“I totally agree, Cassie, which is why I came.” Syndra knelt down so that she was eye level with her. “Don’t give up on him. I know you are angry and you have every right to be. But try and see things from his point of view. I’m not excusing his behavior, and he will have to answer to you for it. But he is old, and has lived a long time in darkness. It will take time for him to see that not all is lost in him. He needs you just as you need him.”
Cassie watched as Syndra stood and walked towards her window.
“It is ultimately your choice, Cassandra. Make sure it is the right one.” She stepped through the window as easily as if it were open and was gone.
Cassie didn’t know how long she sat on her floor. She was still trying to get her mind around the fact that the same guy who had held her and kissed her so passionately had been in the arms of another hours later. She finally stood and went through the motions of getting ready for bed.
As she lay in the dark in her room, silent tears slipped down her cheeks as she let the pain of loss engulf her.
~
Days passed and still Cassie heard nothing from Trik. She refused to talk about it, though Elora continued to ask. Every night she lay in her bed and her heart seemed to break all over again. She wondered why she wasn’t experiencing the horrific pain that she had that first time that he had left. When she realized why she began to cry even harder. If she wasn’t hurting, it could only mean one thing, Trik didn’t want to be with her. He wasn’t forcing himself to stay away. He really didn’t want to be with her.
~
It had been exactly one month since the night Syndra had come to Cassie and told her of Trik’s hurtful actions. Four weeks of anger, hurt, and longing, but still he didn’t come.
~
Trik watched as his brethren brought barrel after barrel of the powerful soil from his realm into the human world. They spread it out over the valley, covering the soil where the vineyard had been. They continually mixed it, so their own soil seeped down into the earth. Even now as he watched over the wishes of his King , he thought of her. Pain and anger radiated through him. At times , when her own anger and pain sought him out , he nearly stumbled under their oppression. Others avoided him at all costs, recognizing the danger they put themselves in if they were near him. He didn’t care. He didn’t care about anything anymore. He was simply doing his duty. Lorsan gave his orders and Trik obeyed. He didn’t sleep for fear of seeing her face . He never remained idle, knowing that if he stopped for one second, he would go running back to her, begging her forgiveness. He knew that was the wrong thing to do. She didn’t need him. And she surely couldn’t want him anymore, not after what he had done.
Trik walked through the fields, inspecting one of the solar panels that he’d had installed throughout the property. The panels were to serve as direct passageways from their realm to the crops, making it easy for the elves to harvest what they needed. As he stood up from his inspection, for the first time in more weeks than he could count, he knew that he heard her voice.
“Trik,” she called to him.
Their souls were forever connected and everything in him longed to answer his Chosen. The pain he felt at hearing her say his name drove him to his knees. He clutched his chest as he felt his heart constrict and the breath rush from his lungs. His soul reached out through him, grasping at the voice and Trik realized that it wasn’t Cassie speaking his name, it was her soul. Her very soul was crying out to him.
“Why do you call and not her?” His own soul asked earnestly.
“Her heart attempts to move on.” Cassie’s soul was filled with anguish and disgust at the idea of another.
Trik understood what her soul was saying. Cassie was with someone else. Rage, unbidden, pure, and blinding crashed into and out of him. He felt the fear of those around him but didn’t care how his power was affecting them. All he could focus on was Cassie. He thought of her in detail, allowing his soul to reach out even more so that they could find her. He stepped through the solar panel and into a bathroom.
~
Cassie dressed in what she had deemed the sluttiest butterfly, if butterflies could be sluts, costume she could find. She stood next to Elora, who was wearing the next sluttiest butterfly costume she could find. Elora’s costume was only second to Cassie’s because Cassie’s boobs were bigger. Music pulsed around them and black lights made everything glow eerily.
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this costume,” Cassie yelled over the music.
“Give me a break. You look hot. Todd can’t keep his eyes off you,” Elora yelled back.
“Or his hands,” Cassie muttered. She glanced around the room, looking between the swaying bodies and past the make out sessions to see if she could find the host of this year’s anticipated Halloween bash, and to her chagrin, her date.
“Where did octopus arms run off to anyways?” Cassie leaned in close to Elora’s ear this time so she didn’t have to yell.
“I think he and Sam went to get us drinks,” Elora answered.
Elora had talked her into being Todd’s date to the party, after giving her a lecture that a month with no word from the cowardice, feeble excuse for a dark elf assassin, emphasis on the ass, was long enough to mope over and to get her ass up, Elora’s words.
So here Cassie stood in a room full of blaring music and scantily clad Halloween costumes, waiting for a guy she didn’t like to bring her a drink she didn’t want. “Happy freaking Halloween to me,” Cassie muttered under her breath just as she felt an arm slip around from behind her.
“Got my girl a drink.” Cassie felt Todd’s breath against her neck and tried not to cringe at the unwanted sensation. He smelled of sweat and beer. She took the drink from him and slyly slid from his arm as she turned to look at him.
“Great party,” Cassie yelled over the music.
Todd nodded. “It’s even bigger than the one I had last year.”
Cassie smiled over the rim of her cup as she took a small sip. She tried not to cough as the burn of the alcohol hit her throat. She had told herself that after that one sip she wouldn’t take another, especially after she tasted just how much alcohol Todd had poured into it, but the more Todd talked the more her hand seemed to raise the cup to her mouth. Cassie hoped that she was nodding in all the right places as she tried to listen to him, but found it increasingly difficult as her brain began to get foggy. Finally someone yelled Todd’s name and he excused himself.