Succubus Queen Book 3

Chapter 11

Ten Years Later

Carter never answered, and a decade later they still didn't know why. Dar sat in his powered chair hunched over his friend's new body. This one was completely human in appearance if not in abilities but, like its predecessors, it had issues. "I knew it," Dar muttered pulling his chin off the stand and eyes away from the micros. "Damn servo is shot," He gestured to one of his floaters to bring him a new one. "Glad you found it I don't wanna go around slapping people by mistake," A ghostly Ar-Khan chuckled as Dar made the repair. This newest problem showed itself by the right arm of this body freezing at the shoulder forcing Ar-Khan to swing hard to unlock it...almost slapping Heraditeez in the process. The Vizier hadn't been hurt but it was embarrassing. Almost as if cued, the Vizier poked his head into the workshop and smiled, "My Lord you and the Queen will need to leave for the kids' graduation soon." Ah, Darsian and Liandra, their fellowships finished. He nodded, "Five minutes and will be done." Kynna walks in behind Heraditeez, "Dar let Ar-Khan have his lion body today. The twins love riding his back, and we have to go. They really haven't seen you since that day 10 years ago. And I miss you as well." Dar's face scrunched up as he tried to keep from laughing. Heraditeez wasn't so lucky as he chuckled then cleared his throat. Dar looked at Ar-Khan, Ar-Khan looked at Dar. It was the lions way of saying, "You better tell her cause I am not." "Love, since it is a human State University, perhaps bringing a 9-foot-tall lion weighing four tons is not such a good idea. The whole point of this human form was so he could pass in human society. Which our two older kids seem incessantly obsessed with," Dar winked at his wife and motioned to Ar-Khan that he was done.

Kynna sighs some and nods. She watched some but she felt they had slowly grown apart in the past 10 years because of what happened and her feeling she was not fast enough to slow the process of the spell down. She wondered also why carter and the gods all stayed away from her family. Kynna turned to go heads to their earthly home to make sure everyone else was ready.

Dar watched her leave, and a few minutes felt her portal out to the mansion. Everything about some of their exchanges now just hurt. The distance. The sadness. He hardly heard their Guardian complimenting him on how much better the arm was now. Dar shook from his emotional miasma, "Oh...yeah. I'm going to get ready so go do your exercise course and make sure everything is working properly. Ten minutes I'll be at the north gate." He felt Ar-Khan's hand on his shoulder, "I won't ask if you're okay because I know you're not. I hope you two talk soon." He left the room and Dar slid out from under the worktable, chair gliding easily suspended off the ground. He flipped the cover back exposing his leg, his abomination. Ten years. Ten fucking years and all he'd managed to accomplish was keep it from being as infectious. "The stone leper," he called himself when he was drunk enough. He'd even try hacking it off knowing damn well he could make a replacement but no luck. Nothing could heal it and nothing could remove it. "Do you have the strength to see it through?" He whipped around growling at the sound but there was no one. He shook his head and rang the bell...the warning to stay clear of him as navigated the halls to their chambers.

Kynna was sitting in their room at their earthly home and was curled into a ball and silently cried. She felt it was her fault for not being fast enough. She was going to kill Glinda if she could, but she couldn't access where the dragon gods kept her.

Dar was in a foul mood now. Every few months he'd hear that same sentence from no visible face. Or its evil twin "look within Knight". Ten years of it. It had been a while since the last time he heard it and he wasn't sure what to make of it today. Ten years of a voice he couldn't identify and had no idea why it was taunting him. He stopped at the doorway wondering why he'd never shared it. Simple. Since no one else ever reported hearing a voice, he knew it had to be for him alone. But why? He sighed and opened the door to their chambers before floating in.