Beyond the Fairy Gate

Chapter 18

Gabriel

Gabriel watched as John spoke with Nyline in a hushed tone. He could feel her emotions as they plummeted, making him suddenly feel like he was being dropped into ice water. Then he saw the shock and horror cross her face as she pulled the music things from her ears. Whatever John was saying to her, was crushing her. It hurt him to see and experience that much pain coming from a single person.

So, when Nyline turned and walked away, he understood, but that didn't keep his eyes from following her all the way to the door. She glanced back, her eyes connecting with his just long enough for him to see that she had tears running down her face. He wanted to run to her, hold her close, and fix any problem that she had. However, in this moment, he would need to hold himself in check. Understand the situation and figure out the best action afterwards.

"What's going on?" The prince that Nyline had called Damien asked as he walked towards John

"She's just having a hard time facing reality." John's voice was sad and soft as he kept his eyes on the castle where Nyline had just vanished. He only got a single word from her mind as she walked away. Meld. Gabriel could connect the dots at that and turned his attention to John.

"Did you really use a meld skill for her entire life?" John looked over at Gabriel at that.

"If she thought otherwise then she wouldn't stay, now would she." His voice was hard and for the first time since Nyline had walked away, he turned from the castle. "You guys might want to just head back to your kingdoms for the time being. She isn't going to simply accept this."

"I for one have nothing else to do," Gabriel spoke sounding bored, "So I might as well stay. Set up camp for the time being." His scouts darted off.

"We'll if he's staying, I'm staying," Damien spoke crossing his arms, he turned to his scouts. "Rebecca and Jake inform the airship captain that we will be staying here for a little while."

"Wait," John spoke taking his time to look around at all the scouts. "Under no means are you to enter the dining hall. This is not a request." Damien raised his eyebrow at him as he turned and walked back into the castle.

"Listen to what he has to say for now. Rebecca and Jake don't forget to bring back supplies. Angelica, Nyline looked upset, could you talk to her?" Everyone nodded before they vanished as Angelica blinked up at him, she crossed her arms.

"Shouldn't you be the one doing that?"

"Because that will go over so well. You are soft spoken so you should not annoy her. Ryan and Nathan go see if Gabriel's scouts need any help setting up camp." They nodded before they vanished. Damien turned to look at Gabriel who was still standing in the snow looking at him.

"Shall we talk?" Gabriel smiled.

"Sure, why not, I've got nothing better to do at this point." Damien sighed as he rubbed his face.

"I've come here often, so I know the castle well, just follow me." Gabriel spoke as they walked into one of the doors.

"Why would you come here often? My parents would never let me wander here. They say this entire kingdom is cursed and that's why no one has tried to take it over." Damien spoke as he looked up and down the destroyed hallway.

"It is in a sense. The entire town and royal family were killed in one night. No one knows what happened here. Except for maybe John, but I don't think he will be talking anytime soon."

"Yeah," Damien laughed, "He's a scout inside and out. This is really difficult," Gabriel looked at him and laughed.

"Yeah I guess you're right." Gabriel stopped as they looked out at the courtyard. "Nyline was saying something about you being her mated pair?" Damien ran his hand through his hair.