by Quinn Loftis
Her eyes found Cush and she screamed.
“CUSH!”
His head snapped to her at the sound of his name. He started towards her only to be cut off by Tarron. Elora could see the frustration on his face and felt it mirrored in herself. She was not some damsel in distress, dammit. Okay, so current situation aside, she thought to herself, I am not usually a damsel in distress. As she watched her mom and Tony battling another dark elf, and her brother and Rin doing the same, she had another moment. She realized that if she was going to be a part of Cush’s life, a warrior’s woman if you will, then she was going to have to be able to fight. Cush needed to know she could handle herself, and she would, starting with the idiot attempting to carry her off to who knows where.
Elora wiggled her wrists to see how much room she had. She still held the dagger in one hand. She turned her wrist and in a quick motion stabbed her captor in the thigh. He let out a deep cry of pain and his hold on her loosened and she was ready. She turned her head and dropped her shoulder, effectively freeing half of her body. Using speed she didn’t know she had, she wrenched herself down and away from the man. She turned quick, pulling the dagger from his leg, which elicited another shout of pain. She felt a feral grin spread across her lips as she crouched down in an attack position, ready to pounce on the dark elf. She started to move towards him when there was a sudden blast of air from behind her.
“ENOUGH!” She heard Tarron bellow. The dark elf in front of her gave her a frustrated growl before suddenly turning and running faster than she could track his movements. The rest of the dark elves followed suit, sprinting quickly away across the burned crops. None of the light elves or humans gave chase.
Elora turned slowly to see her mom, Oakley, and Tony panting but unharmed. Rin was staring in the direction to which the dark elves had just retreated and Cush was looking at her.
Her eyes narrowed on the beautiful specimen of a male that she had claimed as her own. “Can I say I told you so yet?”
Chapter 17
“Every little girl dreams of being a princess, of meeting her prince, and living in a beautiful castle. And although every little girl dreams of that, they never believe it will actually happen, but it did for me. I have my prince, dark though he may be, and I have my castle. What little girls don’t know is what it takes to keep the prince and the castle once the fairy dust has settled. There is a battle, and if I lose I will lose much more than just a dream. I will lose the man that I love.” ~Cassie
“Have you calmed down?” Trik asked as he came out of the bathroom clad in pajama bottoms made from some material that seemed to move with his body as though it could predict the movement before it happened. Cassie had to fight the desire to stare, to take him in in all his glory. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing just how much he affected her.
“No, and I won’t calm down until you relent,” she informed him as she studiously looked at everything in the room but him.
“It’s my job, Cassandra. I am the king. I cannot expect others to do my killing for me. What kind of leader would I be?”
A part of her completely understood what he was saying and even agreed with him. She knew he was just trying to do the honorable thing, the right thing, but that didn’t mean she had to like it.
“What happens when you start enjoying the kill? You told me once that you liked it, Trik.” She finally met his stare and his silver eyes had the same effect as always. Her breath was wrenched from her lungs as she was caught in his web. “Do you remember?” she finished after several heartbeats.
He nodded and took a step towards her but she held up her hand to stop him. “Don’t, Trik. We are going to talk.”
“Can we not talk and touch at the same time?” he asked in a sultry voice that had her blood heating to a level she didn’t think was healthy.
“No,” she said sternly. “I’m not ashamed to admit that your touch does things to my mind that keep me from being able to have a coherent conversation.”
He chuckled. “Well it’s not your mind that I’m trying to do things to.”
“Trik, I’m serious; there is nothing happening between us until we’ve had this out.”
He let out an exasperated sigh and she realized he must have seen that she wasn’t going to give in—not this time. “Fine, you want to talk, let’s talk.”
Cassie watched as he walked away from her across their room. His shoulders grew tense with every step, and for a second she second guessed herself. Maybe she was pushing too hard. Maybe it wasn’t a big deal if he killed a few prisoners. When he turned to face her, it was the king standing before her, not her husband. She could see the anger written across the creases in his brow and the frustration locked in his jaw as his eyes narrowed on her.
“There was a time when I let our people have their way, Cassie. They became divided as half of them decided that self was all that mattered, and the other half believed that sacrifice was all that mattered. They wanted different things, they didn’t want to have peace with one another, and they didn’t want to listen to their king so I gave up. It was a cowardly thing to do and I regret it. But I will not be that king again. This time our people will listen and they will obey or they will suffer the consequences. If the dark elves will not submit and turn from their ways, just as I have committed to do, then the consequence is death and I must be the one to deal it out. I know you are scared that I will begin to enjoy killing, but you are forgetting something,” he paused.
“What?” she finally asked when he didn’t immediately continue.
“You are my light.” He took a step towards her and this time she didn’t stop him. “You chase away the darkness. You make me want to be better than I was. I can’t give in to the darkness because darkness cannot survive where light lives. Are you planning on leaving me here to do this alone?”
“No,” she answered quickly, somewhat irritated that he even asked.
He grinned at her and her heart stuttered. “Then you don’t need to worry that I will give in. I have a second chance, Cassandra, and I’m not about to blow that, not when it means I could lose you.”
He was standing directly in front of her by the time he was done talking, and she was enthralled by his silver eyes and deep voice. Trik had that effect on her and she didn’t want that to ever change. She blinked several times in an attempt to clear her mind of the lust induced fog.
“Okay,” she said slowly, “so you truly believe you will be alright if you kill these men?”
“If I’m doing it for the right reasons, which I am,” he explained, “then yes, I will be fine.”
Cassie let out a deep breath and looked up at him. “Alright.”
Trik tilted his head and his confused look nearly had her laughing. “Alright?” he asked. “That’s it? No screaming, foot stomping, or fit throwing?”
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t stomp my feet or throw fits.”
A single brow rose on his forehead.
“Unless it’s warranted,” she relented with a laugh.
“So are we good?” he asked.
Cassie heard the huskiness in his voice and felt goose bumps crawl up her arms. She felt her skin begin to warm under the blush she knew was rising as she watched his eyes roam over her. She was suddenly very aware of the fact that Trik was her husband and she was his wife.
“Ooooh dear,” she wheezed out as she struggled to catch her breath. All of a sudden she felt as if she had just finished running a marathon at a dead sprint. She had gotten married today. Sure she was an adult, but she hadn’t even thought about asking her parents or even worried that they might just blow a gasket or twenty once they found out. She took a breath in and felt her throat getting tight. Her chest felt as though a hundred pounds had been laid upon it and then a few dozen elephants decided to stand there as well. She closed her eyes and concentrated on breathing, just breathing, because everything else was just too much.
“Cassie.”
His voic
e broke through her panic and she opened her eyes to see him standing so close. The soft glow of candlelight danced off his skin. She frowned and leaned to look around him. All of the lights were off and candles hung in the air suspended as if from wires surrounding the large bed. Her mouth dropped open. When had that happened, she thought to herself.
“Magic,” Trik whispered next to her ear causing a shiver to dance down her spine.
His hand was gliding up and down her arm, slowly, gently. She straightened back up and looked up at him. His long pitch black hair shone like black onyx, and his silver eyes searched her face, patient, waiting. She looked down at the simple night gown she wore and huffed out a laugh. “Guess I could have picked something a little nicer.”
He lifted her chin with a finger and smiled, causing her stomach to drop clear past her toes. “You look lovely, and besides,” he let his eyes rove down her body, “it won’t be on long, anyways.”
“You can’t say stuff like that if you don’t want me to pass out from a panic attack,” she finally admitted. “Look, I’m nervous, Trik. I’m…I’ve…this,” her words were just stuttering out in incoherent jibber jabber and she wished that he would just do something so she’d shut up.
“As you wish,” he murmured just before his lips touched hers.
She wanted to be annoyed that he was listening to her thoughts as he so artfully brushed his fingertips along her exposed shoulder, but now his lips were on hers, and the passion that only Trik could ignite was beginning to build, so she didn’t have room to be annoyed. She simply wanted to feel. She wanted to feel him, and she wanted to enjoy the sensations that only he gave her. As his lips left hers and trailed kisses across her jaw and down her neck to her collarbone, she let her head fall back and he chuckled.
“Relax, Beautiful, I’ll take care of you,” his whispered words eased something inside of her, and when she felt him slide one strap of her night gown off her shoulder, she didn’t freak out like she thought she would. Instead she became the shameless hussy Elora always told her she knew she was deep down inside and helped him remove the other strap. Trik’s eyes lit up as she let the gown fall. Cassie figured that maybe she should be embarrassed but she couldn’t be, not when her love was looking at her as though he was going to devour her like a three course meal and then come back for seconds.
“And thirds,” he whispered in her ear as he picked her up in his arms and carried her to their bed.
She giggled but tried not to be too hard on herself about it as she watched her dark-elf assassin kiss her flushed skin. He climbed up her body as she lay pressed into the mattress. His arms were on either side of her head holding him just above her so he could look down into her face.
“My beautiful, Cassie,” he whispered and then kissed her slowly, deeply. “Thank you for loving me,” he said against her lips.
She smiled up at him as he pulled back. “It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it.”
He chuckled and she gasped at the sensation it created. His eyes darkened and he pressed himself closer. “Let me show you how much I love you.”
Cassie heard his words and she thought she might have nodded but she couldn’t be certain because at that point Trik started doing things that she was sure couldn’t possibly be legal in all fifty states and every worry and fear she had was suddenly gone. There was only Trik, his hands, his mouth, and his deep voice filling their bedroom as he whispered words of devotion while he made love to her.
“Those candles will never burn out will they?” Cassie asked as she lay draped across Trik’s stomach. She propped her chin up so she could look at the floating candles and found herself enthralled by the dancing flames. She was worn out and well-loved but couldn’t sleep. She knew that Trik was having no trouble sleeping because he kept dozing off, and she kept waking him up with silly questions.
“They’re magic candles, Love,” he murmured as his hands stroked her hair and down her bare back.
“It’s your magic that’s making them float and burn?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have to focus to keep them floating?”
He chuckled. “Obviously not, because a short time ago, as you know, floating candles were the farthest thing from my mind.”
Cassie grinned like the love sick fool she was as she thought of what had transpired only a short time ago, as he put it.
“So you’re happy?” she asked nervously.
“No, Cassie, there is no word in the human language that can describe what I am.”
She turned to look at his face and saw that his eyes were open and he was looking at her. Her skin flushed and she reached for the sheets to cover herself but Trik snatched them away.
“Hey!” she huffed. “I’m cold.”
“Liar.”
Her eyes narrowed on him. “I feel exposed.”
“You are exposed,” he paused and a smirk rose on his sinfully sexy mouth as he perused her curves. “And I like you that way.”
She rolled her eyes and flopped down on him, earning a grunt that made her smile smugly.
“Vixen,” he muttered.
“Trik.”
“Yes, Love.”
“Thank you.”
He reached for her face and gently turned her to face him. She knew what he would see, a girl so deeply in love that she was scared it couldn’t be real.
“For what?” he asked slowly.
“For tonight, for loving me, for wanting me.” Cassie met his stare and she hoped that he was feeling what she felt because she didn’t know if she could truly put it into words either.
“It is my honor and privilege, Cassandra.”
“Are you alright?” Cush asked Elora as she wiped the blood from her dagger onto her pant’s leg. She slid the blade down into her boot and then straightened up to look at him. She wanted to yell and scream and tell him what an idiot he had been to go alone, but she knew that it wouldn’t change anything.
So instead she simply said, “I’m fine.”
He watched her for several seconds, and when she didn’t elaborate further, he gave her a single nod and then turned back towards the charred SUV.
“Is the book still here?” Lisa asked Cush.
Cush nodded again. “Tarron knew I had come back for a reason; he was suspicious.”
“Does he know about the book?” Elora asked.
Cush reached into the vehicle and pulled the book out from under the seat. He looked back over to Elora and shook his head. “No, he doesn’t know about it, at least not from me. I didn’t tell him it was here.”
“Cush, we have to get that book back to Trik,” Rin told him. “It is old and powerful and if it fell into the wrong hands,” he let his words trail off; the outcome of such a suggestion being obvious.
“I agree,” Cush said as he motioned everyone to move in closer. “This is what we’re going to do. Rin you will take the book and travel through the portal. You will have to hide it on your person somehow. I will take Elora and her family back home and keep an eye on them until I hear back from you. Tony,” he looked at the human male and frowned, “well, you’re a grown man so do whatever you feel you need to.”
“I’m going with Rin,” Tony told him matter-of-fact. He held up his hand when Rin started to object. “Look, I’m going to have to ask for sanctuary from Trik. He knows that my family has worked for the dark elves and I am basically defecting, walking away from them. Lorsan will want me dead and frankly, I don’t really feel like dying right now.”
“Don’t people realize it’s an inconvenience to us to kill us when we still have crap to do?” Elora asked dryly.
Tony gave her a playful grin which earned him a glare from Cush.
“I agree, Tony goes with Rin,” Cush spoke up.
Tony chuckled and shook his head at the warrior. “Aren’t you a little old to be jealous?”
“Hey, shut it,” Elora growled. “It’s sexy when he’s jealous.”
Cush’s lips curled up. “Ye
ah, Tony,” he emphasized the T sound dramatically, “she thinks it’s sexy when I’m jealous.”
“Good grief,” Oakley huffed, “can we go already? I feel like the dark elves are going to be coming back with reinforcements.”
Cush picked Elora up in his arms and motioned for everyone to follow as they headed back towards the motel running quickly, but not nearly as fast as they had run on the way to rescue Cush.
Elora stood next to her mom and brother as they watched Cush speak to Rin and Tony.
“Keep your weapon at the ready,” Cush told Rin as he stood next to the warrior in front of the mirror. “And go for anything that tries to make a grab for you.”
“This isn’t my first rodeo you know,” Rin said in amusement at Cush’s worry.
“Just be careful,” Cush said without acknowledging his comrade’s use of the human phrase.
Tony stood next to Rin, blade in hand that he had given him. They both looked into the mirror as if they could possibly see what might be lurking in the portal to grab them, but of course all they saw were their reflections.
Rin turned to Tony. “You ready?”
Tony nodded. And then both men stepped into the mirror at the same time. Elora’s eyes widened as she watched first their legs, then their torsos, and finally all of them be swallowed up by the mirror. She waited, standing just as still as the others, to see if it would suddenly spit them back out, but as time passed and nothing happened she realized they weren’t coming back. She couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or bad thing and knew there was no way for them to know until they were all reunited.
