She looked away from him and shook her head. “I have council business to attend to.”
“How am I supposed to get back?” Was she really going to make him walk all the way back to the veil?
She grinned as she pointed at his legs. “Those two things attached to your torso should do the job just fine. Until our next meeting, Prince.” She bowed her head and then flashed before he could say another word.
He nearly laughed. The fae warrior was indeed going to make him walk back to the veil. He wished he could have touched her one last time before she left, but it seemed she’d been going out of her way to keep him at a distance. Thalion smiled to himself. His little fae was going to be a bigger challenge than he’d first realized.
“She didn’t give you any indication of when you would see her again?” Reeve asked him.
Thalion shook off the memory and refocused on his friend. “No, she just left me high and dry.”
“Did that worry you?” Reeve asked. “I think it would’ve worried me.”
Thalion nodded. “Well, it did at first. It probably would have driven me crazy eventually. But an entirely different encounter set my mind at ease.”
“What encounter?”
“I had a visit from the Fates,” Thalion said with a small grin.
Reeve’s brow drew together in a deep ‘v’. “Wow. How could that have possibly set your mind at ease?”
“Because they gave me a future worth waiting for.” Thalion could still feel the power of the Fates pulsing around him from that night.
“Thalion, Prince of the Elves, savior of his people, revolutionary ruler, we call to you.”
Thalion had been standing in the garden just behind the palace. It was a peaceful place he liked to visit anytime his mind was cloaked in chaos. His thoughts had been nothing but chaos since Cyn had left him in that field. Even though three years had passed since that day, he could still see her face and hear her voice. The voices he now heard, however, were far different.
He turned to face the forms of the Fates. Twenty feet from where he stood, the forms pulsated and glowed. They didn’t have corporeal bodies but appeared as shimmering vapor to those whom they wished to have see them.
He bowed his head briefly before looking at them once again. “To what do I owe the honor of your presence?” Thalion was respectful of their power, even though a visit from the Fates was rarely an honor. More often than not, they were the harbingers of gloom and doom.
“We come with news of the female.”
He felt a chill run down his spine. Cyn? They had news of his Cyn? He tried to relax his features and not allow the strong emotions that were building inside of him to show. The Fates were the last supernaturals to whom a person should show weakness.
“What news?” he finally asked when he was sure it wouldn’t come out as a growl.
“You will make her your mate. She will help you defeat a great darkness that will one day take over your kingdom.”
Thalion nearly laughed. He didn’t laugh at the idea of taking Cyn as his mate. He’d dreamt of that for four and a half years. And he certainly didn’t laugh at the idea that she could help him defeat a malevolent force. She was a capable warrior. He had no doubt she could help him in any battle. But he did find it preposterous that any evil threat could overtake his kingdom. Who could possibly be strong enough or stupid enough to take on the elves? Their weapons were unbeatable, their speed only matched by the fae, and their skill was flawless.
“You may have doubts. But you must not disobey, no matter the doubts. It must happen this way or your people are doomed to become slaves. They will be beaten, tortured, punished for wrongs they never committed.”
“Who would do this?” Thalion asked, his voice tight with anger as he considered such awful things happening to his people.
“The time will come when the evil will be revealed. You will need the female. She will bring hope and strength to you and to those who will follow you. Your people will accept her when they see how willing she is to fight on their behalf. You must not tell her of this encounter. She must come to you of her own free will. She must be willing to sacrifice herself for those who will need her.”
The Fates were gone just as quickly as they had appeared. Thalion wasn’t sure what to think. If his mind had been chaotic before, now it was just blown.
“Hmm, we are still here,” said Reeve. “I think I would have remembered if a dark force had taken over our realm.”
Thalion shook his head. “True. We are still here and no threat has assailed us. But rarely a day goes by that I do not think about the Fates’ warning. Other supernaturals have had their battles, but thus far we have been spared. We recently assisted the wolves in their fight against Reyaz, but I’m certain that isn’t what the Fates were referring to.”
“I heard about that,” Reeve said. “That was because of your female?”
Thalion nodded. “It was then that I realized I would do anything for her.”
“When did you finally see her again?”
