Rapture (Elfin Series) (24 page)

“Oh, believe me; I know that better than anyone. Cassie may seem all gentle and meek but she’s tough as nails. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt, and I hate that she has to go through this all because that idiot didn’t stay with his Chosen. Would,” she paused briefly before she finished her question, “would you stay with me if I chose the human realm?”

“And give up my immortality?” h
e asked, his deep voice rumbling in his chest against her back. “In a heartbeat,” he finally said after what felt to Elora like the longest pause in history. “But you’re half elf, so the rules are different for you. Your life will be longer even if you stay in the human realm because you will age much slower. Regardless, Little Raven, where you go, I go. That is just the way it is.”

She smiled to herself and leaned her head back on his chest. She snuggled down and p
ulled the blanket she had retrieved from the hall closet up over them and as she yawned she said, “Well I happen to like the way it is.”

He chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “I love you,” he
whispered in her ear. “Rest now, Love, because tomorrow we hunt.”

“How could I have not realized that Cassie was the same bloodline as Lucy?” Tamsin asked his Chosen as they sat on the edge of the bed in Cassie’s parents’ room. “If I’d have recognized the relation I might…,”

“Have what?” Syndra interrupted
, her voice rough with frustration. “Would have been able to stop a mad man? Would have been able to predict the choices of a raving lunatic? You can’t possibly take the blame for this mate. You are no longer king and yet you still think it is your duty to bear all the responsibility for both humans and elves.”

Tamsin stared at her in awe. Only she could remind him that he was no
t all knowing and all powerful. No matter how badly he wanted to be able to prevent bad things from happening to the people he cared about, he couldn’t. That was the way it was in their realm and the human realm. Free will gave people the right to choose their own destiny, good or bad.

“I know,” he finally agreed. “I just hate to see yet another human hurt because of our people.”

“I understand that, and we will do whatever we can to make it right.”

Tamsin took her hand in his and kissed it tenderly. “Unfortunately
, I have a feeling that before it’s all said and done, there is going to be a lot that we have to make right.”

“I don’t remember the last thing I said to my parents,” Cassie’s small voice pierced the dark
ness of her bedroom as Trik lay beside her on her bed. Her head was pressed against his chest and the steady beat of his heart seemed to bring her a small measure of comfort. “I don’t remember the last time I told them I loved them.”

“Regardless, they know that you love them
, Cassie,” Trik assured her as he ran his hand down her hair soothingly.

“But I lied to them. I didn’t tell them anything that was going on with me and had I been honest with them I might have been able to prevent this.”

“I could argue too that had I chosen to leave you alone instead of pursuing you, then this would have been prevented,” he replied. “Don’t play the blame game, Love, because you will never win. There is only one person to blame and that is Tarron.”

“When did you get so wise?” s
he asked playfully, though her voice still wavered.

“I’m an old married man now
; isn’t that supposed to make me wiser?”

“No, I think it just makes you unavailable,” she chuckled.

“Ah, Beautiful, I became unavailable the moment I laid eyes on you in that boardroom.” He pulled her tighter against him and thanked the Forest Lords, not for the first time, for bringing her into his life and for her willingness to forgive his many transgressions and love him any ways.

“It’s not hard you know, loving you,” she told him picking up on his thoughts.

“Tell me that in a hundred years,” he challenged.

“Let’s just get through tomorrow,” she sighed softly as she let Trik
’s warmth and familiarity soak into her tired bones. Her emotions were raw like exposed nerves and she so badly wanted to just forget. She didn’t want to think about the hell her parents might be going through, she didn’t want to think about the Rapture still being given to people in the casinos, and she didn’t want to think about the Book of Elves and all the power it held and whose hands it might be in. She just wanted to be in the arms of the man she loved and who loved her. She wanted to rest in the knowledge that he would do everything in his power to protect her and bring her parent’s home safely. She wanted to be happy for Elora and Cush and the love that she had seen on their faces when they looked at each other. She wanted to be happy for herself and the new marriage that she had yet to really take in.

“Breathe
, Cassie,” Trik whispered against her ear and his warm breath sent pleasant shivers down her skin. “I’ve got you.”

She turned her face up to his and he gladly gave her what she wanted
, pressing his lips firmly to hers, pouring into her mind all of the love he felt for her. His soul cried out for her and her soul answered as it always did, finding wholeness in him alone. Trik whispered to her in the beautiful language of his people, and she felt peace and love flow over her as he loved her. He listened to her thoughts and gave her the comfort she needed, comfort only he could give, and she took it greedily. Deep into the night they reveled in their passion, and as Cassie drifted off to sleep, Trik made her a promise. “I will destroy the one who has caused you such pain, my love. For you I would destroy the world.”

“Are you going to destroy it?” Ilryana asked her mate as they stood out in the quiet night on the street in front of Cassie’s house.

Lorsan looked up at the house that currently cocooned his enemy in false security and safety. He could bring it down before they had even opened their eyes and destroy them without their knowledge, but then what would be the satisfaction in that? No, he wanted to see the look on Trik’s face as he died. He wanted Trik to know that it was Lorsan who w
as delivering that killing blow, and he wanted his little mate to be watching as the final breath of life was taken from Trik’s body.

“Not tonight
, Love,” he told her. “Tonight we will let them think they are safe from my wrath. We will let them have tonight, but tomorrow is a new dawn. Come,” he took her hand and turned away from Cassie’s house, “we have plans to make, deaths to arrange, cities to destroy, and a certain dark elf to deal with. He has something that belongs to me and I wish it returned.”

“My goodness
, we do have a full schedule,” she smiled at him as they walked off into the cool night.

“You know what they say—
no rest for the wicked.”

Lisa handed Tony a second glass of wine she had found in the Tate’s cabinet and sat across the bar from him. He was handsome
, no doubt, if not a little young. But not too young for a drink.

“Can I ask you a question?” Tony asked.

She laughed. “You just did.”

He smirked.
“How have you stayed so young? How do Oakley and Elora not remember their dad? Why didn’t you stay in the elfin realm?”

The questions just seemed to pour out of him as smoothly as the wine had from the bottle
, and Lisa thought that the wine probably had something do with that. She considered him and then thought,
what the hell
. “It’s a long story,” she told him.

“I’ve got all night,” he held out his arms as if this would prove his point.

She nodded. “Very well, only two others know this story and they are asleep in Cassie’s parents’ room right now. I’m not going to tell you how old I am because that’s just not something a woman should have to reveal. Let’s just say that I look incredible for my age. When Steal died,” she paused, not prepared for the amount of emotions his name still evoked and swallowed down the pain that, even after all this time, still lingered. “I didn’t think I would survive and had I not had Oakley and Elora, I probably wouldn’t have. It felt as if a part of me had been ripped from my body. Some days I couldn’t breathe; I only continued living day-to-day because my kids needed me and I loved them.

“When I realized that I was going to have to pull it together if I wanted to give them any kind of life
, I sought out Syndra and asked for her help. I told her about the book, and she and Tamsin both wanted it hidden away from the elfin realm.  We knew it had to be in the human realm if we wanted it safe from Lorsan and we both thought that the best way for the kids and I to be safe was to become fully human, and by that I mean completely submerge myself in the human realm again.”

“So I moved us from the hideout I had been living in in the elfin realm and Syndra helped me get this store started. She altered the kid’s memories at my request because I didn’t want them to have any memories from that part of their lives.
Eventually, I did tell Oakley and Elora about the elves, but only that I knew Syndra. I played dumb about just about everything. I knew that one day I would have to tell them more, but not until Cassie met Trik did I realize that that day had come much too fast. There’s still so much I need to tell them, but it’s hard because telling them means reliving it for me and it’s painful.” She took a sip of her wine and used the time it took to swallow to pull herself together.

“And why do you look like this?” Tony motioned to her.