“Shh, my beautiful one.” His words only made Cassie’s tears fall faster. “Of course you are mine. Have I not shown you, told you, possessed you body and soul?”

“Yes,” she whispered through the tears and though he had done all those things, one thing still remained and she tried to stop the thought before it came but she knew that he had seen it when he tensed. It took only one heartbeat for him to relax again.

The tears stained her face as she began to compose herself. She was being ridiculous. Trik had shown her how he felt about her; she didn’t need to hear it to know it was true.

He held her face and kissed each tear away and then pressed one gentler kiss to her lips.

“We should go,” he told her as he stepped back and helped her straighten her dress.

He smiled and considered her slightly tousled look. “You are breathtaking after I have loved on you.”

Cassie rolled her eyes. “Is that a compliment for me or you?”

He took her hand and laughed as he pulled her back towards the windows. “A little of both I suppose.”

“Of course it is,” she mumbled as they once again stepped into the glass.

Chapter 12

“I feel it deep inside me. Something pushes, a memory, but I do not know if I want to learn what that memory is. The realms are restless, as dark skies overtake the light. I know everything is about to change. I’m going to have to make a choice. What if I choose wrongly? What if I choose her? I don’t know if I can be what she needs. I know I don’t deserve her. I know that I have done something in my past that has made me unworthy of her love. What is it? What did I do? I know who I was, but I don’t know how I became who I am.” ~Triktapic

Cassie and Trik walked down a long corridor, with cathedral ceilings and pristine, black onyx walls. It was a breathtaking sight. Spaced evenly along the length of the corridor were torches hanging on the walls. The flickering flames cast shadows across the floor appearing as if caught in a timeless dance.

When they had stepped into the glass of the conference room window and out of a mirror into one of Trik’s suites in the Dark King’s castle, Cassie was convinced that she had to be dreaming. Everything she laid her eyes on was beautiful, made of the highest quality and most precise technique. It was clear that Lorsan spared no expense.

Even now as she walked through the castle and down the corridor gradually growing closer to th e main room, the evidence of his greed was all around her.

“Why does he have so many nice things?” Cassie asked Trik.

Trik looked down at her as his brow furrowed. “Because he can.” His answer was so clipped that Cassie realized that Trik had thought her question ridiculous.

“We shouldn’t always do something just because we can, Trik.”

Trik let out a deep breath and lowered his eyes. “I know,” his words were barely above a whisper.

They finally stood before the large doors of what Trik had called the main hall. Cassie never understood why they called a large room the main hall, when it wasn’t a hall at all. She shrugged off the thought and brought her mind back to the matter at hand. She was about to enter the room where the Evil King and his Queen were waiting for them. They had put together this Happy Chosen party and she was the guest of honor. Yippee, she thought to herself. She felt Trik squeeze her and saw a smirk on his face. He was looking into her mind and catching her little sarcastic tidbits.

She let out a deep breath and plastered a smile on her face, though all she felt like doing was throwing up.

“Please don’t,” Trik whispered to her.

“Would you please mind your own business?”

“You are my business, beautiful,” Trik told her never missing a beat.

He pulled her hand up to his mouth and kissed it. His eye caught on the ring and he touched it lightly. “Better take that off for now. Can you put it somewhere?”

Cassie quirked an eyebrow at him. “I’m wearing a dress that fits like a second skin and you ask me if I have some place to stick a ring?”

Trik grinned and it was a wicked, wicked grin. “That dress is no doubt incredible, but it’s what’s underneath that is stunning.”

Cassie blushed as she slipped the ring off. She looked down at herself and thought nothing could be done for it. So she looked up at Trik with her own wicked grin and stuck the ring down in her ample bosom. Her grin spread even wider when Trik’s eyes nearly bugged out of his glorious face.

“If you,” Trik started to speak but Cassie held up a hand to stop him and whispered. “Not a word.”

The doors to the main hall began to open and Cassie held her breath as she waited.

“Breathe love,” Trik whispered.

When the doors were finally opened all the way Cassie was able to see that the black onyx theme carried into the hall. The only difference was the subtle red accents added to this room. The tables along the side of the room, which held every food under the sun, had a black table covering with vases of red flowers spaced throughout.

Huge chandeliers with silver candles hung from the cathedral ceiling. In-between each chandelier was a banner with a different picture depicted on them. There were a total of four banners alternating in color from red to black holding a picture that was the opposite of the banner. So the first banner was black and had a red snake, or what looked like a snake on it. The second banner was red with a black tree on it, the third black with a red dragon on it and the fourth was red with black stars on it. Cassie stared at the banners and for a moment she swore she saw the great red dragon move.