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“I am your Queen, whether you like it or not. Now leave the grounds or I shall remove you and you won’t like where I send you,” she said softly but with purpose.
“You will hear me first,” he growled. “For I will be avenged.”
She sighed heavily, saddened by what she would have to do next. “Is that what you have reduced yourself to a creature that hides in the brush and promises vengeance?” The Queen said in a lofty voice, but suddenly she felt a vibration from something she had thought secured elsewhere. Somehow Banzar had gotten his hands on it—the Royal Scepter. She had to wonder if he knew how to use it.
He threw his cloak over one shoulder and held the Scepter out and in her face, his own marked by a sneer.
Aaibhe laughed softly and said, “Do you think you can hurt me with that? It was created to protect the Queen.”
He sneered. “It did not protect Queen Bridget.”
Aaibhe had enough. She took a menacing step towards him and said, “You know nothing! How dare you even say her name! Our slain Queen would not raise her sword or her Scepter against her consort even in battle. It was late for him because he saw and regretted his actions. Now get thee to your hovel and think about what you owe your brethren!”
“I owe them all. I owe them a world without war—without you. We don’t need to protect the humans from the Dark Fae. Let the abominations have at them. They are nothing to us.”
“Stupid fool!” the Queen shook her head, but before she could put out her hand and call the Scepter to herself, he raised it high and slammed it into the earth.
And Aaibhe was gone.
Banzar stood, very pleased with himself. He hadn’t been sure it would work. Now all he had to do was eliminate Ete. Ete was next in line for the throne. Ete had the power to find and free the Queen. Thus, Ete was a threat that stood between him and his ultimate goal.
~*~
Jazz hugged Frankie and Ete reached out her hand to the child. “Thank you, dear. for sitting with me while Breslyn and Danté are busy elsewhere. I dearly need the company.”
Frankie had already formed affection for the gentle princess and immediately took up a chair beside her to ask, “Are you feeling well?”
“I am,” Ete said. “The Queen gave me an old Fae remedy for my trouble. It was both horrible tasting and effective.”
Jazz broke in to promise that she would return as soon as possible and shifted out saying she wanted to find and speak with the Queen.
She was conflicted. She felt she should have insisted that she go with Trevor. She wasn’t really a Fae subject and couldn’t be ordered about. She didn’t really need permission from the Queen, and yet she wanted her opinion before she went in search of Trevor and Deimne.
She smiled ruefully to herself as she realized that she also wanted Aaibhe’s approval before she went headlong into anything.
Something tickled her Fae brain and then her human gut told her to find the Queen and find her fast. Something was really off. She could feel it in the air.
Jazz arrived at the edge of the Rose Garden in time to see Banzar bang the Royal Scepter into the Earth and witnessed the Queen’s immediate disappearance.
Without hesitation and without thinking, Jazz called for her Death Sword and shifted behind him.
She was quick, she was skilled and powerful and she meant business. She held the hilt of her sword at his throat as she grabbed the Scepter with her free hand and held it away from him. “Uh-uh-uh,” she cautioned. “You don’t want to move, for I am told that even a scratch from my Lugh Death Sword could mean your sure demise. Probably it would be long and torturous from just a scratch.” She felt him stiffen and stand very still.
His voice was full of hatred as he spat, “Human!”
“Thank you I am; and Fios and Fae. Hmmm…so much more than anything you think you are. Now, what have you done with the Queen?”
“What she deserves. I sent her off and out of my way while I secure Tir,” he said with diabolical laughter. Jazz realized Banzar was on the edge of madness.
She couldn’t keep him like this forever and then it came to her just what she had to do next. Without another word she shifted with him to the Royal Guard and Tracker’s Pavilion.
She barely set foot on the marble flooring when she found that she and Banzar were encircled by some very large members of the Royal Guard. They looked annoyed.
She said, “A prisoner for you. He has done something to the Queen with this!” She shoved Banzar away from herself and made certain one of the guards held Banzar in place so he was unable to shift away. She stepped back and held up the Royal Scepter.
Nuad shifted in with ten of his Trackers. He nodded at her as he walked up and she handed him the bronze scepter. “Nuad,” she said with some relief. “Banzar slammed this into the ground and the Queen was gone.” Then she gasped as Banzar broke away from the guard that had been holding him.
“Relax, Jazmine Decker, he can not escape us. We have already lowered the veil of Danu over him. He is our prisoner and can not shift or leave the Pavilion. Now tell us exactly what you saw,” Nuad said calmly.
