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VAMPIRE KING APOLLYON

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Prince Aspen began, "Faeries are bound to speak only the literal truth."

Unfortunately, Apollyon was aware of that fact, but that didn't make it any easier.

"Faeries can still be devious and tricky even if they couldn't lie."

Apollyon remembered that when dealing with Faerie captives, they had to be specific and meticulous with their questions.

"Fair Folk can mislead and manipulate." Prince Aspen nodded in agreement as he slowed his pace to match Apollyon now that the forest had cleared up a little bit. "Many fairies are tremendously adept at leading others astray while never speaking a false word."

As his lips curved upward, Apollyon could only shake his head in amusement as he watched his step carefully. "This is why I don't trust the Fair Folk, Aspen."

His cousin turned his head to look at him. "You act like you aren't Half-Fae."

Apollyon didn't respond.

He had told his cousin a million times that he had already renounced the Fae blood in him.

"Asking a captive faerie a question three times will compel them to answer, but they aren't bound to give helpful information or refuse to disclose the answers to a question." Apollyon recited a passage he had read in the book he had read aloud regarding the Faes' History.

He inhaled the fresh air deeply, and his lungs were full of a spring night's presence. "If a faerie makes a promise thrice, it is as closely bound as they can be."

"Promises and oaths bind faeries to keep them as well as keeping up the ends of their bargain." Prince Aspen's brows knitted as he frowned, "The captive could have sworn their secrecy to whomever Archdemon they had served. We had to be strategic enough on how to torture the captive with unbearable pain but not enough to kill them."

"It would be difficult if they can't even talk even a word because of their oaths." Aspen sighed heavily, and a visible mist came out of his mouth as they continued walking through the woods.

He glanced up, and Apollyon did the same as well.

Branches thick with leaves had already reached into the sky as the silver light from the moon had only filtered through in fragments.

"Well, that's their problem, not ours," Apollyon said darkly as he caressed the knife strapped to his leather boots. "I'll make sure I could torture them so well they would rather vomit the words out of their mouth than die a short death."

He couldn't wait to do that.

"Forged iron is a faerie's weakness, and when it touched them, it can cause them excruciating pain."

"I noticed that, cousin. All the weapons you have displayed at the work table were all made of iron." Apollyon agreed, and his heart had raced when he noticed the light at the end of the forest. "I know it can kill a vulnerable lesser Fae, but the powerful ones were far more likely to survive and recover from such injuries. "

"Faeries had disliked the mere smell of it, and if we use forged iron during the torture, they would quickly surrender, but that still depended on their oaths." Apollyon knew that his cousin was getting serious when he gathered his thick gold auburn hair in a tie at the back of his neck. "We could estimate the captive's strength if he wouldn't cower against it."

They were almost there.

He had seen more ancient souls of the Fair Folk he hadn't seen before, sitting on branches and roots which hugged the earth.

Some Fair Folk appeared like mushrooms and ghosts while the sneaky ones camouflaged into tree trunks and leaves.

Not appearing like humanoid faeries such as pixies he had seen at the Spring Banquet, they were figures which could either be stuffed animal dolls standing upright—spirits of the forest--he couldn't quite explain, looking like they came out straight out of a child's imagination.

Both of them had stumbled into a faerie dragon's lair at the end of the clearing.

It was built at the boughs of a tree on top of a massive rock, made out of materials they had gathered from the forest floor.

"The Faerie we had caught..." Aspen trailed off as they carefully approached the lair, peering at the faerie dragon curled up in its nest made of dry grass, leaves, spider silk, branches, and mud. "He had some magical items with him that we don't recognize its uses."

Aspen rested a hand on his hip as he regarded Apollyon before returning to gaze at the faerie dragon's treasure. "One thing I am sure that the captive isn't the ring leader. My faerie sentinels had started with their torture since early afternoon just a few hours after you arrived at the Spring Castle."

The faerie dragon appeared like a chameleon with butterfly wings as it hid the magic items near its belly. If Apollyon reached out the items while the faerie dragon was sleeping, he would surely chomp on his arm.

Apollyon narrowed his eyes at the magic necklaces with glowing green pendants secured safely on the dragon's nest. "It must be a coincidence."

"There is no coincidence, cousin." Aspen paused and looked him in the eye. "Everything is connected."

The leaves danced an enchanting symphony of a bird song along with the flow of the water, whispering their songs to the wind.

"I don't believe it." Apollyon shot back.

He clenched and unclenched his fists as his bad memories resurfaced in the present, along with the overwhelming emotions that came with it.

Gritting his teeth, Apollyon forcefully shoved all of the unfortunate things back to the dark corners of his mind. "I can argue with you all day about that, but I chose not to."

Focusing on the faerie dragon and his treasure, Apollyon had speculation that since the faerie dragon had guarded the items, they must be immune to it. "Tell me about the magic items the captive had acquired and where it could it possibly belonged."

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"We hadn't touched or attempted to use it." Aspen folded his arms across his chest as he pointed out, "It might be a trap and might backfire on us if we tried. The Fae isn't telling my sentinels anything. That was why both of us had to see them for ourselves."

Apollyon could feel the faerie dragon encasing itself within a strong energy shield, repelling most magic and conventional attacks, as Prince Aspen talked.

"How about King Zephyr?" Apollyon raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you tell him to come with us?"

"I don't trust the Shadow King, King Apollyon." Aspen drawled as he watched him with suspicion, wondering why Apollyon kept insisting on including him in this. "There was still a chance that the Shadowkind was also behind this." "He might act as a spy to his advantage."

"—or we could trick him into becoming our trusted ally, making him our 'spy," Apollyon suggested. "We can unmask him as a spy with his own knowledge against his own Kingdom."

"He had tricked all the Faerie Kings and the Queens of the High Court." A shake in the head. "It would be impossible to trick the trickster."