Oakley smiled but it faded fast as he thought about not finding the one person who would complete him for another hundred years. “How do you do it? How do you keep going?”

“We fight.” Rin grinned mischievously. “Why do you think there are light and dark elves? We got sick of just sitting around waiting for our Chosens so we started killing each other.”

Oakley laughed. “Good to know that humans aren’t the only stupid race.”

Rin snorted. “You do realize that means you got a double dose of stupid, right?”

Oakley grinned. “I’m so glad my sister wasn’t here to see me walk into that one.”

“No worries, I’ll tell her.”

“Wait, isn’t there some warrior’s code or something about not humiliating each other,” Oakley asked.

Rin got back in a battle stance and looked at Oakley with one brow raised. “I tell you what. You tag me one time and I won’t tell your sister that you labeled yourself as stupid squared.”

“Triktapic.” Trik opened his eyes at the sound of his name. He was no longer in Cassie’s room. He was in the forest and the Forest Lords stood before him. He knelt and bowed his head as he felt their glory pour over him and through him. For the first time in a long time, he felt hope—real hope—flow through his veins.

“You have done well, our servant. Although you feel discouraged and are weary, know that you will be victorious. Stay on the path that is true. It will be hard, it will be narrow, and your enemy will attack from all sides, but if you fight the good fight you will conquer them. We created you for such a time as this, Great King of the Elven race. We have given you the power and the strength you will need to be victorious. Utilize those around you and accept their help, for no man was created to be an island. Take comfort from your Chosen and heed her wisdom; protect her with yours. Through her, your line will continue to lead the elves. We are pleased with you, Triktapic; you have found favor with us.”

Trik felt his heart swell as tears fell from his eyes. “Thank you,” he choked out the words and then they poured out of him unchecked. “I fear that I will collapse under the weight of what I must do. I feel Cassie’s pain and fear and I can’t take it from her and it tears me up inside. How do I do what I must when I know she is hurting? How do I move forward knowing that others could be hurt because of my choices and my leadership? How do I be what you created me to be?”

He felt enveloped in protection as a hand touched his forehead. And if he could remember a time that his mother or father held him, he imagined that this is what it must have felt like.

“You move when we tell you to, you go where we tell you to, you do what we ask, you love who we love, you sacrifice freely, you forgive, but you deal out justice where we show you it is needed. You trust your Creators and when you stumble, know that we will help you get back up. This is not too much for you, Triktapic. It is enough, but it is not too much. We have given you wide shoulders for which to bear it and a strong back to carry the load and when it is too much, you kneel before us and we will carry it for you. You are loved, you are chosen, and you are blessed. Do not forget what we have told you; do not forget us, for we never forget you.”

Epilogue

“I have to wonder if there really is such a thing as too late and part of me, the romantic in me, wants to say that it’s never too late. But then I’m faced with an evil that I’ve never experienced, and it’s so dark and so hideous that I find myself wholeheartedly nodding that yes, there is indeed such a thing as too late.” ~Cassie

“I can’t go with you; I’m sorry, Tarron. I love you, but that’s not the life I want. I don’t want to live forever. I want to live for the eighty or so years allotted to me. I want to live this life I have to the absolute fullest and experience everything it has to offer with the knowledge that it could be the last time I experience it. That’s what makes life so precious, don’t you see?” Lucy implored him.

Tarron had stopped listening after I can’t go with you. His mind had shut down at those words, and all he could hear was her voice ringing in his ears with the finality of rejection. She was choosing to live as a human without him because he had already told her that he would not lower himself to the status of mortal. Didn’t she see what she was giving up? Didn’t she see the gift he was offering her, and yet, here she stood throwing it back in his face. He felt bitterness take root and wrap around his heart like a twisted vine crushing out any compassion or affection he might have had for his Chosen despite the fact that she was human.

“Then you will live a short, miserable life because to be separated from your mate against your will is painful. That is the life you choose,” he told her.

“You could stay here with me,” Lucy said hopefully with her wide innocent eyes. “Don’t you want to be with me? You told me that you loved me, Tarron. Is one lifetime of our love not enough for you?

Those eyes at one time could have persuaded him to move mountains for her, but not anymore.

“I already told you that I would not choose a mortal life. Why would I when I can have many lifetimes?”

“Then I am not the only one choosing to live in pain,” she countered, though not rudely.

Lucy was never rude; she was the gentlest creature he had ever met and by some cruel twist of fate, the Forest Lords had given her to him. They should have known that he could never handle something so fragile and pure.