8 Chapter 8: Dragon- The search (2/2)
\t”And when was it, now, that you drank her blood?”
\tI startled. ”Well...” I sighed. ”When I was stabbed, on the battlefield. She thought that feeding me her blood might save me from dying...and it did.”
\t”I am glad to know that she has someone whom she is so close to, then.”
\t”I have always been there for her. As her friend...and now, as her husband.”
\tHe looked at me in a new light, and smiled at me. ”I cared deeply about her mother. I am glad that such a blessing came from such a horrible night. Alas, had I known that Darah had died, I would have come to retrieve the girl. She is royalty, afterall.”
\t”She has.... had a very difficult life,” I told him solemnly. ”As soon as her identity was revealed publicly, she was exiled to the outermost part of the city to live in seclusion, alone. I did everything that I could to protect her and take care of her, but I was forbidden to live with her. But she scratched her way up from the very bottom, earning the king's trust, and she was permitted to enter into the city and to marry. I had already vowed to marry her, since no other clan was willing to take her. I did it to protect her. That poor girl has suffered immensely.”
\t”She wouldn't have with my people. My people...they would have welcomed her. She is one of us. I would have ensured that she'd had the royal treatment.”
\tWe continued on, and finally, we reached my cabin.
\tHe sniffed deeply, and began looking around, smelling the air more.
\t”What is it? What is wrong?”
\t”She is not here. The scent that is so concentrated in this area, her scent.... its fading. She hasn't been here in at least a couple of days.... her scent is similar to my own, but a little sweeter, more feminine.” He paused. ”And....there is the scent of a dark, foul aura.... I see.”
\t”What?” I asked, getting concerned.
\t”A Darkelf has been here. His scent and hers lead off in that direction,” he said, pointing toward the South, toward Barrenwilds.
\t”She was captured!” I cried.
\t”What do you plan to do?” He asked.
\t”I'm going to put together a team to hunt her down and rescue her!”
*
\t”You expect for me to give you clearance for a rescue mission? And you request for our only blacksmith, Vintice, our best healer, being yourself, and our best hunter, Drakul, to accompany you?” Emron asked, exasperated.
\t”Your highness, please,” I pleaded with him. ”She killed a considerable amount of Darkelves by herself, with no help. She has proven her loyalty to this city. I beg you. We were only just married! I have to get her. And… And she is freshly conceived with my seed, sire. Please.”
\tHis eyes were full of sorry, but his body showed only exasperation. ”Dragon, we are still recovering from war! There are still dozens of injured families, warriors.... you are the best healer in this entire city.” He threw up his hands. ”We cannot afford to spare three vital people, who are all three also members of the Royal War Council, to save one girl. Even someone as strong and loyal as Kysael, and even…even if she is carrying your child. I am sorry, but I cannot authorize your request. We still have many in critical condition, Dragon.”
\t”King Emron, if we don't at least attempt to rescue her, given her strength and loyalty to this city thus far, how do you think that will look to the Prince of the Wraiths, Kysael's father, who has come all the way here just to see his daughter? If we don't try to rescue her, that could potentially create problems with our alliance to the Wraiths. And we need that alliance, your highness. They live just outside of our borders. They could slaughter us all without a second thought.”
\tEmron stroked his chin, a contemplative look on his face. Then, he groaned and sighed deeply. ”Fine. But you will tend to all of the critically injured first, at the very least, before you dare to set foot outside of this city. Is that understood?”
\t”Yes, your highness.”
*
\tAfter attending to the critically wounded, I rallied the people that I needed for the mission, and had them to meet me at the outer wall gate.
\tHowever, there was....an unexpected person there, talking to the others as I approached.
\tHe looked at me darkly. So, the others must have ran into him here and told him what was happening.
\t”You are doing a splendid job of taking care of her, Lord Dragon,” he said in a dangerous tone. ”You promised me that you would protect her!”
\tI groaned. ”I don't have time for this, Kelose.”
\tHe mounted his elk. ”Then let us talk on the way to Barrenwilds, then.”
\tAs we set out, I rode my moose to be beside of him. ”There was nothing that I could do, Kelose. He ambushed her in our own house after I took her home. I don't have special powers that make me capable of smelling or sensing that there was someone in there, and she asked me to go to my room, to leave her be. What was I supposed to do?”
\t”You weren't there for her, Dragon! You could have checked on her before now!”
\t”I thought that she wanted space!”
\t”That is a joke! Kysael has never truly wanted space, she wants someone to be clingy and close to her! Never in all of the years that I have known her, and the time that I was seeing her, did she ever want space.”
\t”She has changed a lot since she was with you, Kelose.”
\t”That may be, Dragon. But I can assure you, she did not want space.”
\t”And what if I had been there?” I asked. ”He would have simply killed me. He is more powerful than either me or Kysael. He overpowered her easily after she killed twelve Darkelves in battle, Kelose. Do you think that I would have been any different? At least I found out only two days later, and have rallied a search and rescue party for her! What else do you want from me?”
\t”I want for you to do better!” He shouted. ”What you're doing isn't enough. You aren't doing enough for her!”
\t”I'm not doing enough?” I asked, astounded. ”I have devoted the last twenty years of my life to that girl's happiness and protection! I raised her, Kelose! I have saved her more times than you know. I vowed to marry her when she was but an infant. And I have married that girl, for heaven's sake! And now, she's carrying my child! Hours old, but it is still there, freshly rooting inside of her womb!” He startled; his golden eyes wide. ”If I had been there, he would have killed me, and we wouldn't have an armed rescue squad on its way to save her. I am the one who convinced the king to allow us to go save her. I am the one who has let her feed from me every single time she thirsts since you haven't done it for her for the last two years!”
\tSurprised gasps from the group, and Kelose looked away, his cheeks tinged pink.
\t”Do you have any idea how hard it is to have someone profess their love for you? And you see the knowledge that they know you don't have those feelings? To see that crushed look on her face?” My voice cracked. ”And to still openly give and give to her despite it all! And now, new feelings are coming into my heart for her and she's gone!”
\t”I....Dragon, I-”
\t”Let me ask you something, Kelose. Are you angry at me because I'm the one who has her now and you don't think that I am good enough for her? Or are you angry at yourself because you are the one who ruined her future with you in the first place?”
\tHe stuttered. ”I-I”
\t”You are blaming me for something that I had absolutely no control over, Kelose, when what you are really upset about is that she is no longer yours because you pushed her away. I have put my very life on the line just to take care of that girl. What have you done?”
\tHis eyes sparked with fury, but his face was solemn. ”You are right. I hate myself for what I put her through. But she is not the only one who got hurt, Dragon. She hurt me, as well.”
\tI sighed. ”I know that. I suppose that things worked out for the best...even this. There has to be a purpose for what is happening, even as we speak. Everything happens for a reason. Now, let's go and save my wife.”
*
\tIt was ten days later that we arrived at the edge of the desert in which the city of Barrenwilds lay, and it was a barren wasteland. It had been twelve days since Kysael had been captured.
\tIt was nighttime when we began to approach the city gates, and I could see Kysael in a bird cage up hanging from the bottom of a high cliff, way above our heads.
\t”Sure, because we can definitely reach that on horses,” Kelose said with sarcasm.
\tMy father rolled his eyes. ”We won't need to...if my son will just do what he needs to do to get his wife back home,” he said with heavy implication.
\tI knew that he could sense it, just as I could. I could feel it in my spirit-there was a wyvern holed up in a nearby cave.
\tMy father wanted for me to use my Spirit to summon it and to get it to come and help us. And he also knew that I didn't want to use that power.
\tMy father had been the Legendary Dragon hunter, but unfortunately...once the head of the clan has a son, the head can no longer use that power, and it is passed to the son.
\tMy father could no longer use the power and wield it as he had in his youth.
\tBut I could.
\tDespite the fact that I didn't want that power, I sighed. I knew that I had to, to save her. Even if I could somehow climb up the cliffside to get to her cage, I couldn't break the door or unlock it.
\tI would have to have a way to open it.
\tI glanced wearily at my father. He nodded. ”You know what to do, boyo.”
\tI looked back up to the cage hanging from the cliffside.
\tI closed my eyes and concentrated. I felt my spirit leave my body even as my vocal cords let loose the sacred Spirit Song of my clan, my Spirit singing even as I left my body, and travel to where I felt the presence of the wyvern coming from.
\tIt didn't take long for my spirit to find his cave in a cliffside nearby, and he startled and sniffed the air deeply, searching for me.
\tHis eyes found me much more quickly than I would have anticipated, and he prepared to attack me before my spirit entered into his mind.
\t He fought hard to throw me out, and I could see his memories in my mind.
\tCoal...the Lord of the Ice wyverns. He was also Prince Mafrien's personal mount, and I had to give the Darkelf prince credit where it was due, that was no easy feat.
\t”I need for you to help me,” I told the Wyvern. ”I didn't come to tame or kill you. I just need assistance.”
\tHis deep, smooth voice rumbled in my mind. ”A Dragon Hunter. I haven't come across one of you in a few centuries. You would dare to enter into my mind simply to ask for me to assist you?”
\tI looked at him somberly. ”I had no other alternatives. If I had, I wouldn't be here.”
\tHe gave me a long look, calculating my words. ”You will simply try to tame and force me if I do not agree and I refuse to be controlled like some puppet. What is it that you need?”\t
\tRelief soared through my soul. Ice Wyverns were much calmer and more collected than their other elemental cousins, and I was thankful that he was being cooperative with me. ”I need help breaking my wife out of a cage off the side of the cliff, and brought down--safely--to me,” I told him.
\tHe nodded. ”Child's play.” He slowly brought his large form to stand, and I left his mind as my spirit led him back to where my body and the others sat waiting.
\tMy body glowed with lavender aura, and the others watched in awe, my father in pride, as the wyvern that I had summoned broke the cage from the chains that held it to the bottom of the cliffside, and flew it down to us with great speed.
\tMy heart raced at the cry of shock and fear that escaped my wife's lips, and as I saw her body, rage boiled my blood. She was naked all except for a blood-stained white cloak.
\tPausing to gaze at her for a long moment, he moved suddenly and the door to the cage was ripped open, nearly torn off of the hinges. As the wyvern moved out of the way, my body brushed past him quickly to enter into the cage and to get to Kysael.
\tI took her into my arms, and she thrashed against my hold, as if she weren't aware that the danger had passed.
\tMy heart tugged painfully in my chest. She didn't even understand that she was safe, now. As if her mind hadn't registered it.
\t”Kysael,” I said in a soothing voice, healing her head. She stopped thrashing immediately.
\t”D... Dragon?”
\tAnd then she leaped up into my arms.
*
January, 1102 A.D.
\tIt had been nearly a month since we had returned to the city.
\tKysael had occupied her old bedroom in my home...our home, and yet she had not come out of her room for anything short of needing the toilet.
\tShe needed food, or else she and the child would die. They may just die anyway...but she was my wife, and I needed to take care of her. I was an elf of my word, and I had taken vows with her.
\tI got tired of watching her mope through the crack in the door. I knew how she felt, and she continued to send me away.
\tAnd finally, I'd had enough.
\tI burst through the door, only to be interrupting her during a bath.
*
February, 1102 A.D.
\tThings had gotten a bit better since I had spoken to Kysael about her.... circumstances.
\tHer belly was truly showing now, and there was no way that she would leave to go outside. She would barely leave her room, and I kept an eye on her through the crack of the door.
\tI brought her water and anything else that she needed, and I continued to allow her to feed from me, of course.
\tAs the time went by, I could feel the pull of the Blood Bond in my soul, begging me to serve her every need.
\tIt was frightening, a sense of devotion that I'd never had before.
\tAnd I had already been devoted enough to follow and watch over her, to be there for her in almost every moment....so that was truly even more frightening to me.
\tAnd as her belly grew, so did her body...and so did her needs.
\tSince the child was predominantly of the Dark Realm, it gave her quiet a hard time, inside of the womb.
\tKicking her hard, hard enough to even render her unconscious. I began to wonder how the child would behave once it was born. I was angry. Not at the child. I knew it wasn't the baby's fault. I was angry because from the moment that I had smelled the conception of my seed inside of Kysael, the instant that I had known that she was carrying a part of my own life-force inside of her… I had been filled with so much love, so much hope.
\tBut now, in my child's place, there was this dark child, waiting to be unleashed upon this world.
\tI hoped, for both of their sakes, that it could be influenced for good.
\tAnd as time continued on, Kysael's needs also grew.
\tThe child was only one fourth Wraithling, so Kysael required actual food to sustain the child.
\tThe child, thankfully, did not seem to share her frightening appetite for blood. Never had Kysael required food to sustain herself, but now she did.
\tShe would tell me what she craved often, and I would go and get it for her, seeing as she couldn't leave.\t
\tI didn't know what Kysael was thinking.
\tWe needed to get out of the city, and quickly. I could only hope that the child would not resemble its father's appearance...or there would be no hope for it.
\tIt was one night, near the end of February, that I was sitting with Kysael by the fireplace, watching her absently stroke her large belly.
\tHer body had grown round, round with life inside of her. Despite the pain that the child caused her, Kysael had grown fond of the child and was glowing with happiness at the prospect of being a mother, despite her fears. Despite the pain from the loss of the baby that she had actually wanted.
\tShe had waited many years for a chance at motherhood, so I couldn't really blame her for her excitement.
\tHer hair had grown out some, as well, from being just beneath her ears to now, reaching her shoulders. She smiled, and her hand ran across her belly each time the child kicked her, even as she winced in pain.
\t”I hope that...giving birth won't be too awfully painful,” she whispered. I looked at her eyes, giving her my attention. ”I...am still not completely recovered,” she said, and I understood what she meant.
\tMafrien had ripped her badly, injuring her internally. It bothered me, that I wasn't able to heal her completely.
\tBut....It was all I could do to heal her through her clothing. I couldn't just make her get naked to heal her.
\tThankfully, I'd been able to heal her throat completely, and her cuts and bruises were all but forgotten.
\tBut that was one place that I simply couldn't heal so easily, considering the circumstances.
\t”I will heal you when I deliver the child, Kysael. And if it gets to be too much, I can deliver the child the same way that I delivered you out of your mother's womb. I had to forcefully cut you out of her, through her stomach. She did not give birth to you vaginally.”
\tShe looked at me, and she smiled. ”It shouldn't be long now, I suppose...considering how much the child has grown in this short amount of time.”
\t”Yes, you are right,” I said, still observing her. I couldn't stop myself from watching her. She looked....so.... different.
\tHer face was a little rounder, as was everything else on her body.
\tShe was not toned and lean anymore. Her hips and thighs and even her chest had gotten larger.
\tShe looked older.
\tAnd as her face got rounder, wiser, she reminded me even more so of Kassiel. I shook the thought from my mind.
\tIf I kept on comparing the two....my thoughts would lead me down a dangerous road of feelings that I wasn't prepared to feel for her.
\tI was already well on my way to feeling things that I hadn't ever intended to. It didn't need to delve even deeper.
\t”Dragon? What will your role to this child be?” She asked me suddenly.
\t”I honestly do not know, Kysael. If there is any resemblance between the child and its father, I would not be able to play that role in its life. I wouldn't look anything like the child, in that case.” I thought for a moment. ”And we are still unsure of whether or not Mafrien will use this child or not. Perhaps he won't.... I hope that he won't. But if he does want the child, then I am certain that he will not allow me to play any sort of role in the child's life.”
\tShe nodded. ”Can you please help me? I want to move to lie down.”
\tI stood and went over to where she was sitting, and helped her to stand, helping her slowly make her way to her room.
\tI helped her get into her bed, and I covered her body with a blanket. Her eyes were bright with thirst, and I held my arm out for her.
\tShe took my arm hesitantly, and numbed the spot of her choosing before latching in. I relaxed, taking a deep breath in and out.
\tIt was almost a comforting feeling, now.
\tCurious as it was.... I actually liked to feel her feed from me. It was warm, a floating feeling. It eased my mind, now.
\tAnd that thought somewhat startled me.
\tWhen she had finished, she kissed the spot. ”I love you.”
\tI sighed, and stroked her hair. I could feel the sting of tears in my surely sorrowful eyes. ”I know.”
\tShe looked away sadly, and I felt guilty. I knew that wasn't the answer she was hoping for. It never was.
\tI pulled her chin to look up at me. ”I am sorry. I have gone to great lengths to care for you and give you what you want, let you feed from me, kissed you, I have fed from you...I have even married you. But I don't feel comfortable claiming a child that isn't my own, particularly not in a situation where the father could come back at any point to take the child. And especially not when the father murdered my own offspring to force his own upon you. I am sorry.”
\tShe smiled sadly, a lone tear running down her cheek. ”You have given me more than I could have ever hoped for, Dragon. You have given me more than anyone else, more than I could have even imagined from a man of your stature...or any man at all. And for me.... that in itself is enough. You don't have to love me the way that I want. You've done more than enough.”
\tShe pulled me down and placed a soft, closed mouth kiss on my lips. Not in a romantic way, but just out of the love in her heart.
\tI was thankful when she didn't begin writhing in pain because of the mating mark on her spine.
\t”I want for you to be happy, as well,” she said softly. ”You have done nothing but give to me. You should do something for yourself.”
\tI hugged her. ”I do something for myself every time I give to you, Kysael.”
\tShe cried. ”That shouldn't be enough for you. I wish that you would take for yourself. Take something. Anything. Anything that you want, anything that I can give you.”
\tI laughed softly. ”I know nothing of greed with you, Kysael. I don't know how to take.”
\t”I just wish that I could do something to give back to you.” She stroked my arm in a heated way, a husky tone coming over her voice. I sighed.
\t”You have nothing to give back to me, Kysael. And its not necessary, though I do appreciate the gesture.”
\t”You're right. I am just being foolish.”
\tI kissed her forehead. ”You are just being honest. You love and desire, just like anyone else. You are not above emotion. And I realize that I have...always been very giving and open to you. I have always done everything I can for you. And I realize that you could command me to do anything, and I would not be able to deny you. I understand that I am under Blood Bond with you, and I am not capable of refusing a direct order.
\t ”But I implore you, not to use that to 'give back' to me. You are mated to someone else, no matter how unwilling you are in the situation. I am so sorry.”
\tShe sobbed brokenly into my chest as I leaned down to hold her.
*
March, 1102 A.D.
\tI began to read. I began to research, searching for any way to get Kysael out of this mating mark.
\tThere had to be something, surely.
\tAnd as more and more of my research became futile, I began to get frantic about it. Kysael was so desperate to be out of his grasp...
\tHe was even calling to her through the mark, now.
\tHe was giving her disturbing dreams, making her think about him in ways that she wouldn't naturally.
\tMaking her desire, even crave his touch.
\tShe would become physically ill at these thoughts, considering all that he had done to her.
\tShe had been feeling drawn to return to Barrenwilds, and it was a struggle each day for her. I knew that she was afraid.
\tI woke up one night to find her gone, and found her out in the forest, as if she were walking to him in her sleep, even. When I was finally able to get her to snap out of it, she vomited and cried.
\tI finally decided to go to one place that I preferred not to go to. It was the place in which I had met Kassiel, my former fiancé, for the first time.
\tThe former fiancé who was dead because we were intimate before our wedding, which had only been a couple of days away.
\tShe was dead, because of me. Not that it had been only my idea to be intimate, but I had known better and I still allowed it. I allowed her to die.
\tAnd I had first met her at this place, the place that I had strove not to go to ever since her death.
\tBut there was only one person in this city who might be able to help me, and unfortunately, he worked at this place of dread for me.
\tArkasil, the keeper of knowledge, at the city library.
\tI arrived there, and even as I stepped into the building, I could see phantom images of Kassiel around the library, doing her research for her medicines and healing techniques....
\tAn assistant led me to the office of Arkasil, and even I was a bit nervous.
\tArkasil was not a very sociable man, and he was the eldest living Nae, or Woodelf, in the world, at over a thousand years of age.
\tAnd I had never been able to meet him before.
\tHe was coughing as I entered into the room.
\tI cleared my throat, and he looked at me. ”Ah, young Lord Dragon, it is good to see you.”
\tI startled. ”Pardon me, sir, but shouldn't it be that it is good to meet me, not see me?”
\tHe chuckled. ”I remember when you would come to the library to see the young Ash Clan healer. You could hardly stay away from this place.”
\tMy body felt aflame. He knew of Kassiel and I, even though our ”relationship” was kept on a very quiet level. Not many people had known, at that time, that we were in a relationship at all. And still not many people knew, though I supposed that I should have expected this man to know of it.
\tAfter all, this man was the holder of knowledge.
\t”Yes, Lord Arkasil. It is a pleasure to meet you, sir. I have come to seek out your help.”
\t”For the young hybrid girl, I presume,” he said smugly, and I nodded. ”I see. Yes, I know that she has gotten herself into quiet a horrible situation. She was marked by the Darkelf Prince, young Mafrien of Barrenwilds. And she is currently expecting a child from the Prince any day now.”
\tI startled. ”How do you know all of this?”
\t”Where do you think that I get all of my knowledge from, young one? I am the keeper of knowledge because I have the gift of insight and foresight. I already know what the girl's future holds, as well as that child's future. And I can assure you, it is going to be a long, hard road and she, as well as yourself and others, are going to suffer through the entirety of it. That girl is cursed.” He sighed. ”I already know the answer, but I will ask for courtesy's sake. Now, what are you here to know?”
\tI bowed. ”Is there any way that I can break the Mating mark on her back?”
\tHe stroked his long beard. ”Ah, yes, there is one way. But it is not currently possible to do. It may be, in the future, however.”
\t”What is it, my lord?”
\t”Only someone whom she has begun the Soul Bond process with prior to the marking can break that mark. And as I recall, she was in the first of the three stages, the body bond.”
\tI nodded. ”Go on?”
\t”She has to seek out the young assassin and complete the Soul Bond with him. Only that can possibly completely remove the Mating mark from the Darkelf prince. Even his dark magic is not powerful enough to overcome the Soul Bond.”
\t”What about a Blood Bond?” I asked.
\t”Oh, I am well aware of your Blood Bond service to the girl as well. And unfortunately, no, you cannot break the mating mark. He used his magic to override that because he was aware of your Blood Bond to her.”
\t”What? How?”
\t”He saw her feed you her blood to save your life, and how you behaved toward her afterward when you were bringing her home, unbeknownst to you both.”
\tI grabbed my head with my hands, my balance unsteady.
\tI could not believe how much he knew....how aware he was of everything. Truly, this was the most powerful of all of the Woodelves that I had ever met.
\tPerhaps not physically, given his age, but his sheer power of knowledge made him seem invincible to me.
\t”Listen to me, young lord.” I gave him my attention. ”Fate is a funny thing, a fickle thing. The Darkelf Prince never pulls away from war, and he never spares those whom he has set in his path of destruction. Yet, his interest in this girl has caused him to do so. Perhaps, young healer, perhaps it is not she who is under his control, but rather he who is under her control.”
\tI considered that. He could be right. That would explain why he was looking at her so intensely on the battlefield, why he would want her in the first place. Perhaps she did hold some control over him.
\tGreater forces were at work here, in any case. I remembered how he had stared at her on the battlefield, how he had passionately kissed her before releasing her back to us...
\tAnd I remembered how unbearably uncomfortable that made me feel, how upset and enraged I had been over it.
\tHow irrationally furious, even more than anger, I had felt to know that he had touched what was supposed to be mine...
\t”You have feelings for the girl,” Arkasil said. ”And though you claim that you do not, and believe that you do not want to have those feelings.... you do, nonetheless. You married her before you knew, didn't you?”
\tI huffed, shaking my head softly. Then I nodded. ”I've only just realized it.” I sighed. ”But I do not understand those feelings. I raised her. And I do not know if I only feel those feelings out of my Blood Bond to her, out of my servitude.... or if I truly have feelings for her.”
\t”Either way, there are feelings there all the same. Whether it is influenced by the bond or not, or the marriage or not...you care for her deeply. And from what I sense from you, you have had these feelings buried deeply in your heart, hidden away, for quite a long time. Perhaps, young one, the Blood Bond with the girl simply rose those feelings to the surface, hm?”
\tI took in a deep breath. Perhaps he was right about this, too. He had been right about everything else. ”I just.... I don't want to have feelings for her, not romantically. I have never looked at her that way.”
\t”Are you certain of that?” He asked, and I thought for a moment.
\tNo.....he was right, there had been rare moments where I had looked at her as a woman, and not just as family. There had been instances, where I had looked at her and remembered my vow to marry her, and thinking that perhaps it wouldn't be so unpleasant of a thought.
\tI sighed, and he continued. ”She will need people like you in her life to complete her destiny, of that I can assure you. She will not always be looked down upon. The girl has a great journey ahead of her, a very important role to the world. Her path is only beginning. She will need for you to continue to serve and protect her throughout the rest of this journey.”
\tI nodded. ”I have always, and will always, be there for Kysael.” I bowed. ”Thank you, Lord Arkasil of Knowledge.”
\t”I truly hope that the road will get a little easier for her to bear, soon. She is too important to the future of this world to let her fall into darkness and despair.” He looked at me. ”Through all of this, keep one thing in mind: That girl is destined for a very important role in the future. I sensed that the day she was born. She will rise to be a warrior of great power.”
\tI knew that he was right; I had sensed the same thing when she was born.
\tSomething big was coming. What, when and how was unknown to me. But one thing was certain;
\tBig things were going to happen in the future.
\t”And one last thing,” He said before I left. I met his eyes, and his gaze was serious. ”The baby that the Darkelf prince killed was not the only child that you will father with Kysael.”
\tShock flooded my heart. Did that mean that we would actually get all of this straightened out, and Kysael would, in fact, be freed from Mafrien's mating mark after all?