“My queen.” The she elf bowed her head to Ilyrana but then turned back to him.

“Are you ready for me to reopen the portals?”

“Not yet,” he snapped. “I don’t want Trik and his band of warriors able to run once they get in here. I want them trapped, so when the castle goes, they go with it.”

“So you mean to go through with your plan?” Ilyrana asked, not removing her eyes from the young she elf who still stared at him with starry eyes. Lorsan felt his heart soften towards his Chosen.

He walked over to her and took her chin in his hand pulling her attention to him. “I’ve treated you unfairly as of late, my love. I’m sorry. I’ve just been under a lot of pressure. But you are the last person I should take it out on,” he told her silently.

“Thank you,” she whispered and then finished silently. “Once she is of no use to us I want her dead. She is looking upon you as no women should look at a mated male, and I will not tolerate insolent females in our kingdom.”

“As you wish, my love,” he told her before kissing her gently. When he pulled back, the walls shook as Trik’s power hit the castle again. “Damn assassin,” he growled.

Ilyrana smiled. “You miss him.”

“How can I not? He was the only one willing to banter with me without cowering like a weakling before me. There aren’t many men like that and it pains me to lose him.” He paused and when the castle shook yet again he shrugged. “But I have a strict policy that no matter how much I like a man, once he starts trying to kill me our friendship is over.”

“A good policy to have, my love,” she smiled at him.

“Enough of this,” he said as one of his warriors came into the throne room. “Let them in; I’m ready to be on my way.”

“Yes, my liege,” the warrior bowed and then left to do as his king bid.

“Get ready to open those portals, Melda,” Lorsan told the woman. He took his mate’s hand and pulled her towards one of the mirrored walls. “I will take no chances with you, my queen. As soon as the light-elf warriors make their appearance, I want you to head to the vineyards in the human realm. I will be right behind you. I just want to see Trik’s face once he realizes he’s walked right into my trap.”

Chapter 15

“You’ve heard the saying hindsight’s 20/20. Well whoever said that knew what they were freaking talking about. You can always look back and see perfectly the finger that’s about to shoot you in the head as the world crashes in around you. It’s in those moments that a person finds themselves wishing that their hindsight vision was just as crappy as their regular vision.” ~Elora

The massive doors to the dark-elf castle opened and the warriors took advantage of it before Trik could command them stop.

“Dammit!” he yelled as he grabbed Cassie’s hand and started running with her towards the door the warriors were flooding in. He knew breaching the dark-elf castle walls should not have been this easy. Lorsan must have a scheme up his sleeve and more than likely it ends with all of them as corpses.

“Tamsin, pull them back!” he yelled at the other king. Tamsin nodded and started yelling orders to pull back but the battle had already begun. Elves—light and dark—met in the halls amidst flashes of steel and magic. Trik noticed the dark warriors were backing up as if in retreat, which only ignited the predatory battle lust of the light elves. What does a predator do when its prey runs? They gave chase even as Tamsin yelled at them to get back. Damn undisciplined elves, Trik thought to himself.

“TRIK!” He was brought from his thoughts at the panic in Cassie’s voice. He turned just in time to see her duck out of the way of a dark-elf’s sword. She moved just as he’d taught her, ducking the blade, and in one smooth move she pulled out the small dagger in her boot and sliced it across the knees of her attacker. She slid past him on her knees and Trik finished him with a pulse of power straight to his heart.

He watched as his Chosen stood panting, staring down at the now dead dark elf. She was magnificent and she was his. He smiled at her. “I like it when you scream my name.”

She laughed, which is exactly why he made the outrageous statement at the most inappropriate time. The battle was still going on and as much as he just wanted to stand and admire his female, he had a king to kill. “Come on, Beautiful. Let’s go use those kick ass skills on some more dark elves.”

She took his hand once again and they continued on down the hall. Trik knew this castle like the back of his hand and he began moving to the throne room. He could hear the clashing of swords and shouts of anger as the two factions fought and for the first time in all his years of battle he worried for his men—worried for the lives of someone other than himself. Frankly, it was very weird for him to feel such emotions. He pushed it aside as he entered the throne room which now resembled a battlefield. Bodies littered the floor, both dark and light, and the clash of steel and the flashes of light from elf magic reverberated across the hall. He pushed Cassie behind him as his eyes searched the room for the one elf he came to kill; all the others were collateral damage.

After one sweep he found him and knew the second he saw the smirk on Lorsan’s face they were in trouble. Lorsan gave a slight nod and that was when he saw the she-elf, Melda, standing next to him working some sort of magic over the mirrors. His eyes went back to Lorsan who suddenly made an exploding motion with his hands. Trik’s heart dropped when he read Lorsan’s lips.