Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 151630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 758(@200wpm)___ 607(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 758(@200wpm)___ 607(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
I’ve made her uncomfortable. If we have some time to talk, I’ll take it. “Are you okay?”
Shy seems surprised at the question. “Of course. I’ve felt magic many times before.”
“She’s asking if you’re okay with all the questions. And if you’re okay with Rhys. That was a heavy scene back home.” Neil gestures my way. “She knows what it means to have some dude think he owns her, and she’s real expensive, if you know what I mean. The funny thing is that dude was Danny and not Devinshea. Dev actually figured out pretty quickly she wasn’t going in a cage and behaved accordingly. If only he put that knowledge to use when it comes to his daughter.”
Didn’t I know it, but there are some differences. “Dev didn’t meet his goddess before he attained maturity.”
“By maturity she means before he got his freak on with half of Faery and a whole lot of the Earth plane,” Neil adds helpfully.
Shy frowns at a space to my left. “You do not have to be so judgmental. He’s a Green Man. Do you know what that means?” She pauses. “I don’t think faeries can carry syphilis.” Her head is shaking as she looks back at me. “Sorry. She was really old and set in her ways when she died. You know some ghosts revert to the form they were happiest in. Some stay frozen the way they died. Anna apparently likes being a mean old biddy.”
The lights flicker slightly.
Shy waves it off. “She’ll be back. I’m the only one she can talk to. As for Rhys, I didn’t mean to…I don’t know…stunt his growth. I know he should have way more experience than he has, and it’s my fault.”
“You need to stop using that word, sweetie. Fault is loaded and not applicable here,” I explain. “If anyone is at fault, it’s his fathers and me for being dumb enough to fall into that painting and cause the world to explode.”
“It would have done that anyway,” Shy says firmly. “Myrddin would have found a way. He was always going to bring this darkness to our plane.”
I wonder about that. I know Myrddin thinks I’m little more than the king’s bang buddy, but I have some power of my own. I’m a nexus point. It means I have no fate. I don’t show up on that endless tapestry, and the things I do and choices I make can change that sucker for good or bad. I have to wonder what could have happened if I were here when Myrddin made his move. But I’ve been told thinking that way will get me nowhere, so I let it go. I have inroads to make with this someday daughter-in-law of mine. Including cleaning up some of my son’s mess so he has a chance at making her exactly that. “The point being if Devinshea had been here when Rhys reached puberty, he likely would have taken him to Faery to begin his training as a priest, and let me tell you it does not involve denial of pleasure the way it does here on the Earth plane.”
Shy’s head cocks slightly, a curious expression coming over her. “A priest? Like a high priest?”
I nod. She knows the terminology, but there’s more to it. I wonder if anyone explained this to her. Likely not. The kids were too young to really grasp their father’s role in the Fae world beyond he was called His Grace and given deference. It wouldn’t occur to Trent or Sasha to talk about it beyond telling the kids their dad was important. I’m pretty sure Trent, at least, hadn’t explained that their parents got it on in public and a whole lot of voyeurs got pregnant. “Yes. Simply by his nature he’s already a priest of Faery. Dev is the high priest, though I suppose in his absence they declared Rhys for the position. It’s why they tried to kidnap him. The issue is a priest usually spends years in training that begins when the Green Man hits puberty. When he should have been in Faery making Lee look like a prude, he was on the run.”
“From the stories I’ve heard, it didn’t stop Lee,” Shy says quietly. “I was sixteen when I met him. Harry managed to teach me how to act normal. How to be normal, and I finally got out of the institution. Naturally they sent me to a group home, but Harry taught me how to get out.”
I smile. “He taught you how to steal, didn’t he? My father was a menace. He was also the best thief in all of the supernatural world. I wondered how you managed to get across the globe and find your way here.”
“It wasn’t exactly stealing,” Shy admits. “Harry kept a bunch of cash in his old house. By then it had been sold by Myrddin, and he pocketed the money. You do not want to know how your father felt about that.”