Ten

Seth gave the faerie a questioning look, “And why should this information interest me?”

“It doesn’t seem strange to you that a light faerie is being protected by the Dark King’s guards?” The faerie raised an eyebrow.

Anthony slipped forward, “Seth, would you like me to escort her out?”

The faerie stepped away from Anthony and defiantly moved closer to Seth.

He paused in answering. It wasn’t unusual for Kellen to be with a light faerie, but he never had her in the care of guards. “Tell me about her,” he decided.

Pleased, the faerie went into a detailed description, “Well, she was new. Long black hair, brown eyes, and Italian. Underneath her glamour I could tell she had black wings and tattoo. Oh, and she had a necklace, looked like something a faerie would’ve given her.”

He started.

Darby. 

He turned to Anthony, “Contact the Dark King immediately. I need to speak with him.”

The faerie straightened proudly as Anthony left.

Seth sat back in his chair.

Darby’s mine. 

He was looking forward to seeing her again, he’d have a lot of explaining to do about who he was. But once she understood why he had to hide his identity she’d forgive him.

“Who is she?” The faerie’s voice made him focus.

“Quite frankly, Scarlet, I don’t think it concerns you,” he replied, standing up, “thank you for your services. You can leave now.”

Scarlet’s face turned as red as her hair and tattoo. She crossed her arms and scowled, “That’s it? I give you valuable information and you give me nothing in return?”

He sighed, “Fine, what do you want?”

“There’s many things I want,” she mused, “but I hear a king’s loving is better than anything a faerie could ever imagine. The Dark King proved it right, would you help me answer it as well?”

“Anything else?” He suggested uncomfortably. It wasn’t that Scarlet wasn’t worth it, he just didn’t reward his faeries with sex like Kellen did. He believed it was something that you did with the one you loved, not whoever is in the room when you’re in the mood.

“That’s what I want.”

He motioned to his guards to take her out. Instantly they grabbed her arms and pulled her out.

How did that rumor get started? 

Shortly after Scarlet left Anthony came back empty handed.

“Where’s Kellen?” He raised an eyebrow.

“He’s gone. His advisor was the only one there.”

“Darby was gone too?”

“The new faerie? Yes, she wasn’t there.”

Seth faltered.

He took her.

He looked up, “Find them,” he demanded. When they find him there would be nothing that was going to stand in his way of killing him.”

“His advisor did say that he’d be back for the celebration of life,” Anthony added.

Seth groaned in frustration. He’d be back on Sunday, there wouldn’t be much point of hunting him down. 

But where did he go? 

Darby stared outside the airplane window. As soon as they got back to the flat and the guard told Kellen about the light faeries she was told to pack her bag and the two of them got on a plane. She didn’t even know where they were going.

Kellen sat beside her and grinned, “You excited?”

“I’d be more if I knew where we were going.”

His eyes sparkled mischievously, “It’s a surprise.”

She glowered for a moment before leaning her head on his shoulder. He put an arm around her. His thumb reached under her shirt and rubbed her lower back.

“I’ll give you a hint,” he decided, “there are a lot of lights.”

“What kind of hint is that?”

He shrugged, “It worked for me.”

She shook her head, “Can you explain to me why today your guards made me leave a coffee shop? Isn’t that pretty safe?”

“There were people there that we didn’t want you to run into.”

“The light faeries?” She guessed.

“Yes.”

She paused, “Will I ever get to meet Seth?”

“Not if I can help it.”

“Why not?”

Kellen struggled to find the right words, “I don’t think he’d approve and his lightness would annoy you.”

She smiled and they sat in silence as the plane shook from turbulence.

“You hungry yet?” He asked.

“When I’m hungry I can feed myself.”

“You’re still young, I want to make sure you keep your strength up.”

She knew there’d be no reasoning with him, “Fine.”

He fed her something sweet, a little to sweet from what she expected from the Dark Empire, “What emotion was that?”

“Happiness.”

“I didn’t think that the Dark Empire could feel happiness,” she admitted.

“It’s unlikely but not impossible for dark fey to be happy. Are you happy?”

“Well, yeah.”

“As am I. Actually, I’m happy whenever you’re with me.”

She blushed and smiled as the plane began to prepare for landing in the unknown destination.