Page 72 of A Velvet Kiss After Dark

The queen stepped closer and her smile was flat. "And just what do you plan to do with the relic of souls? A device of which you understand so little."

"That's true. But you did say it chose me, correct?" Tabitha asked.

"I did," the queen intoned in Tabitha's mind. "But am I telling you the truth? And is this really the relic of souls?"

Tabitha stepped back. Had the queen been lying to her?

But Tabitha recalled that she'd been drawn to this room out of all the others for a reason. She hitched her chin higher and stayed strong.

"Yes, I do think this is a relic. I would like to take it with me," Tabitha said brusquely as her hands tightened upon the crystalline, star-like device.

"But is it yours to take?" the queen asked.

Tabitha gulped. "I—I don't know. I didn't think of it like that."

"You have no idea of its power and you wish to simply come into my castle using dark, alien magic from a dark lord and steal my deepest treasure?"

"Steal? No, I just wanted to…keep it, I guess, or borrow it…maybe," Tabitha finished lamely.

"And, if your spell from the Revenant is undone, then why would you wish to steal it away from us? What good would it do for you?" the queen asked.

"I…I…I suppose it was Kane who wanted it, actually. Now that I'm thinking about it," Tabitha replied, feeling at a loss for words.

She supposed the queen was right. She didn't really need the relic for herself. She shouldn't even be here. Not in this whimsical castle between time and space, not in Hell, not anywhere close to here. She'd simply been shoved into this entire situation by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Then hand me the relic, dearest one," the queen intoned. "You do not need it, and it belongs here with me."

"But…but I'm supposed to give it to Kane. He's the one who needs it," Tabitha replied.

"But it is not yours to take and now that you are no longer under this Revenant's spell, I am commanding you to return it to me."

Tabitha clutched the sacred relic closer to her chest. Why did the queen ever allow her inside her mythical castle in the first place, if what she said was true, only to take the relic from her once she'd found it? Something didn't add up.

"Why didn't you just come in here and take it for yourself?" Tabitha asked boldly, but took several steps back.

"It resides where none can find it…even inside my own castle. You were under a dark wizards spell which allowed you to find it, because you had the heart of an innocent. Now that you have collected it, I must tell you to give it back to me," the queen said, her blue eyes blazing paler by the moment, until they because so brilliantly white it appeared as though her soul was bursting forth from her gaze.

A trickle of fear raked over Tabitha. She held the relic tighter as the idea of turning it over didn't feel right to her.

"But if this is really your castle and your treasure, then surely your heart is innocent enough to take it for yourself."

The queen's frail smile cracked.

Tabitha felt, rather than understood, she'd just crossed a threshold into danger, that couldn't be undone.

"I am innocent, this is true. Yet, the relic has its own rules. Now, we run low on time, little one. I want you to give me the relic." The angel-like woman held out her hand and gave Tabitha a kindly look.

"Maybe we can return it after Kane's used it…" offered Tabitha. The idea of handing it over sat like sour milk in her mouth, terrible.

The queen suddenly launched at Tabitha like a snake-strike. The glow from her ethereal gaze was blinding. Tabitha scurried out of reach as her breaths quickened from fright.

Again, the queen stuck out her hand after she had Tabitha trapped against the wall.

"I said give it to me!" the queen snarled inside her mind, and in that moment the golden-white light surrounding her began to burn brighter; yet an eerie green light unfurled like smoky tendrils from her irises.

A most unnatural sight, Tabitha thought. And one that reminded her of a whole other being…one that frightened her.

Oh God.

---