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“What have you done—what spell was that?” he asked, mild concern displayed in his expression.
“White magic. Something you know nothing about. It binds the sword to me in spite of anything you may do. It cannot be taken away in battle. If you try, it will turn on you, and woe to you then, Pestale.” She shrugged. “Don’t believe me? Give it a try—what a simple solution for ending you!”
“Write him,” Pestale said. “I will dictate the words.”
“No,” she answered, stalling for time. Chance would realize they had been tricked. He would come looking for her. “He wil
l never believe a note—are you insane? I am bonded to him. A note?”
“Write him,” Pestale returned unwaveringly.
“No.” She folded her arms across her chest. “I won’t do it. What will you do? Kill David’s father? Then what? His mother? Then David? By the time you get to David, we will be on you—my queen will be on you, for I have already sent her a message telling her—” She had tried to send a message through the mind link she possessed with the queen, but she hadn’t been able break the barrier of black magic Pestale had created around her.
“You lie!” he growled.
“Yes, I lie, but I will soon be able to break your spell and send her a message. There is nothing you can do to stop me—we have that ability, we Seelie Royals. So do your worst. I shall not blame myself, and as you say … they are but human. Their lives are short … and today three of them will have shorter lives,” she answered coldly.
“You lie again,” he answered softly. “But … let’s see … shall we? Let us start first with the mother. Let’s go there right now, and you can watch me skin her alive …”
She blanched, and her variegated aqua eyes smoldered with hatred. “Here is the deal, Pestale, take it or leave it. I will go with you … but I shall not lie to Chance and Trevor, and you will accept this or nothing.” She shrugged. “If this is not acceptable to you then do your worst, for while you are doing it, I shall mind-link with my queen. We will surround you. How will you face and army of death weapons?”
He considered her for a long moment. She could see him thinking. Suddenly he made up his mind and grabbed her arm. “To my palace then …”
And he shifted her away!
~ Fifteen ~
ROYCE KNEW WHERE they were. He hadn’t taken her back in time. They were in the ‘in between’.
She stood in a world of make believe; only this was real and wasn’t a dream. It certainly was a nightmare though, she thought ruefully as she looked around.
He had constructed a palace that seemed to hover on a dark, ominous cloud. The palace appeared to be made of stone and had the usual pretty peaks, turrets, and battlements. It looked like something out of the fifteenth century.
She stood with him at the front doors, which were made to allow a giant to enter. They opened invitingly, and Pestale, still holding her wrist with one hand, waved the other for her to enter.
“Our home, Princess,” he said softly.
She could see the pride all over his face. He had done what no other before him had accomplished. He had escaped the Dark Realm and had carved out a creation—a world of his own. He had constructed a dimension between the past and the present. It would take all that she was to escape this and be able to protect young David and his parents!
“No good can come of this, Pestale,” she said, frowning at him.
“Oh but, my sweet, so much good—good for me and mine—shall come out of this. From here I will rescue my remaining two brothers and my dear Morrigu from the Dark Realm where they have been wrongfully, cruelly imprisoned most for most of their existence. Morrigu of course is now quite mad … and whose fault is that? She had committed no crime. She was abandoned by the Dark King for his human woman … She was not allowed to return to Tir and drink from the Cauldron—where was the justice for her? And my brothers—created by the Dark King and left to themselves.” His voice held contempt and bitterness.
Royce felt a twinge of pity and then remembered all the evil he had recently committed. “So, yes, you and yours were perhaps gravely wronged … but you understood right from wrong. You chose a path that would forever condemn you.”
“Do not play such games with me. Someone must pay for our suffering. And I get to decide who those should be,” he snapped.
“I can feel for your unfair internment, but I do not—can never—forgive your actions,” she returned quietly.
“I shall annihilate the Seelie Realm and take over the human world.” He shrugged. “Humans will be content under my rule. I shall take care of them as pets—after all, that is all they are.”
“You know nothing of humans. Most of them would die fighting for their freedom before they would allow themselves to be slaves to you.”
“Then they shall die,” he said simply. He dragged her inside and walked her down a long, wide corridor to a set of double doors. They opened for him, and he tugged her along with him into the bedroom.
It was a bedroom of enormous proportions with a huge bed covered in gold satin and plump pillows of black and gold. Her nose lifted derisively.
Apparently he didn’t notice her distaste. “Is it not exquisite? I designed it from what I thought beautiful in the eighteenth century—gold gilt and provocative lines—all for you.”
