Beyond the Fairy Gate

Chapter 12

Damien

Damien watched Nyline walk from the room before he walked back into the kitchen and looked at his scouts. No one spoke as he took a seat next to Jake. Jake looked as if he wanted to say something but stopped himself.

"Nyline has always been a difficult person to deal with," John spoke as he stirred a pot on the stove, not looking at them.

"I think that's an understatement," Rebecca spoke as she moved herself to Damien's right side and placed a hand on his shoulder. John turned and looked at them.

"It must be nice to be young. I understand you scouts want to protect your master, but there are times when you are better to advise him than knock arrows out of the air." Rebecca looked at Ryan for a moment before she shook her head and crossed her arms. John knew that they were talking; he took a deep breath as he watched the two for a little. "Before you guys get upset about her actions, maybe you should stop and think about how all of you randomly showing up in her life affects hers," John spoke as he started to cut up some broccoli. Nathan looked at Damien, who rubbed his face and thought back to what the witch had told him.

"No, I didn't. I thought Nyline would be as happy as I was to meet her." Damien spoke as he leaned his chair back. John turned and wiped his hands on a towel.

"Has your parents told you nothing of her?" John asked as he leaned against the counter. Damien looked at him.

"From what I was told was that there wasn't any knowledge about her. They showed me a picture of her mother, and I was told that she looked a lot like her as a baby." Damien confessed, and John shook his head.

"Well, that would explain a lot of it. I'm guessing that your parents also didn't inform you that Nyline isn't your only candidate for a mated pair."

"What?" Damien burst, looking shocked and slightly horrified.

"When you and Nyline were born, you weren't the only ones around the same time. There was a commoner, another prince, you, and then Nyline." John turned back to the counter and started to chop up a chicken breast. Damien stared at him, his mouth slightly open.

"What did you just say?" Damien stood as he looked at John.

"It is true, Nyline's parents were on good terms with your parents but not on good terms with the king and queen of the other prince. So, it was decided that you and Nyline would be a pair." He tossed the chicken into the pot as he turned the burner on low.

"Hold up. Are you saying that I might not be Nyline's pair? But I've connected minds with her; I've seen through her eyes." Damien pressed his hands to his face for a moment.

"That would make sense because of the level of aether that she contains. I'm sure her mind has reached out to you more than once. However, you two are born two minutes apart." Damien felt as though the floor was going to fall under him. He had spent so many years chasing the wrong person.

"Why has my pair not reached out to me, though?"

"Their aether levels must be much lower than Nyline's, and therefore it masks you. You are an-unmatched pair born close to Nyline not only in birth but also in location. Her aether masks all un-matched pairs born around her so that she has a higher chance of being mated. Her aether does it on its own, so it doesn't destroy her."

"Destroy her?" Damien felt his heart speed up as his upper lip seemed to cool down.

"I'm sure you have noticed how high of aether she has now, am I correct? She was able to use influence on a darkling; a normal person can't do that."

"She did that to us at the school too; she told us to go to class when we were going to find Morgan," Jake spoke up as he looked at Nathan and Ryan.

"Yes, you must have a high level of aether even to attempt to influence a person's choices. However, she has much more aether than that. Her mother used her life force, so it was masked."

"She has even more aether?" Rebecca whispered loudly as she shifted her feet as if she was uncomfortable.

"She does; I don't know how long the spell will last, but when it dissolved, and her aether will return to its normal state. She needs a mated pair to share her magic with the other. Therefore she will monopolize all of the others around her to ensure that she will get someone."

"That's pretty crazy. To think someone like that as even born." Ryan spoke after a moment.

"Well, it's not uncommon. This situation is just different from others. Her mother had about the same level of aether, but she grew up with her mated pair, so it wasn't a problem."

"John, if you knew that I was supposed to be her pair, why didn't you bring her to our kingdom when you ran?" Damien asked, looking at John's back. John lifted the wooden spoon to his mouth before he kept stirring it. He then tapped the spoon on the side of the pot before he set it on the counter.

"There was a controversy that she was being mated. Seeing as the two of you weren't born at the exact same time. I was personally one of the people who thought she should choose who she was mated with. We didn't arrive in your kingdom because I did not want more people pushing their opinions onto her. My King and Queen wanted her happy, and I believe that this is a way to ensure that. You could still be her mated pair; you just have to get her to choose you. However, you should think about your mate that's out there waiting for you. Will you be happy with her? Or will you always wonder about who you are truly supposed to be mated with?"