
“I’m
OK
, everyone. I promise I’m
OK
.”

I can tell my mother and father are worri
ed so I smile to try and assure
them.
 
My father asks
quizzically
, “Are you sure you’re
OK
?  What happened?”

I’m thinking about the vision but for some reason it doesn’t feel like it’s the right time to announce to everyone what I saw.  I look over at Ryder and I can tell he feels the same way.

As much as I hate to do
it
, I lie
.

“It was a vision, but it was really blurry and it went by so fast.  I don’t really remember any of it
.”
I look to Ryder and he nods his head.  My father looks over to him and asks the same question.

“Did you have a vision
,
too?”

Ryder shake
s his head. “Yes, but like the
p
rincess said, i
t was blurry and
it
came too fast.  I don’t remember much of it
either
.”

I blow out the breath I had been holding and I close my eyes.  I need
time to process what I
saw, but
I wonder if Ryder saw
the exact same things that I
had seen
.  I’m pretty sure he did, but h
opefully I can talk to him alone somewhere and see what he thinks about it.  My father didn’t look like he believed a word
Ryder and I
said, but he didn’t say otherwise.