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“Ah, he did build that into our psyche, did he not—brotherly…er, what shall I call it? Affection, no, that seems too strong a word,” Pestale said thoughtfully.
“Let us call it brotherly interest,” Graely said with a shrug of the shoulders. “We know one another, and have had only each other through eons, since the beginning. We all suffered because of our father. We have a common bond.”
“Precisely, and no doubt that is why he and Crystal try and keep you away from us. Our bond with you was broken six years ago. Your leanings were not ours. As I recall, you were instrumental in helping the child, the Fios Faeling. You would help her still, the child who is now quite a woman, wouldn’t you? No doubt, it is what Crystal witnessed that made her convince the Dark King to let you walk free in the Human Realm. They wanted you to develop feelings.”
“You are wrong, at least about that. I have always had feelings, as you call them,” Graely said. “How did you know the child had become a woman?”
“Stands to reason, doesn’t it?” Pestale evaded. “Six years have gone by.”
Graely wasn’t fooled, “You think Father or Crystal cared about me? How can you think that when they left me stranded in the Human Realm without direction or purpose. I am despised by the Daoine and Seelie Fae. Humans are afraid of me and keep their distance. They should you know, for humans are delicate creatures. One does not wish to involve oneself in their fragile lives. No, you have had Hordly here and Morrigu. I am stuck in the human world where, I have had no one.”
Pestale laughed and put a hand on his shoulder, “As you say, your life has been difficult. Perhaps, soon all that will change. Come enjoy a glass of wine with me.”
Graely wanted to search the castle for his Frankie. A frantic emotion began to make his body twitch. His time in Conglam was limited. He never knew when the wards would send him hurtling back into the Human Realm. He took the glass of dark red wine his brother handed him and sipped before asking, “Where is Hordly?”
“He went to visit Morrigu alone,” Pestale pulled a face. “Her human is out farming with the Shapeshifters.” He sighed, “If it weren’t that her human stays out of our way, I think I would enjoy flaying him, but then, no doubt we would have to listen to Morrigu crying for an eternity.” He shrugged. “I keep my distance, but Hordly does not. He forces her to meet with him in secret and do all the things we have always done with Morrigu on the threat that he will kill her human if she does not.” Pestale laughed.
Graely wanted to go for his brother’s throat. Morrigu had been doing well with the human, alone with her human. Why couldn’t Hordly let her be?
It dawned on him that he really did not have a shred of filial loyalty to either of his brothers and in that moment, he realized that he had grown to quite hate what they were.
Where was Frankie, was the question that repeated itself in his mind, over and over. “I think I’ll go pay Morrigu a visit as well.” He looked at Pestale, “Do you want to join us for old time’s sake?”
Pestale frowned, “As it happens, I have…ah, a mate of sorts, and for the time being, she serves me in a way that has me disinterested in all others. Besides that, Morrigu does not wish it, and I do not force myself on her. That is Hordly’s game. But, do go on…enjoy yourself, Graely.”
Graely shifted, but not to find Morrigu. Instead, he shielded himself from detection, and stepped out into Pestale’s dungeon.
Frankie, his mind called, I am coming. Why had his instincts brought him here if she wasn’t here in these awful dungeons? How was Pestale keeping her contained? But, she was here, her lovely scent floated all around him.
And then he heard Frankie’s voice, filled with distress. He heard her grunting and it was the sound of someone in a great deal of pain. She seemed to be struggling with something, and he nearly burst out with a cry of relief, that she was alive.
Alive. His Frankie was alive, that was the only thing that mattered.
He went toward her sound and smiled to hear her curse at the top of her lungs. His Frankie, his little fighter.
“Damn you Pestale, you sadistic bastard. Wait, ye just wait!” Frankie growled and then let out an agonized sound as every move she made sent stabbing pains shooting through her body.
Graely shifted fast and hard and found himself bumped backward twenty feet when his body came in contact with her cell door.
Iron! She was encased in iron. It was a deadly metal to an Unseelie. He could not see past it, he could not touch it or get through it.
What he saw enraged him past the nausea he was experiencing. His Frankie was being tortured. Every move she made added to her suffering. It was as though he could feel it himself.
“Frankie!” He whispered and the soul they said he didn’t have, ached for her. “Frankie,” he repeated and pounded on the door. This close he could feel the iron as though it was reaching out for him, strangling him…
What he heard, gave him hope, for Frankie cried out to him, “Graely, m’own dear, sweet hero. Ye found me. I never doubted that ye would. I knew…Graely, I felt ye inside me, I did, deep inside where it counts.”
He wanted to cry and scream and get to her.
He bent and murmured, “Frankie, your cell is made of iron.” He realized there was a wood shutter and lifted it to look inside. The iron gave him a cold blast of severe discomfort. He felt dazed and sickened by it, but tried to get past it. He had to get past it for her. “What is that net you are in, Frankie—it isn’t the Gold Wiele?”
“Not sure, but he has used the Gold Net as a base, and coated it with the oils of Dragon’s Breath,” she answered on a testy note as she rocked to and fro.
“Stop it Frankie, don’t move. Conserve your strength. This won’t take might to break, it will take thought,” he said softly.
“Graely, the net is full of needles…they keep pin pricking me, they do, with the poison, but eventually the needles will dry up. ‘Tis what I’m trying to do…dry them up.”
He loved her brave never give up attitude. He loved everything about her, but the constant agony she was experiencing was something she couldn’t hi
