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“Then let me answer you, my Prince,” said the queen. “Fate is taking its natural course.” She turned to Trevor and said, “It is time for you to leave, and, Trevor, after you ask the Orb to take you to the Dark Realm, spell it so that it will remain suspended with your Death Sword, both yours and both out of reach.”
Trevor inclined his head. “As you wish, my Queen.” He then looked at the Relic in his hand. “Orb of Time,” he said, “I need to travel in the present to the Dark Realm. Can you do that?”
“I can, but I do not wish to. I have only just arrived home … and would prefer to remain with my queen.”
“Orb, it is your duty,” said the queen.
“Yes, my Queen,” said the Orb, and Jazz’s eyes opened wide when she heard it sigh.
“Not only does it talk, but it sighs? Do Fae Relics have feelings?” Her mind began to enumerate the things she had learned: Fae had feelings. Fae Relics, which she’d supposed were inanimate objects, could speak. Relics even evolved and ‘grew’ feelings. Everything she had been taught as a Fios was so out of whack.
“Our Hallows are capable of much,” sai
d the queen with a soft smile.
Jazz nodded and made up her mind. She knew Trevor would not willingly take her with him, but she also knew she had to go with him, and her reasons didn’t matter at that moment. Her gut told her to go with Trevor at all cost. She would use her Fios senses and wait for the right moment. Doing this, she knew the very moment the Orb’s spell opened the portal.
Just as Trevor stepped into the swirling dark hole, she ran, grabbed hold of him with everything she had, and planted herself against his back. Her arms wrapped around his hard abs, and her eyes closed as her head rested at his broad back just as the portal sucked them deep inside.
A moment’s dazzling of light and sound, and then black, all black.
The next thing she knew she was looking at stone flooring at her feet and feeling a sense of bleakness as she managed a quick scan of the dark corridor they were in. Trevor broke free from her hold and spun around to begin his rant.
She didn’t hear his first words because she was mesmerized by his golden eyes. His beautiful alien eyes simply held her captive. She shook herself free from the moment and put up her hand. “I know you’re upset, but I promise, I won’t get in your way … and I will watch your back.”
“You are already in my way,” he seethed. “Don’t you realize that you being here is a liability for me? You are mortal … and I couldn’t bear it if they manage to capture you and hurt you … I …” He shook his head. “Pendant or no, I’m taking you back—I can’t have you in danger like this.”
“Waste of time,” she said and looked around more thoroughly. “They must know we’ve entered their realm. If you leave and come back, they will be prepared for you, and your mission will be in ruins,” she said and watched him as he thought this through.
All at once, Jazz shivered; the air was frigid. She looked down at the gown Trevor had ‘blinked’ her into for their meeting with the queen and said, “This is way not enough clothing for this place. Got any ski clothes handy?”
A moment later, she was warmer in a dark knit hat and a warm, downy, well-fitted ski jacket. Her jeans were back on her legs and her boots on her feet. She smiled and said, “Better—you are quite handy to have around.” She glanced over him; he was still naked to the waist. “What about you? Aren’t you cold?”
He grimaced at her, didn’t answer this, and said, “You shouldn’t be here, but since you are, you just stay close.” He put a finger to her face. “I won’t tolerate your disobedience in this realm. Even at risk to my mission, I will return you to Faery if you disobey me.”
She nodded and said, “Sure, sure, whatever.” She took a good look around and decided this had to be a castle. The long corridor was somewhere in the Dark Royals’ castle. Whew, she breathed as that sank in.
The walls, the floor, everything about where they were had a medieval ‘feel’, except for the wall sconces, which appeared to be powered by electricity—or whatever energy they had in their Dark Realm. That surprised her. She had expected to find candles and torches, not this modern convenience, and she said out loud, “Huh.”
“Shush,” he ordered.
Repentant, she went silent as she scanned the walls, which appeared to be made of thick stone. The flooring was made of some flat stone similar to the flagstone that could be found at home. The ceiling also appeared to be made of some kind of stone. Everything though felt bleak and barren, and although she saw no ice or snow, it felt as though she had stepped onto the North Pole.
In spite of the knit hat and dark navy ski jacket she was wearing, she shivered again.
Trevor pulled on her gloved fingers and brought her close to his body as he moved towards a long, lead-paned and arched window in the middle of the narrow corridor.
That window displayed a bleak world. They looked out on a horrible, dead landscape, dimly lit by an unusual moon. The scene was misty and barren, with nothing but dead and strangely warped trees and shrubbery making up the landscape of cracked, gray earth.
“Wow,” Jazz said. “Everything has died here …”
“No, not died—been killed. The Fae abominations have sucked the life out of everything. And it is perpetual dusk here—no sun.”
“Horrible.” Jazz shivered again. “Where are we exactly? What is this place?”
“Queen Morrigu’s castle. The Dark King left it to her when he took his human as a consort. He left her here with the Dark Princes he had created. I am told she is quite mad.”
“Well, yeah, poor thing—left here like that,” Jazz said, looking around. “I don’t think I like this Dark King. He seems a selfish brute without compassion.”
