Slamming (Through Time 3)

“Will they not?” she looked at him with great concern. “You can’t believe that?”

He sighed heavily, “Aye then, I raised a son and I am a male m’self, so then, what do I believe? I do believe you are right in this.”

“Even so, I shall order them to stand down.”

“You can, and as your loyal prince he will agree. In the end, the male in him will do what he has to do. He will see this through if only to test Pestale’s limits.”

“Why can’t he see that it is a trap?” Aaibhe was deeply concerned.

“He does see it, but he thinks he can turn the table on Pestale. I doona think so, but we must arm Prince Trevor accordingly.”

“Yes, Morgan,” she said pyramiding her hands even as he bent to kiss her lips. She looked up into his loving eyes. She was stymied. Pestale kept managing to come back stronger than before. Softly she murmured, “But how dearest?”

~*~

At the long table, his fists hammering on its polished oak, Breslyn shouted, “Enough!” He eyed the gathered group standing around the table and shook his handsome head and Jazz smiled to herself. He had such presence.

“From what I can make out over the din, we seem to be in agreement everyone believes that this is being set up as a trap. I vote we do not allow this meeting to go forward,” Breslyn said with authority.

Most of the gathered Royals all nodded, though each appeared to Jazz as being deep in thought. She looked at Z, who was frowning darkly as she chewed her bottom lip. She saw Z lean into Danté and whisper something she couldn’t make out.

She looked around. No one had anything to say. She looked at Trevor’s face and saw at once that his jaw-line was rigidly set and he was gritting his teeth. He had made up his mind. He wasn’t paying any attention to Breslyn and her heart trembled.

She cleared her throat and offered, “We need to consider that Pestale wants something that must be meaningful to him. He isn’t setting a trap just to kill two powerful Seelie Fae. No, it has to go beyond that. So we have to ask ourselves what that could be. What does Pestale hope to achieve by this so called meeting? We also have to find the answer to why he chose Trevor and Deimne. That just doesn’t make any sense. Pestale killed Lana LeBlanc. Why would he want to negotiate with Trevor when he knows how much Trevor wants him dead? Why Deimne? This meeting he has proposed is most definitely a trap”.

“Well as to his choice of Fae, he knows we would never allow our Queen to be exposed. He has seen that both Danté and Breslyn have years of experience and can’t be fooled,” Z answered and looked at Trevor. “No offense Trev. He knows you would take him apart and put him in the earth to suffer eternity in agony. He also knows if your Queen sends you to hear his offer you will do so and respect the moment without violence. As to why Deimne, I haven’t a clue.”

“How can it be a trap when I can shift in and out at will. I have a Death Sword with one of its crowning properties being that it can’t miss its target when thrown,” Trevor said and shook his head. “He may be planning a trap of some sort, but he hasn’t a chance in hell of accomplishing it with Deimne at my side. A Sluagh? He can’t beat a Sluagh!”

Morgan, who had come back into the chamber with the Queen said, “Pestale killed my baby girl! I shall forever ache for her and doona think anyone wants him dead more than I. However, there are larger matters than revenge at stake here. There are countless humans that will die if we doona contain the Unseelie. If there is a chance of negotiating we must do so. But here is the rub. He isn’t calling for this meeting to negotiate.”

Aaibhe regarded him quietly and said, “I quite agree.”

“Trevor and Chance bested Pestale not so long ago,” Z said thoughtfully. He was sent to the Dark Realm. “Maybe he chose Trevor because of that?”

“Deimne is his wild card,” Jazz said. “He means to lull us perhaps by choosing an all powerful Daoine to watch Trevor’s back.”

“A point,” Danté said and nodded.

Jazz eyed him. “Point or no.” She stepped up to her mate and looked right into his golden eyes. “Where Trev goes, I go.”

“Maybe that is it. Maybe you are who he wants. You have been pretty up front and personal, taking down Unseelie twenty at a time,” Z answered. “Maybe he is trying to draw you out.”

“No, you are not going to this meeting. Not this time, Jazmin

e Decker. But don’t you worry, I am bloody well ready for the devil,” Trev said with a sneer.

“You are ready?” Jazz stomped her foot and glared at him. “No one can be ready for him. You don’t think like him and you won’t react the way he would react. I have one thing up on you, my human gut! It is telling me that you will need me on the scene. He is plotting something and you are a means to it. The best thing we can do is keep you far away from him.” She looked at the Queen. “With all due respect, Queen Aaibhe I am not meaning to tell you what to do, but I do wish you would order Trevor to stand down. If you wish to negotiate with the devil, do it on paper and not in person.”

Danté said, “It is clear that he won’t negotiate with anyone but a Royal. I shall go because I think that Jazmine Decker is correct and this has something to do with Trevor.”

“You will do no such thing, not without me anyway,” Z said angrily.

“Indeed,” Queen Aaibhe said softly as she gazed at them. “I understand everything you all have said and I quite agree. Trevor you will stand down. There shall not be any meeting with any of us, at least not until Pestale withdraws his monsters and keeps them in check. He must first show good faith.”

Jazz sighed, but looking at Trevor she knew this command would only serve to delay the inevitable. Trevor seemed bent on meeting with Pestale, no doubt to kill him.

“The answer we need lies with Twalla,” Jazz stuck in taking a step forward. The answer has been there ever since Trevor told us what Crystal told him. What we need to do is wait until we have it in our possession before we negotiate with Pestale. We are all agreed that Pestale is planning something, so why don’t we gather our forces and do the same?”