“Do you accept me, my liege?” Myrin asked as he stood and looked Trik in the eyes.

“I have known you a very long time. In all my time as the king’s assassin, you never betrayed me. I accept you. But,” he paused and his eyes narrowed, “you need to understand that from this day forward if you assist the dark elves, in any way, it is an automatic death sentence.”

“I understand,” Myrin nodded.

“Good. Now, do you have any information for me that will help me take out Lorsan? He blew up his own castle, Myrin, knowing he would kill his own dark elves.”

“He’s gone mad with the need for more power,” Myrin told him. “He’s even been harsh with his Chosen.”

Trik frowned. “Has he struck her?” If Lorsan was becoming violent with his Chosen, then he indeed had gone mad and needed to be dealt with sooner rather than later.

“Not that I had seen. He’s obsessed with the distribution of Rapture and with killing you. It’s all he talked about in any of the council meetings.”

“When was your last meeting?” Trik asked.

“It’s been several weeks ago,” Myrin answered. “His circle of those he trusts grows smaller and smaller. We had no idea he was going to close the portals. We would never have supported such an action.”

Trik nodded. “I didn’t figure you did, but Lorsan can be quite convincing when he needs to be.”

“Trik,” Myrin’s voice took on an urgency that both Cassie and Trik recognized, and they both watched the elder closely. “You have to kill him. He is going to destroy the human race and our own race if he isn’t stopped.”

“I know, Myrin.” Trik reached out and patted the older elf. “He will be brought to justice.”

“Justice won’t be enough if he manages to enslave an entire nation. No, you will need more than justice. You will need a reckoning of all he’s done; all he’s hurt, and then you will need to give restitution to the human race. He is disrupting the balance, Trik; if he disrupts it too badly then the Forest Lords might just close all the portals,” he paused and looked at Cassie, his eyes full of earnest, “for good.” he finally finished.

Cassie felt those words like a punch to her gut. Close the portals for good? That was not something that could happen, not if she was going to be living in the elfin realm with Trik and her parents were in the human realm. She looked at Trik and she could see that he fully understood just how much that would hurt her if that happened.

“It won’t come to that,” Trik told her. “I’ll kill him before it gets that far.”

She nodded knowing that he would do everything in his power to keep the portals open so that she could still see her parents.

A commotion behind her caught Trik’s attention, and she turned just as Trik pulled her behind him, blocking her with his body. She leaned around his shoulder to see what was happening and she saw Rin come through the mirrored wall along with a man she didn’t recognize. They were both breathing heavy and wielding swords and daggers as if they had just come from a battle. As she looked more intently, she saw that there were a few places on both of them where their clothes had been torn.

“They got it. I’m sorry, liege, but they got it.” Rin’s eyes were wide with shock as he looked at Trik.

“Rin, Tony,” Trik took a step towards them and held up his hand to stop some of the light-elf warriors from grabbing the man he called Tony, “what happened? Who got what? Where are Nedhudir and Elora?”

Rin seemed to be trying to gather himself as he answered. “They are heading back to the store that Elora’s mother owns.”

“Heading back?” Cassie spoke up, stepping around Trik only to be pulled to his side by one of his strong arms. “Where were they?”

Rin turned his attention on Cassie, and she could see that though he wasn’t breathing hard, he was tired. “Forgive me, my queen, but it is a long story. Is there any way we could sit down before I begin?”

Cassie nodded. “Of course.”

“Let’s go to the dining hall. I’ll have food and water brought,” Trik told them as he turned toward one of the warriors and motioned for him to carry out his orders.

Once they were all settled at the table with water for Tony and Rin, and some sort of elf version of chips and dip, Rin finally began the tale starting with when he and Nedhudir, who he now calls Cush thanks to Elora, stepped through the master portal with Lisa. Tamsin and Syndra joined them somewhere during the story, and they all listened in rapt attention as he told them of arriving at Oakley’s, seeing Cassie’s parents, of the Book of the Elves, going to Las Vegas and Elora having evil urges, which made Cassie snicker. He told them of Tarron and his attempt to kill Tony, and then how they went to California and burned the crops and destroyed the Rapture that was already made. When he finally got to the part about Cush tying Elora up so he could go back to their blown up vehicle to retrieve the Book of the Elves, Cassie was nearly rolling on the floor laughing along with Syndra.

“I’m sorry,” she said as she held her hand up in a placating gesture. “I know it’s serious and I truly am terrified for all of their lives, but I really wish I could have seen her tied up.”

“I bet she was spitting mad,” Syndra agreed.

“She had a few choice words for all of us,” Rin told them and then continued his tale. He back tracked a moment to tell them about Tony trying to open the portals only for Cush to be grabbed when he put his hand into the mirror. Then he finally told them of how they came to be the ones that traveled through the portal only to be attacked while inside the portal by dark elves. As Rin finished speaking he stood up and reached behind him. Untucking his shirt, he pulled what appeared to be the torn cover of a book from beneath it and laid it on the table in front of them.