Eternal Sleep [On Hold but Not Forgotten]

To the King

There was no point in continuing on the path we had been taking at this point. Clearly something was amiss with all of the plans we had made. Leave it to my mother to give us another bout of confusion and deceit to deal with just when we thought we had it all figured out. My head was spinning—first I couldn't be seen; then I could. First I could be touched, then I couldn't. Was the story with the bull about my mother even true? Not likely.

My father was a daemon, my mother was a daemon and as was my future husband. And so was I. What was I to do with all of this information? And where was I being kept—my body, anyway? Was I in a tower, a castle, a tree? Who knew? I sure didn't; neither did Phillip, who apparently had caught the eye of my insane mother. My life had gone from that of a simple sixteen-year-old village girl to that of some twisted nightmare that I could never escape. Every new turn brought some bought of fear or confusion that I just couldn't shake. It was becoming too much for me to wrap my head around.

Though I couldn't touch him, I lingered near Phillip and used his presence to draw strength. Of all the things in my life, he was the only constant. And he had only been my constant for a few days at this point. But I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Speaking of horses, I suppose I had Charger to stand by my side, too. He certainly seemed to like me. I still wasn't sure why I could touch Charger and not Phillip. So maybe the story with the bull was true?

But why was I even focusing on that story my mother told me. Why did I bother with focusing on my mother at all? She had lied to me about everything. My fiancé did not want to imprison me or use me for breeding fodder; my father did not want to use me to unite kingdoms and my mother only wanted power for herself. Or did she? I mean, that castle she showed me in my dream probably wasn't real, anyway. Nor was the one where I supposedly saw my father crying that I'd been locked in a tower.

It was then that a thought struck me. If we couldn't find where I was, maybe we could find someone with better resources to find me in the first place. We could go tell my father.

"Phillip. I think we need to change our plans," I said aloud.

"I thought that was what we were doing anyway?" Phillip chuckled.

"No, I mean, clearly we don't know where I'm being held captive, right? And we don't really understand my mother's motives yet, right?"

Phillip nodded and motioned for me to continue, a twinkle forming in his beautiful, blue eyes. I was glad that he heeded my words with such respect. It was an admirable quality I found to be incredibly valuable in him. I was glad that I had someone who actually cared for my opinions as a partner.

"Well, why don't we go see my father? Why can't he help us find me? I mean, who else is going to know more about all this anyway? He's an older daemon, I suppose, right?"

"Of course! Why didn't I think of that! I'm glad you're smart," Phillip winked.

I stifled a laugh at how sarcastic and energetic he could be all at the same time. But it seemed that we had found a better course of action on how to approach all this. I mean, my dad was going to have to know I'd been caught, right? He would find out eventually, anyway. And was there even a deadline to follow, anyway? Did we really have six months, or was Lilith baiting us and up to something even more sinister than the prophetic dream that she'd shown me. I shuddered to think that she might be coming up with something even worse to render the kingdom unto darkness with. We had to hurry if we were to outsmart her, let alone outmaneuver her at the very least.

"I think we should get a move on, then," Phillip said hurriedly. "We've already lost so much time due to his deceit you've been muddled in. We have to beat this creature at her own game; we can't do that if we don't even know how the game works in the first place."