Twenty-Five

Seth surveyed his fey that had gathered around the kingdom. He could taste their eagerness which added to his nerves. He felt like he was sending them all to their deaths.

He was aware that dark fey were heartless, and their lack of emotion would give them an edge over the light fey. But he also knew that his fey felt strongly for this and were united. The passion each one had could easily be enough to make them reign supreme.

It was going to be a difficult war.

“When are we going to have the first attack?” Anthony asked, not bothering to mask his enthusiasm. 

Seth paused before answering, “Before the dark fey has a chance to.”

“Do you have a plan?”

“Umm,” Seth cleared his throat, “I was kinda hoping you would offer some of your expertise.”

There’s to much to lose, and I don’t have enough experience.

Anthony laughed, “No problem, I was waiting for you to ask me.”

“Good,” he lowered his voice for the next part, “have you found a way to keep Darby occupied? I don’t want her around this.”

“The last time she was reported seen was this afternoon. She was talking to one of the changed faeries.”

Seth raised an eyebrow, “Montana? I wonder what happened there.”

Anthony shrugged, “Seemed harmless so the guard let them be.”

Seth pushed the thought of Darby into the back of his head. 

I have to stay completely focused, I will not let my own carelessness be the component that tears my empire down.

Kellen didn’t stop moving as he heard Scarlet scamper to catch up with him.

“When will my fey be ready?” He questioned, his voice stone cold.

“They’ve always been ready, they’re excited to prove themselves to you,” she responded evenly.

Kellen felt a pang of affection for his fey as he took that in. “Tell them how proud of them I am.”

“Tell them yourself, it would be helpful for them to see their king.”

He nodded.

Anything to help motivate them.

“Will you join them in the war?” Scarlet turned to look at him.

“No. They have their generals, I need to stay out of fire.”

I won’t lose. 

She sighed, “At least you’re smart enough to realize that.”

He refrained from his typical reaction of yelling, instead he only cocked an eyebrow, “You do realize I am your king, correct?”

“I know, it’s just hard to think of you that way when I know you so well,” she rolled her thumb over his enclosed fist.

He pulled away and continued walking.

“You saw her today,” she called out, “were your nightmares confirmed?”

He stopped. Giving her the chance to breezily stride to him. He growled,
“What did I tell you about bringing her up?”

“Forget her, you experienced first hand how happy she was with the light King.”

“I will destroy her king,” Kellen snarled.

“And she will die,” Scarlet stated simply.

He shook his head, “I won’t let that happen.”

Scarlet looked at him in amusement, “How do you figure that?”

He grit his teeth, “I will find a way. Turn her dark if I have to.”

“She’s to weak to be one of us. She’ll die no matter what if you kill her King.”

“Then there’s no point to this damn war,” Kellen roared.

Except for the satisfaction of seeing Seth dead. 

“Don’t be a baby,” she snorted, “you call off this war and you’ll be a coward. I don’t want to live under the rule of a coward.”

He spun towards her, surprise and realization thick in his voice, “You want Darby dead.”

She met his eyes fearlessly, “I want you to take me to bed. And if Darby has to be killed for that to happen,” she shrugged, “You’re worth it.”

“You’re sick,” he told her in disgust.

“So are you,” she smiled, pushing her lips against his.

He pushed her off, ignoring the overwhelming desire to bring her closer, “No.” He didn’t want to believe that he could’ve caused her to be this disturbed. 

I seduced her. I turned her dark. How is it not my fault?

This time she didn’t try to catch up with him as he left her standing there. But he could hear her voice clearly as though it was said right in his ear.

“I can wait, my king, soon she’ll be dead in the ground with her lover and I’ll be the one to warm your bed.”

“Darby, will you please tell me what you’re thinking?” Seth laughed, “I’m not a mind reader.”

“You won’t be fighting in the war, will you?” Darby finally spoke.

He kissed the top of her head, “If I did who would take care of you?”

“I don’t need to be taken care of,” she nuzzled him.

“So you want me to fight?” He snickered, although it wasn’t a humorous subject.

She looked horrified, “Of course not!”

“Then I won’t,” he promised.

She smiled in relief, “Good.”

He kissed her neck sensually.

I can forget everything when I’m around her.

“Do you know Montana?” She began.

“Yes. I heard you met her today.”

“I did.”

“And?”

“I like her.”

“I’m glad, she’s a good faerie.”

“Will she be fighting?”

“I don’t know. A lot of faeries will, it depends on whether she wants to or not. I’m not forcing anyone to fight. Most of them want to.”

“Do you want me to fight?”

He didn’t hesitate, “No.”

“Would you allow me to?”

He laughed, “Of course I would. I don’t own you.”

“I don’t want to fight,” she told him.

He chuckled, “Then it’s not a problem.”

She smiled and leaned in to kiss him, pushing herself close to his body. Her mouth was fierce and urgent on his. 

This is new.

He waited for her to pull away but she didn’t. His wings met with hers and he felt the heat rise in the room.

I may be the cause of that. . .

It wasn’t long after that she pulled away and blushed, “I don’t know what got into me,” but he could see in her eyes that she knew right damn well.

“Whatever it was,” he grinned, “I liked it.”

She smiled, “Lately I’ve been feeling inspired.”

They were quiet a moment. The easy silence being broken by their heartbeats. 

“We’re going to win, Anthony and I came up with a brilliant strategy,” Seth told her. 

She propped herself up on an elbow, “Tell me about it.”

That’s when he paused.

Could she handle talking about Kellen’s death?

“You brought it up, remember?” She laughed, “you might as well tell me.”

She’s not going to be ready.

“Come on,” she urged, “I need to know these things.”

“I will,” he backtracked, “I just realized a flaw in it, so there is no point in telling you a losing plan.”

It was obvious that she didn’t buy it. She stared at him before asking, “Is it going to hurt him?”

“Only his ego,” he promised, “then he’ll be dead and won’t feel a thing.”

“Are you going to be the one to do it?”

After a moment he responded, “Yes.”

“Then if we just need to kill him why send everyone else in to battle?”

“Victories can be achieved in a couple different ways. You can kill the opposing king so the empire loses all his fey. Or you can surrender. Of course, some wars- like this one- you can’t surrender. Generally you can get away with the embarrassing defeat and the winning empire gains whatever they were fighting for. But if you surrender on ones like this, you lose your life.”

“How many faerie wars have there been?”

He shrugged, “A couple of minor ones. We’ve never had something worth risking our lives and surrender for. The rules have always been in place, but this is the only one where a surrender results in death.”

“Who’s one the most?”

Seth blushed, “The Dark Empire. We’ve yet to win one. Most of the wars were started to stop the Dark Empire from some cruel act they were committing, needless to say, they won and kept their rules. We haven’t had something we’ve all felt passionate enough about before. This is the first time.”

“So, Kellen is quite confident with securing his victory.”

“Arrogant,” Seth corrected.

Darby paused a moment then said, “It seems to me that it’s about time the Light Empire had it’s turn to win.”