“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.

She looked down at her clothes and then back at him. “I shop at Kohl’s?” she said but it came out as a question.

He laughed. “You’re young.”

“Oh,” she snorted. “Right, how have I not aged? That’s a Syndra secret and one that I promised long ago never to reveal. So, that’s all I’ll say about that.”

He held his hands up. “Fair enough, I won’t pressure what’s not yours to give.”

“So what about you?” Lisa asked. “How did you end up with the dark elves?”

“It’s a family business,” he spat out in obvious disgust. “I never wanted to be a part of it, but saying no is never an option for the men in my family. We were basically servants to the dark elves, you served or…,”

“You died,” she finished for him.

He nodded as he took a sip of his wine. “Exactly.”

Lisa felt the wine slowing her thoughts and she knew that it was time to call it a night. She stood and set her glass in the sink. “Tony, it’s been nice talking to you, and as one who has been around the dark elves I will say you have fared rather well for yourself. And if my heart was available and you weren’t so young, I might even consider you an option,” she paused and then laughed. “And that’s the wine talking.” She waved as she walked from the room. “Goodnight,” she called out over her shoulder.

Tony watched her go, his heart beating just a tad faster than it had been. “I wouldn’t count me out just yet, Lisa, not just yet,” he whispered to the empty kitchen.

“You have to keep moving your feet. It keeps your opponent off balance and a moving target is much more difficult to stab than one that is standing still handing out a written invitation,” Rin told Oakley as they stood in Cassie’s back yard.

The only light that shone on them was the large full moon and the night sky that was peppered with stars. The cool air burned Oakley’s lungs as he, sword in hand, once again took up the stance Rin had shown him. Oakley hadn’t asked. Rin had simply walked by him once things had calmed down and told him it was time he got in touch with his other half.

“You are half elf, Oakley. You have the reflexes, the speed, all of it; you just have to learn to use it,” Rin continued to talk as he attacked and Oakley deflected and danced around the yard.

“Will I have a Chosen?” Oakley suddenly asked.

Rin stopped in mid attack and lowered his sword and met the halfling’s eyes. “Probably, but it might be centuries before you find her. I’ve yet to find mine. And it took Trik, well…,” he chuckled, “we won’t talk about how old the king is behind his back.”