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Pestale stood with hisblack strands of his free flowing hair back and

tied theainst the harsh wind

His eyes scanned the horizon as his sandals scraped along the stone flooring of the castle’s open parapet He bent his elbows onto the stone ledge and gazed past the reen valley

Everything about Morrigu’s Castle called to and settled him He discovered that he loved this place The hlands, he knew And then he stepped within its walls and he felt the power surge through hied

He was a Royal A Dark Prince, but a Royal all the saoing to rename it eventually

The land spoke to hi of all the Universe

He would rule and his ould never be challenged In the end, all would benefit froer suffer war He would be the sole arbitrator of all He would lay down his law He was strong enough to wipe out all opposition until there was none Then he would allow the hu as they served him well

Pestale grih As of late, she was no longer focused on ruling the Universe

She was too involved with the male human, as his name—Dude No, the human used that word, but he wasn’t Dude He was Ray Wicken

He seeical, rin He was a fool, but harmless

Ray Wicken didn’t knohat real u so Pestale had allowed him to live

He liked that this Ray had such a cal influence over her It pleasured him to see her so happy How odd that he cared so much

The huhtly jealous, but he put that sensation to rest as the huood diversion for her

Pestale was not eh he could be kind when it suited hiu was different He had always felt an empathy with her She had been used and then h she was nothing, just as he had been Besides that, she was in a , his mother

Her genes were in part his genes, and perhaps now, she ht enjoy the pleasures she was entitled to experience—the pleasures the Dark King had denied them all