He was the Dark King!
He had been busily collecting creatures and providing habitats for them in the new dimension he had created for his consort. In this realm, his Crystal could enjoy a world as near to the human realm she loved with all its beauty and none of its ugliness. He loved creating.
He knew she would be pleased to find her new homeland populated with odd little living creatures, such as cats and dogs, birds and horses.
He rather liked them, himself. But where was she—she had promised she would not be long and Crystal never broke a promise of any kind.
She had said she had been called to settle a dispute in Conglam. She should have returned by now. He was forgetful of time when he was busy, but never forgetful of her.
He called to her through their mind link and found himself surrounded by nothing. She could not hear him. He could not hear her.
A roar began in his throat.
Had someone dared to keep her from him?
His energy, the energy he had evolved hovered ready to eliminate his Fae form and take him within its folds, but he maintained his Faeness and descended on Conglam.
He stood in his son’s War Room and saw all and nothing at the same time. His interest was singular, and at that moment, centered on one thing only—his Crystal.
Pestale stood before him, and he shuddered as he regarded him and felt the wave of evil wafting off his oldes
t son.
He should not care so very much for Pestale. The boy was wicked, but he was his first beautiful creation, and he found that in spite of all Pestale’s evil, he was unable to destroy him. His voice was that of many, deep and resonating, it seemed to fill the air, like thunder.
“Where is Crystal?”
“Father, she said she was going to the Human Realm. She said she could no longer stay with you, and that when you came looking, I should tell you, that she does not wish to be found. She said she wants to live amongst her own kind.” Pestale’s eyes shifted in spite of himself. He saw that his father did not notice. Instead, his father spread out his arms as though supplicating himself to air and space.
The Dark King then brought his arms to his sides and stared at Pestale. When he spoke, his voice was a boom of reverberating sound and could be heard all over Conglam, “YOU LIE, Pestale!”
Pestale’s eyes narrowed and he looked away as he spoke, “But, would that not be a very stupid lie and one that you would detect immediately, one that Crystal herself would deny? Where is she then? I haven’t the power to keep her from you—only she can keep herself from you, from the link you share with her…”
The Dark King did not move as he considered this his first creation, this thing he tried to call son. Crystal had told him, it was his fault that the Dark Princes were warped of mind. She was right. His voice when he finally spoke was a booming vibration that shook the walls and yet was incongruously soft, “Pestale, I have allowed you many digressions. But not this! Did you think I would believe that Crystal would willingly leave me? You know nothing of devotion, but she does. I know better than to believe your lies. What game do you play? Own it now, and I shall allow you to live.”
“I swear, it is all that I know? She was going to the Human Realm to stop a World War and she told me to tell you that was where she belonged…helping them.”
The Dark King focused on this. His Crystal would help if asked. He knew that was her way, but she would have first told him, herself.
Something was wrong here. The lie glittered in everything Pestale said, and yet, she was not connected to him. Only Crystal could cut the connection. Had he been blind? Had she been so unhappy and he did not notice? Was it his fault for demanding she evolve with him?
Pestale went down on one knee, “Father, I have no reason to lie. Crystal has gone to the Human Realm and of her own accord.”
“Do not think for one moment that I believe you. Do not think that such as I can be fooled with sophist lies. Soon Pestale, you and Hordly shall pay dearly for this,” his father told him and vanished.
Hordly had been hanging in the background, but at this, he sank against the wall and sucked in air. “That is it. It is over. He will come back and everything we have been enjoying here in this dimension will be taken away. He will imprison us in the Dark Realm again.”
“No, he will not. He won’t find her, and he will forget about us as he searches the human world for her.”
“Then we are dead, Pestale, for he will find no evidence of her being there,” Hordly paced, knuckles to his teeth.
“Ah, but there is. I left a note for him to find. It has Crystal’s scent, it has her style and it will be delivered to him by one that he trusts, by Queen Aaibhe.”
“How?”
“Wait and see, Hordly. My plan is fool proof.”
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