Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 132138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 661(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 661(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
“Boss.” Harry’s sharp yell comes before the tablet begins beeping. “We have thirty seconds before the crack forms.”
Roan grabs his backpack, giving Julian a jaunty salute. “Lodge, I hope to see you on the field of battle in a week.”
Julian flashes a wicked smile. “I’ll be there. No matter what the Council says, a whole lot of vampires will be there. Try not to die, Dellacourt.”
Dante grins, grabbing his wife’s hand. “My Kaj won’t let me die.”
Kaja shakes her head. “I will not. It took me too long to train this husband. I do not wish to go through it again.”
Dante shakes his head before capturing her mouth with a soft kiss.
“I’ll go in first, followed by Harry. The rest of you follow as quickly as you can.” Roan’s fangs are out, a sure sign that his adrenaline is up. His eyes move, searching for something in the air in front of him. “There you are, gorgeous.”
Gabe brings some kind of light and flashes it where Roan points. Sure enough, the light shimmers a few inches above the beach. It’s odd, like the way the horizon seems to shimmer in the distance on a very hot day, but this is close and small.
“It smells different.” Kaja scents the air. “Dante, I smell fields and forests.”
Dellacourt seems to catch his wife’s enthusiasm. “I smell an adventure. We have fun in forests, baby.”
“It’s going to be tight.” Roan drops to his belly. “Hurry.” He puts his hands through and suddenly his body begins to disappear. One minute he’s there and the next, his arms are gone, vanishing as though they don’t exist. The rest of his body follows, swallowed up by whatever is on the other side of the veil.
Harry tosses a pack through and disappears the same way.
Lach turns back to Julian. “You knew. This was here the whole time. You knew.”
Julian’s face is a careful blank. “The king wouldn’t let anyone tell you. He didn’t believe, Lachlan. No one did. Now get rid of your anger and prove us wrong. Your father is betting everything on this. His kingdom. His life. Forgive him and move on. You’ll be happier for it.”
I figured it out the minute Julian showed up, but I don’t struggle the way Lach does. I take my brother’s elbow. “Go. We have to go.”
Everyone else is gone.
Lach dives toward the crack, his big body disappearing. I turn to Duffy who stands there, axe in hand.
“Go, Duffy.”
The gnome shakes his head. “Ain’t going ’til you do. Someone’s gotta watch yer back.”
He can be so stubborn. There are only seconds left. I don’t argue. I throw my body to the ground. “Grab my legs.” I can already see Lach’s big hands coming through, searching for my arms to pull me along. “Grab my legs, Duffy!”
I can feel the veil beginning to close. There’s a crack, and it feels like invisible walls are closing in. My breath catches in my chest. I’m going to die like this, cut in half, so close to her and yet forever far away.
It feels like my arms are torn from my shoulders, but I’m suddenly in a completely different place. The sun is brighter. The air warmer.
I sit up. I can’t feel Duffy at my feet. “Duffy? He was holding on to my ankles. Duffy?”
And then the gnome appears just as the crack between the two worlds slams closed. Duffy is a small cannonball popping in from the other plane. He rolls and grunts to a stop. His helmet is askew and his armor out of place.
“Sorry. I almost forgot me axe. Wouldn’t be nothing of a guard without me axe.”
There’s a rich laugh behind us, and I look up. Two identical Fae twins stare down at me.
“Well, look at that. I’ve never seen a gnome warrior before, Max.” The one who speaks has a wide grin and a hat on his head.
Max looks to be the surlier of the two. “Well, that’s the Unseelie for you, Rye.”
I let my head fall back, dragging air into my lungs.
I’m finally here.
Chapter Eight
Lachlan
I stare out the back porch and try to will the sun to go down. It’s been hours and hours of waiting. Hours of listening to the Harper twins argue and crack wise. I’m suddenly appreciative of my own brother.
A huge black dog lumbers into the yard, a gnarly stick in his mouth. The dog is roughly the size of a small pony, though it appears the Harper twins like to grow large animals. Their entire stock of horses are oversized and run the range of colors from a brilliant red to blacks so dark they shimmer blue in the sunlight.
The rest of the group is huddled around the large table inside the brugh, enjoying a meal the twin’s wife, Rachel, cooked. It’s a full table. The twins have five children, all but one larger than Duffy.