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It was a contained and controlled force and worked its powerful magic on the time portal, closing it in an instant and sending it off, not to be recalled.
Fists clenched, Trevor watched the powerless Dark Prince stand helpless as the torrents of water filled the portal until it imploded on itself. In a moment or two, Hordly’s magic would return, but he would no longer have Baudali to aid him, and the spell that had opened the time portal would no longer be available.
He turned on Trevor and rushed him like an animal gone mad. Trevor landed him a facer that sent him flying backwards. Hordly jumped to his feet and dove at Trevor again, but Trevor waited till the last moment and called for his Death Sword.
Hordly stopped in place and sneered. “You need that? Is that what you Seelie call fair?”
“I am not interested in being fair, only in ridding the world of you and your evil. However, as much as I would like to kill you and am looking for the slightest reason to kill you, I shan’t kill you if I don’t have to. It is my queen’s wish you be returned to the Dark King and the Dark Realm, even though it is my educated opinion that you should be returned in bloody pieces.”
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The Dark Prince released a long, agonized growl and shifted.
Trevor knew a moment’s fear. Hordly would go to the barn. He had thought to stall him a bit longer. Jazmine Decker and Frankie might still be in the barn. They were supposed to retrieve the Orb and race into the woods, where he would meet with them and shift them back to their mansion. But had they had enough time?
* * *
Jazz and Frankie stood in the middle of the large, open room, and Frankie said, “Miss Jazz, do ye know where it is, this Orb we have to find?”
“Yes, sort of. I can feel it, and as I get closer that feeling grows. The Orb knows I am here looking for it, because it is humming. I am a sounder, and one of my gifts is the connection I have to Seelie Relics.”
“Okay, then, Miss Jazz, do let’s hurry,” Frankie said, clinging to Jazz’s hand.
Jazz looked around, trying to decide just where the sound was coming from, when suddenly the power kicked in and she knew. She went right to the cabinet and opened it without any trouble. The Orb glowed and said, “Ah, welcome, Fios.”
She shook her head. After all she had experienced and witnessed, she didn’t know why it should surprise her that the Orb could talk, but it did. She said, “Yup, and I am taking you to a Seelie prince who will get you home.”
“Thank you, but we must hurry—I can feel him coming …”
She tucked the Orb against her chest, wishing she had a bag to slip it in to make it easier to carry. A growl sounded behind her, and she whirled around to find Hordly standing in the middle of the room, looking like a rabid, wild, and dark creature.
Fleetingly she wondered how could anyone look so evil and yet be so beautiful all at once.
His fangs displayed themselves, and his voice filled the air like a blast of frigid wind. “Put it down.”
She put Frankie behind her, and together they backed away, “I don’t think so,” Jazz said, chin up with a bravado she was far from feeling.
“I can kill you and the child with a thought and take it from you” he snarled and looked as though he were about to do just that. His black eyes made him look as though he were the devil himself, risen from hell and ready to scorch the earth.
Jazz immediately erected her shield around herself and Frankie. Well, here was the moment when she would find out if it would work against a fully charged Dark Royal.
Trevor appeared behind the Dark Prince, his Death Sword in hand. “Give me an excuse. Come on, Hordly … I so much would rather take your severed head and burn it on Fae for all my brethren to see than send you back to your prison whole.”
The Dark Prince turned to him and in a low voice filled with hatred said, “You think you have won? I will wreak such havoc in this century, on these humans. The future will be forever changed. You will wish I had traveled to the future, where I meant to be a benevolent leader with my brothers. This, Seelie Royal, is far from over!”
He vanished. Trevor shifted after him but returned a few moments later and said angrily, “He has shifted to another dimension. I have no way of knowing which one, for their numbers are beyond measure. However, at least it is still in the past. I don’t think he means to change the future, but it is of great concern.” He shook his head. “The moment he reenters this dimension, the Orb shall tell us, won’t you, Orb?” He put out his hand for it.
“Ah, Seelie Prince Trevor, may we go home now?” the Orb said.
“That depends on you, Orb,” he answered. “Can you warp the curvature and take us back to our time?”
If an Orb could smile, Jazz thought this one did just that. The next thing they knew they were encased in a soft white cloud, all three of them.
~ Nine ~
BANZAR SAT COMFORTABLY and smiled as though enjoying the concert being conducted in the pavilion by the queen’s favorite musicians, but he scarcely heard the music because his mind was deep in thought.
He wasn’t a Royal, though he was a distant cousin to the princes of the House of Lugh. He had been a loyal Council member for eons, but damn if he got enough recognition, and he was weary of being regarded as ‘just’ a Council member. He wanted more.
