“I have to go take care of some things,” he told her as he reached for her hand to pull her to her feet.

“Things?”

Trik nodded, not bothering to clarify. He would let her draw her own conclusions. It would be better that way. With one last kiss he turned away from her and in a blink he was through her window and gone as if he’d never been there.

Cassie suddenly felt alone without Trik’s overwhelming presence. He didn’t say what he was doing , but she guessed that he must be going to talk to Lorsan. She shivered as she thought about how that conversation would play out. Would they still want them to come to their party? Would they still want to honor Trik for having found his Chosen?

She shook her head, trying to clear all of the thoughts from her mind. She suddenly felt very tired. She lay back down on her bed and she had barely hit the pillow before she fell asleep.

Chapter 9

“The Forest Lords have spoken for the first time in a millennia. They have sent out a plea to our people to unite. They have said that a dark one’s Chosen will tip the balance, but they worry that his darkness is greater than the light in her. We must guide them as much as we can. They belong together, were made for each other, and will either destroy each other, or destroy the evil that has leaked into the human realm. It is a choice, their choice. Let us hope that they choose wisely.” Tamsin, Light Elf King

“Do you think she can save him?” Tamsin asked his Queen as they lay in their bed.

“Yes,” Syndra answered, “but he has to want to be saved. She can’t force him and she can’t make his decisions for him.”

Tamsin rubbed his face in frustration. He pushed himself up and leaned against the headboard.

“I don’t understand why he is so blind to what Lorsan is, and what he is doing.”

“You forget, my love, he comes from darkness. He has lived in that darkness for more than a thousand years. That’s a lot to overcome.”

“That’s what scares me. Can he overcome it in time to save the human race from becoming mindless slaves?”

Syndra sat up and took his hand in hers. She looked into the face of her mate, framed by striking dark blue hair; his eyes, shimmering like diamonds met hers. She gazed into the face of the man who had held her heart and the other half of her soul for over a thousand years. “We will do all we can to help him overcome. We will protect Cassie and we will defeat Lorsan.”

Tamsin leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “The Forest Lords blessed me beyond all measure when they gave me you.”

Syndra smiled at him and pulled him back down. She snuggled in close to his side as he wrapped her in his strong arms. She wanted this for Cassie and Trik. She wanted them to find comfort and peace with each other. She knew they couldn’t see it now, but the time was coming when they would need each other more than any other, a time where they’d be the only ones who could keep the other safe.

~

Trik stood in the field overlooking the crops that would become Rapture. At one time he would have stared out over this land and felt a sense of accomplishment. Now, now he just felt sick. Cassie had looked at him as if he had handed her the moon when he told her he would walk away from Lorsan and, thoughhe meant it, he knew that they weren’t talking about the same time frame. He hadn’t bothered to clarify. He couldn’t stand being in the room with her one minute more, couldn’t stand seeing her adoration when he didn’t deserve it. Something inside him pushed at him to go back and tell her the truth, but he couldn’t. Lorsan would destroy everything Trik cared about if he walked away. Since the only thing he cared about was Cassie, then she would bear the entirety of Lorsan’s wrath.

“The first plants will be ready to harvest by tomorrow,” Alok said as he walked up to stand next to Trik.

“Is the lab ready for them?” Lorsan had his most trusted potions masters working on getting the plant into a liquid form. They had converted one of the large buildings on the land into a lab and it was there that the drug would be manufactured.

“It will be finished tonight,” Alok answered.

Trik nodded at him but said nothing more. He didn’t want to speak with anyone in his race. He didn’t want to look into their eyes for fear that they would see that something in him had changed. Something in him had suddenly burst forth to life like a new born babe taking its first breath. Cassie. Cassie’s soul, so pure, so caring had connected with his and now his dark soul would never be the same.

The other elven voices surrounding him began to intrude on his thoughts, annoyingly loud, interrupting his self-loathing. He needed to think. He needed to be alone. That wasn’t the truth, though. He needed to be with Cassie. His soul was beginning to ache at the distance he had put between them and he knew that he would need to return to her soon because she would begin to feel the pain of their forced separation; forced by him.

He turned and walked toward the large building that had become the lab. He walked around to the back side where there were several glass windows. With the pain becoming more and more noticeable , he stepped quickly through the window and emerged in a small cabin. He stepped out of the cabin into the lush land of his people. The trees were tall, older than even he. Canopies of bright green vines lovingly draped the trees. The ground was clothed in soft, thick, green grass with moss covered rocks scattered here and there. All around, foliage and flowers shot forth, reaching for the light that helped them grow.

He took a familiar path that led to a river, which ran through the Elfin realm. A waterfall towered over the river and the rush of the crashing water pulled Trik closer. He stood on the edge of the river and looked down at his reflection. He didn’t recognize the man who stood before him. His usual cocky smirk gone, replaced by worry, fear, and pain, three things he was not familiar with and didn’t know how to handle. He knelt down and looked into the eyes of his reflection, searching for the good that Cassie saw in him, but he saw nothing there. Trik knew each and every life that he had taken over the past thousand years. He had spilled enough blood to fill the river before him and all the rivers of the earth. She was so young, so innocent. She couldn’t possibly understand the depth of Trik’s sedition. Because she didn’t understand it was his job to protect her. He had to do this his way, and if she found out he would have to convince her that it was because he loved her.