So a little bit of a shorter chapter, but still some drama, and working on the next chapter already, so hopefully will be getting updated again soon. Please remember to read and review, and as always, Desna is part of what has brought this chapter around, so many thanks to her creative mind.
Wendys eyes fluttered open and she smiled, warmth flooding her body like it did every single time she woke beside her mate. Farron was stretched out beside her, mahogany hair partially over his brow, an arm around her keeping her tucked up against him. Her hand slid a little, resting on his stomach she pushed it over to his hip forcing the blankets down and smiling more.
Gods she loved his body, she'd felt bad about that at first, because lusting after his body like she was for quite a while...still did honestly, before she'd even really known him seemed wrong. But he'd convinced her otherwise, he was gentle, kind, amazingly observant and so very experienced and patient for their first couple of weeks together while she had learned her way around his tall body, and they had gotten to know each other.
She'd found he wasn't incapable of being hard though, when the Baroness from before had tried to intercept them while they had been taking a walk on the grounds. The woman had waited until Wendy, smelling her, had stepped away from Farron and the moment she had stepped around the hedge the woman had grabbed her arm and yanked her around.
"You little whore! You and your seduction of the Prince has cost me dearly!" She hissed. "How fast did you get in his pants huh?! I don't know how you got off the balcony but one of my daughters found his shredded suit jacket and shirt out by the horses! What, did you drag him out there away from everyone and fuck him in the dirt?! What spells did you put on him?! How did you force him to let you put that damned mark into his neck?!" She'd seethed and Wendy had been too shocked to react at first.
Farron though had been quick to get to her and the Baroness had shrieked when he'd grabbed her wrist and ripped her hand from Wendys arm.
"You would dare, on the palace grounds?! Attack the Crown Princess of this kingdom? Baroness, my WIFE did not seduce me, she didn't force herself on me and I begged her to put her mark into me do you understand?!" He snarled, his eyes burning, full of rage.
The Baroness had glared at him. "I don't believe it, you were interested in me, in my daughters, and somehow, somebody put something into the wine you were all drinking the night of the Coronations! There was magic at work when this little brat was taking you, that magic negated the birth control I and my daughters take! It made us...unable to resist the seductions of some men I know...men I would never EVER dream of having sex with! But that night not just me but all of my daughters and those three men….we're pregnant! All of us! Even ME!" She shrieked and lunged for Wendy. Farron caught her though and shoved her back hard so she fell to the ground but the woman scrambled right back to her feet snarling.
"We're pregnant with the children of commoners! Common merchants! Something was in that damned wine, it had to be the wine I just know it was! Something in it made it so pregnancy termination drugs wouldn't work! Now we're too far along to legally end them! I am from Stella! If I birth a mans child I must marry him!" She cried.
Farrons pale blue eyes narrowed on her. "They won't consent?" He asked.
"That's not the point! Of course they want to marry us! The father will marry me and his sons will take my daughters but they're commoners! I want YOU! You or your younger brother! Tell me where Prince Zen is your majesty! I can find him, convince him to take us since you can not...thanks to HER." She snarled, glaring at Wendy.
"Baroness, where my family members are is absolutely none of your business, my brother Zen already has an intended anyway, he's a Dragon Slayer, he has a mate so get that idea out of your damn head right now, I won't allow you to even consider harassing him like you have me. Now, I've had more than enough of you and your daughters, I've been patient and you mistook my patience for interest, I never, not once, even considered you or your daughters Baroness, I told you I wasn't interested and meant it. Now, leave, leave Archipelago and never return, you are no longer welcome, you or your daughters, if I hear of you coming to any of the islands of this nation I will see you stripped of your title, lands and hanged for your crimes against the crown that now include assaulting the Crown Princess." He said.
The Baroness blinked at him, disbelief clear on her face.
"I'm not kidding, you leave, NOW, if you're not on the airship that leaves in less than an hour, I'll just go ahead and consider your lack of action defiance and have you and your damned daughters hanged." He snarled. Guards had come, Farron had sent the conversation via his magic straight to them and they arrived with guns trained on the Baroness who blanched.
"No...no! Please your highness, reconsider! Please! You could take us as concubines, even maids!" She cried. Farron nodded to the guards who took the woman and dragged her away, his magic cutting off her pleas and screams as he'd turned back to Wendy.
"She's...insane…" Wendy breathed and Farron smiled.
"Yes I think she is in a way, you're alright?" He asked and Wendy had smiled up at him, she could have laid waste to the woman, a flick of her arm a bit of her magic and the woman would have been dead, of course, Farron was no less capable of that himself, but she'd let him handle the situation, shocked and really uncertain what to do.
She felt bad for the woman, worse for the children she and her daughters would be mothers of, for the men they would marry.
She'd gotten a glimpse of Farrons temper though.
He was so good to her, had her flowers all through their rooms, looking down she saw some of the pink Dahlia flowers that had appeared after she and Farron had mated. Her eyes went back to the man before her though, and she slid over him, pushing the blankets away, her lips closing on the deep black mark on his neck, he tensed instantly, a moan rolling out of him, his hands snapping up to tangle in her hair.
"Wen...Wendy!" He gasped as she slid a hand down his body to grip him as he rapidly hardened for her, for her tongue playing over the mark.
"Farron…" she purred and he groaned at the sound, it drove him mad that purr of hers. He writhed beneath her continuing onslaught, hips lifting seeking her warmth, it was near impossible to think at all as long as her lips remained sealed over that mark.
Willpower, thought, the ability to do anything but react was difficult to grasp. Still he managed to pull her back, barely lifting her mouth from the mark before lunging forward and flipping her to her back, pinning her beneath him, his mouth catching hers, one hand closing over her breast, the other immediately teasing her, his fingers at play making her writhe, whimper and mewl.
"Wicked woman...Gods above I love you…" He purred at her and she moaned, she loved it when he said it, he said it often too, it had taken a month before it started coming from his lips while they had been in bed, once it did though, her own declarations having come the first week they were together, he'd promised her back then he would love her, in time he'd love her with all he was, and he'd been honest about that.
They made love, loud, a bit wild, she'd teased him and he liked to tease her back, get her dragon riled, the scratches from her nails, even the occasional bites she'd give him he wore proudly. She lay panting in his arms, smiling, her hands still prone to wandering he never minded. His own hands squeezing her rear until she squirmed and laughed.
"Mmm, what has you up so early love? We didn't exactly go to sleep early…" He smirked and she blushed "I just woke up...I'm happy Lucy is here, and she looks so happy now, so does your brother...do you think they'll have a full wedding? I hope they have it here if they do!" She said brightly. Farron smiled, he adored Wendy, loved her enthusiasm, her huge heart, her curiosity, everything, every single thing about her.
"Dad wants them to, they went over to Angeal Reata and he's supposed to meet them for lunch today over there. I think he's planning to try and talk them into a formal wedding here." He said, sliding his hand in her hair, guiding her lips to his for a slow warm kiss.
Wendy grinned. "Good, so I woke up happy...and you were just laying here...looking all...handsome and tempting…" she smirked, tracing a finger over the eagle on his chest.
"I'm glad...I like tempting you...maybe I can tempt you some more in the bath…" he mumbled, having dragged her up his body so her breast was over his mouth and then licked it before closing his mouth on it.
She gasped and giggled at the same time, wriggling from his grasp and jumping from the bed. Farron growled, lunging after her but missing. They had an impromptu game of cat and mouse that ended in the bath, Wendy trying to retreat into the steaming waters to slow him down but his long legs and reach finally won out and he pinned her against the back wall. When she wrapped her legs around his hips all but her rear came out of the water, Farron was so tall. He held her hands against the wall and she was soon gasping as he plunged into her again, fucked her against the wall lustily, the water splashing with his movements, their wet bodies sliding wonderfully together until Wendy came, gasping out his name and he bit her shoulder as he shuddered and followed her over the edge.
She was fully free of birthcontrol now too, and she knew that was part of why she was insatiable now, needed him every day several times a day and every night. Farron eagerly met her needs too, even when it had meant hiding in a storage room off the main dining hall during a formal dinner his father had held one night.
He sank back into the water now, holding her against him, kissing her face, her lips, nipping at her chin and making her giggle. They took a slow bath, stayed and played in the water until her fingers were wrinkled.
"I want to get some more flowers." She said, climbing the steps out of the bath. Farron sighed.
"But the water is so nice...come back and soak some more…" He whined at her and she laughed.
"You soak, I'm just going to go down to the garden, I'll have breakfast...well...brunch now...brought up." She chuckled and he smiled at her.
"You're an angel." He breathed. She grinned.
"Nope, a Dragoness in love with her mate, I'll be right back…" She promised blowing him a kiss before dancing out of the bathroom leaving him chuckling at her antics.
She didn't even see what hit her, crumpling into thickly muscled, heavily tattooed arms. When she went down though, Farron heard the strike, felt powerfully through the bond they had her instant lack of consciousness and was moving fast for the steps from the bath but before he could reach them a tall elegant, familiar woman stepped into the doorway and he froze, his eyes narrowed dangerously, magic immediately building.
"You...Lula...what have you done?!" He demanded. Lula grinned, laughing, flipping her long black hair over her shoulder, eyes raking over farron, lingering low on his body and she licked her lips.
"Oh...nothing...nothing at all compared to what I'm going to do...you really, truly, are an exquisite man…" She purred.
Farron was about to strike when a tall bald man stepped out, a long curved blade across Wendys throat, his precious wife hanging limp and naked in the mans arms.
"Not today your highness, Lula…" He snapped and her hand shot out and Farron screamed as a crackling lightning lacrima fell into the water with him. He lasted moments, stronger than either of the invading mages had thought he was, and a pulse of his magic shot out from him before he went down. Two men rushed from behind the bald man, Lula deactivating the lacrima with a small button in her hand so they could retrieve the Prince before he drowned.
"Alright, lets get them to the new spot, NOW, I'm betting that magic he got out warned somebody and if his brother heard it…" Lula said sharply. A moment before Zen crashed through the window to Farrons bedroom, long black wings sweeping back, his feet hitting the rugs and skidding him to a stop, flaming sword in his hand, the members of nightmare, with Wendy and Farron in their arms, hit teleportation lacrimas and vanished.
Zen stood, senses flared, he could smell his brother, Wendy, what they had been up to all morning that had kept them from breakfast. The pulse of Farrons magic had hit the Island and shaken him, Lucy and his father to the bone. Before his father was even out of his chair Zens wings were out and he leaped through a window, shooting into the sky and rocketing up to Farrons level of the palace in seconds to smash through his bedroom window.
He smelled something off...growling, lip curling back from his fangs he stalked to the bathroom and could smell ozone, blood...Farrons...not much of it but some, and a weird bland tint to the scents of the room. Narrowing his eyes he summoned his dogs. The hounds appeared in a flash of gold and their eyes narrowed, hackles going up immediately.
Zen had mastered communicating with them while still in the celestial realm, didn't need to speak to put them to task and the two dogs padded around swiftly sniffing, relaying all they were picking up to the dogs it was all growls and gruff sounds he knew the language of. Few mages ever had been able to master the hounds of the Hunt for this reason, but Zens Dragon Slaying magic, the languages Draco had taught him included the ability to speak to and understand the hounds.
Their heads snapped up as Arman and Lucy arrived, slamming the door open.
"They aren't here...but they were...someone else was in here, there's scent dampening magic meant to stop a Dragon Slayer from picking up scents…" He waved toward the hounds. "It doesn't work as well on them though, mages...4 of them were in here...there's a dead lightning lacrima in the bath water and some of Farrons blood…" He said darkly. Arman whirled, flipping up a picture on the wall and hitting a switch, alarms went off.
He pulled out his com lacrima while Lucy pressed into Zens arms, eyes wide with worry, tears making them bright….
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Farron came to with a sudden jolt, he tried to open his eyes but found them covered and when he tried to move, his aching body protested almost before he hit the manacles on his wrists and ankles. His magic was bound, suppressed, that told him a lot about what was holding him down, he tightened muscles, ignoring the pain as he strained them, testing the strength of his binds.
"Those would hold a vulcan highness, you're not getting out of them." A humor filled voice told him.
"You believe that, fine." He replied, voice calm, smooth, but he had to force it to be. He couldn't feel Wendy, the other end of their bond was empty, reaching through it he put all he was, his deepest soul into the reach and came back sensing she wasn't conscious, distance he was unsure of, but wherever she was, she wasn't dead...he had a feeling if she were, he'd know that, and be on his way to joining her….he was certain he'd want nothing else but death without her at his side too.
"I love your confidence, very regal, it won't last though. You pissed off the wrong people." The voice chuckled.
"That so?" Farron asked blandly as if he couldn't have cared less.
"Oh yeah, the big boss themself wants a piece of you before we put you back, hell...I want a piece of you...not as pretty as your brother...I like blonde hair...now Kaleb...oh fuck he was nice…" The voice purred and Farron felt a hand on his leg, sliding up his thigh. He was naked, knew he was, he was even still wet from the bath he'd been in when he'd been attacked. There were burns all over him from the lacrima that had been thrown into the water with him, that explained why his muscles all ached, his whole body had unnaturally seized under that electricity.
He recoiled at the mans words, inwardly only, he remained still, this man...he'd been the one that had hurt Kaleb...fury boiled in him, a deep need to inflict pain, his magic surged but was dampened before he could touch it.
"Yeah, that big blonde brother of yours? So so sweet, skin tasted like...apples...nice, nice body, must work out more than you, you're not as built up, but I gotta say, you're a hell of alot better built than I would have thought...nice six pack on ya, and you're sure hung about as nice as your brother too...wonder if you make the same noises when you're fucked? We watched you fuck the Princess in the bath, the bed...you too were at it a lot this morning, surprising because you were fucking half the night too, good stamina I gotta say, I really liked when you had her in your lap on the edge of the bed...nice technique there...she makes nice noises too." The mans hand was stroking him now, fondling him and Farron grit his teeth, disgust rolling through him and alarm at the mention of Wendy.
They had watched him and Wendy...had been planning this...of course they had, they had done it to every member of his family, This had to be Nightmare, had to be the people who had been attacking and bleeding his family and their spouses.
"You won't hurt her…" he said in a low deadly tone.
The man laughed. "Oh now that's not up to me, I just work here highness, if the Boss says jump I don't even ask how high I just do it, boss says fuck the hell outa your pretty little mate? Well...I sorta prefer...your nice ass, but I'll do it. I'm sorta holding on to my special requests see, when we get that sexy winged brother of yours. I'll beg a little to get a chance at tapping that, but I still really, badly, want another piece of that blonde brother of yours...yeah...once wasn't enough...I really shoulda just kept fucking him till I got my fill but schedules ya know? I had business elsewhere." He said.
"Rottbull...I know who you are, why bother blinding me?" Farron asked mildly, keeping his voice smooth and calm, refusing to let the man see him get the least bit upset, no reaction...he would not react. He'd already cut himself off from his body, getting repulsed was reaction, and this man fed on reactions.
"Oh not for my sake, I don't give a shit if you see me, I'd kinda like to see your eyes while the boss does whatever they plan to do, it's for the boss, they're shy ya know?" He chuckled, massaging the inside of Farrons thigh.
"I see, but they aren't here yet I suppose, so why keep me blindfolded?" He asked. He felt it then, and he almost gasped with relief, almost showed a reaction, he felt Wendy, she was ok...instantly scared, but alive...not in pain...just scared and, he smiled inwardly, becoming angry.
"Who said I wasn't present?" The voice was distorted, he would have given anything to have his magic right then because the spells to distort a voice didn't work against him and his magic.
"Rottbull, go bleed the child, nothing but the draw for now." The voice said. "Poor choice in wives your highness, a grown man like you really should have taken a proper woman."
"She's all I need. The decisions really were made when we were born anyway, Dragon Slayer mates are born to be theirs, it's really quite fascinating." He said. "I'm her ideal, whatever she wanted, I am, everything I've ever wanted...she is...it's very efficient."
"Ridiculous drabble, I believe we make our own fate. See, I've rather fancied having myself a prince and now here you are, it's really perfect, fate had nothing at all to do with it, you are here because I had you brought, and now...I will have what I came for." The voice said and Farron hissed a breath in when a thick needle was pushed into his neck.
"You have your brother to thank for this toxin, or really, his mate for only partially claiming him before we got our hands on him, gave us the chance to perfect this. The fact you're a Dragon Slayers mate...won't stop me from enjoying you." They sneered and Farron grit his teeth as he felt whatever it was burning into his veins, he rapidly started struggling to think.
He barely registered the hands running up his legs, he did feel the one move between his legs though, felt it working on his cock, and alarm surged through him, though it was rapidly drowned in the icy fog taking over his whole being, when he started to harden in that hand. His body wasn't supposed to react to anyone but Wendy, he was a fully claimed Dragon Slayer mate.
"No.." He groaned no longer worrying about not reacting. He felt Wendy becoming frantic on the other end, she knew, felt, what was happening to him and was enraged, desperately fighting to get to him.
He didn't want her to hurt herself, didn't want her in pain, he couldn't even struggle now though, his body wasn't listening to him, it was just reacting.
"Now...highness...I take what is mine." The voice said and heat enveloped him, tight and hot and he tensed.
"No!..No.." he snarled but his breath was driven out of him as he was just...taken.
He couldn't stop the weak groans that occasionally spilled out, he bit back all he could, his body writhed, it was a womans body, he'd been with men and women both, he knew the difference, he was inside a woman.
"The Lord master of Nightmare is fucking you Pince Farron, make some nice noises for me, don't be shy." The voice demanded and he was struck, his head snapping to the side. He bit back reaction, focusing entirely on denying them the sounds they wanted. His muddled thoughts, the heavy fog in his head was terrible to fight but he focused, gathered every wit he could grasp and held it tight focused fully on refusing this woman what she wanted.
Whatever she'd injected into him made his body react, but the rest of him sure as fuck wouldn't.
"Moan for me! You've never had a woman as fine as me!" They snarled, something was plunged into his arm, sharp and long and thick and he bit back even a cry of pain.
"You feel so good...if I can get nothing from you but my own pleasure...fine…" She said and rode him hard, it took way too long for her to finally reach her end, and she randomly struck him, twisted whatever was in his arm so she could wrench reactions out of him using pain.
She got off of him when she was finished, and then he was flipped over, forced to his feet, arms drawn over his head. "Make him suffer...don't kill him though, I want him to see what we do. Break him if you can, keep the girl awake, bring her in here, now." She demanded. Farron felt Wendy come closer and inside he screamed against it, not wanting her to see him like this.
"No! Farron! What did you do to him!? NO! Let him go!" She snarled and he heard her fighting her restraints.
There was a resounding slap. "Shut up child, you see your precious mate? You will watch while he pays for you claiming him, because if you hadn't, this would not be happening to him. Understand? If not for you, we would have taken his blood and left him relatively unharmed but because you took him for yourself little girl, he will suffer. Gag her." More struggling, and he felt through their bond Wendys heart just breaking and it almost broke him, but he held on to himself.
One of them had to be strong, he was fine with it being him, if she saw him break it would end her, end them both, and he wouldn't let that happen, Nightmare wasn't going to kill them, so they could recover from this, they would recover. He kept telling himself that and had to turn his focus to endurance quickly.
The whip he endured pretty well, all of the beatings he handled, Rottbull though...he almost cracked Farrons steeled will, feeling Wendys horror watching Rottbull take him, her guilt, her heartbreaking misery, it made enduring what Rottbull did so much worse. He'd been with men before, his heritage was such that wasn't anything significant, pleasure was pleasure, and Rottbulls body wasn't exceptional, the things he said were repulsive, his narrative was horrid, telling Wendy every detail of how it felt to fuck her mate. He came, took Farron twice more.
"Gotta make sure I get you out of my system ya know?" He'd grunted as he'd finished the third time.
Bleeding, drugged to the point he could barely thread his thoughts together, Farron hung limp in the chains, head hanging when they left. He held onto himself, reaching through to Wendy pouring all the reassurance he could muster into her.
"I..It's...ok... love...we will...recover...they didn't...break us…" He whispered hoarsely through bleeding lips, blood running from his mouth.
Wendys gagged sobbing and an explosion the last thing he heard before he finally slipped out of consciousness.
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It had taken almost 7 hours for a team of teleportation mages to trace the last teleports when Levy was taken. It took Zen less than 2.
Arman glared at the lacrima in his hand, Lucy looking at him worried and he waved a hand. "Princess Kurino, of all the times, is passing the islands on her way to Minstrel and caught the alarms going off, she wants to "Help" as if I would let her within our airspace now of all times.." He sneered, informing his captain of the guards not to let her ship anywhere near their airspace.
Zen narrowed his eyes then and Aquilla and Pyxis both snapped their heads up. "Got it, found where it went...fuck teleportation Lacrimas are fucking hard to trace, they went to two different places, but one is close, within the barrier reefs in an underground cave...I'm opening a gate...Lucy!" He held his hand out and Lucy ran to him, Arman right with her, Draco at his side.
"I will fight for my children." Arman told Zen when he got a questioning look. Zen didn't blink, lifting his hand and a gate opened in front of them. Lifting his sword, Zen stepped through it first, Draco, the hounds, Aquilla, Lucy and Arman following him.
When they emerged it was just in time to watch a tall bald man look up, spot them, curse and hit something on his waist, vanishing. Zen snarled, smelling Farrons blood heavy in the air, and other...foul things he didn't want to think about. He cut through the first mages like they were water, long wings slicing through bodies while the flaming sword caught any that managed to get past his wings. Draco was right beside him and the hounds rushed forward, tearing through anyone they found.
The mages vanished swiftly though, hitting lacrima on their hips if they had them, dying to Zen and Draco if they didn't. They found the chamber off the main one, Nightmare had taken time with this place, had built rooms in the cavern….it was obvious they had been there a while.
Zen kicked down a door and rushed through it, stopping at what he found, horrified. Wendy was bound naked to an x-frame, gagged and sobbing. Farron hung unconscious from chains, manacles on his wrists and ankles, blood and other things running down his was covered in lash marks,bruises and cuts.
"Fuck…" Zen breathed, Lucy came in with Draco and Arman and gasped in horror, she ran to Wendy, starting to work to free her while Zen went to Farron with Draco and Arman, Zens hands lit up, glowing brilliant gold he pushed his magic into his brother as his father, biting back tears ripped the needles from Farrons neck and arm and Dracon broke the manacles off of him before turning to do the same for Wendy.
Scrambling, stumbling, Wendy fell to her knees beside Farron, tears streaming down her face her hands still lit with soft green magic that she pushed into his body, joining Zen in the work of healing him.
"Wendy...Wendy your arm…" Arman stroked the young womans hair and she shook her head, tears streaming down her face as she looked over the burns, bruises, cuts that littered Farrons body, the same one just hours ago she was admiring, loving.
"...you will watch while he pays for you claiming him…" the woman in the mask had said. Wendy had no idea who was under the hideous jawless skull mask she had faced, it was a woman, that was all she knew, and she only knew that because she had felt the woman take Farron like only a woman could. Farron had paid...paid dearly, what that man had done...they had beaten him to near unconsciousness, whipped him, broken ribs, a collapsed lung, both shoulders dislocated while they had done it, them, with him already hurting, bleeding heavily, the man had…
When he'd finished he'd stood back and his whole front was red with Farrons blood, she'd watching him licking at the wounds the whip had laid open while he'd taken her mate, he'd told her how good Farrons blood tasted.
She would kill him, she would see that man dead, the woman too, both had to die, her dragon was bent on that, but right now, even her dragon was whimpering within her as she helped Zen heal her mates horribly abused body.
She was deeply relieved feeling Zens magic cleansing what her's could not. She still hadn't learned full purification magic, Cristoff was going to teach her but then she had mated with Farron and needed to stay in Archipelago. He was to return for a long vacation with Natsu, and they were going to go over those spells then, but she didn't know them yet so she could only sit back and watch Zen handle it, grateful he could even though her dragon seethed at being unable to fully take charge of healing her mate.
She was guilt ridden, the Nightmare Guildmasters words endlessly echoing through her that if she had not claimed Farron he wouldn't have been put through this.
"Wendy...your arm...Zen?" Arman looked at his son when his daughter in-law refused to heal the bleeding hole in her arm. Zen looked up, glanced at Lucy who shrugged and reached out a hand, touching Wendys arm, his magic flowing into her.
The effect it usually had didn't trigger like it normally did, instead it worked like it did for men, Wendy sagging slightly, relaxed by the magics touch as it flowed through her, purging her of the sedatives they had injected her with and healing the injury to her arm, the bruises and skin tears from her struggles on her wrists and ankles caused by the manacles. He pulled his hand back and Draco moved in, lifting Farron as if he weighed nothing.
"Get us back Zen, to Farrons rooms if you can, then I want you to take guardsmen and White Sea mages into this place and gut it, learn all you can, see if there are any of those teleportation lacrimas they used left and fucking follow them...bring me prisoners, my son…." Arman said darkly. Zen stood, watching his father remove his own shirt and wrap it around Wendy before scooping her up in his arms. Holding out his hand he opened a gate to Farrons room, took Lucys hand and stepped through it.
While Draco and Lucy saw to settling Wendy and Farron, Arman went with Zen and assembled the people he wanted, the same mages who had helped recover Levy, including Beck, who was still on the islands, the big Beast Master nodding darkly as the orders were given then Zen opened a gateway and he and 15 White Sea mages and 20 Guardsmen stepped through it while Arman returned to the palace through a different gate Zen opened for him.
Gates had been something Zens magic alone was capable of, Draco and the Spirit King both had been amazed by it and deduced the ability came from the combination of the Archangel magic, that was so far reaching, so in tuned with all the heavens and realms, and the celestial magic the two combined through Zen to allow him to open stable gates at will, create the magic pathways that any number of people could pass over as long as he held them open.
Teleportation was limited, even specialists in the magic could only manage a few people and had to be touching them. Cristoffs Lunar Shift had been the largest known, Cristoff able to pull as many as 20 people through with him in a shift as long as he travelled under moonlight.
Zens gates worked far better, and weren't a large drain on him, they cost the same to open if just he passed through them as they did if a hundred people went through.
Lucy had slid her arms around him before he left, leaning up for a long hard kiss, holding him fast, her eyes hard and desperate. "Don't you dare even think of being gone for long...if you have to go anywhere but that cavern…" She was cut off by him pressing their lips back together.
"I'll come back here first, back to you, I promise." He said softly against her lips and she nodded, uncurling her fingers from his shirt and looking into those eyes, she loved his eyes so much.
"I love you." She whispered and he leaned in,kissing her again.
"I love you too." He whispered back. Both desperately feeling the need to be close, to touch, to affirm their own bond in the face of what had just happened to Wendy and Farron.
"They haven't gotten you...haven't bled you...they'll probably try…" She said and he nodded, frowning slightly, eyes hardening.
"I know, they've gotten everyone else now...you and I...I think we're the last ones, so stay close to Dad and Draco until I get back." He said.
"And no following teleportations for you...it could be a trap…" Lucy warned him and he smiled, pressing into her again, kissing her, touching her face as she touched his. She stepped back then, very much unhappy he was leaving her side but it was necessary, only he could get everyone where they needed to go.
He left then and she returned to Wendy, the bath attendants had cleaned the young woman as Wendy had helped Arman and Draco clean Farron and Lucy was drying Wendy off while Arman and Draco took care of Farron. The Prince remained unconscious, but that probably wasn't a bad thing.
Once they were clean and dry, the smells of their ordeal taken away by the waters of the Grass Sea that steamed in the large bath. Farron was placed in their bed by Draco and Wendy quickly slid under the covers with him, curling around her mate, kissing his face and smoothing his thick hair from his brow where it always seemed to fall.
"I've had some food brought up Wendy, I want you to eat something, and when Farron wakes, I want you to make sure he eats." Arman said firmly but gently. He frowned in worry when she didn't respond.
"Wendy, look at me." He demanded and pained haunted brown eyes flew to his and almost made his wince. "Eat something, you'll do Farron no good if you're weak from hunger." He said and Wendy nodded, Lucy brought a tray over and slid onto the bed beside Wendy, figuring the woman would likely be more comfortable if she could keep herself touching Farron, she understood how much that direct contact, skin on skin, mattered, it had been life breathing back into her when Zen had finally come back for her.
Arman watched as Lucy coaxed Wendy to eat. His fingers already sliding around the com lacrima in his pocket, he turned and went to the sitting room off the bedroom where servants had already set up blankets and pillows on the lounges, knowing the King wouldn't leave his son and daughter in-law and that Zens Fiance wouldn't either.
He pressed in a number and pushed magic into the lacrima, a few moments later, Kaleb appeared, a welcoming smile on his face that quickly fell at the angered look on his fathers face.
"Kaleb, Farron and Wendy were abducted by Nightmare...they...tortured Farron, we have him back, Zen is already working to trace them, I need you here, you and Erik, Wendy isn't handling what happened well and...just get here, as fast as you can." He said. Kaleb smiled faintly at that, the horrified look on his face not quite wiped away by it.
"Dad, the teleport pads are done, I was there on my island yesterday...I'll be there in a few minutes, I'll call Bickslow and the others, Vander and Rogue would be particularly helpful…" His son said. Nodding, Arman disconnect the call, letting out a sigh of relief before turning to look out a near by window, granting the room a breathtaking view of some of the islands.
Where he had already loved the idea of the teleport pads before, allowing for easy visits between him and his children, now he was downright grateful to Levy. She had been the one to find the book hidden in the library that listed the long unused teleport pads between the islands. She had also been the one to suggest reactivating them for visits, possibly more, and add one in a secure, hidden room in the Fairy Tail guild. Now, the family were the only ones able to activate that transport, which would land them in a hidden room that had been hastily added on after Levy found that book.
Hearing running footsteps, Arman was quick to turn as the door was slammed open, grateful to see Kaleb, Cobra, and Bickslow dart into the room. Seeing them, Arman knew that the battle being quietly raged against their family was going to be a long one.