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 know because the air is sweet and the sun warm on my skin. Softer than before. I know because the grass is perfect and green, and I can see a palace in the distance. I know because Rhys takes a long breath, and a shudder goes through his big body like something inside him relaxes simply by being here.
I look behind me as Cassie moves forward with her dad, and I see Sasha walking out of the door. In the back I see the Drowning Woman is gone. The door closes and she is not here. She cannot follow me. I breathe a sigh of relief. She is attached to me. She proved that when she managed to follow me to Iceland. But she’s more attached to the Earth plane.
“Is she here?” Rhys asks.
I look around to make sure. “No.”
“Good.” He kisses the top of my head and looks out over the green fields toward the gleaming palace in the distance. His shoulders straighten. “Well, I suppose we should get going. Did anyone send word we were coming?”
His papa turns our way. “I spoke with your grandmother via the mirror network. I expect there will be an escort waiting closer to the palace. I didn’t tell her we were coming in through Arawn’s door. I can’t be sure if she even knows this door exists, so I explained we would meet them outside the palace walls. We should get going.”
“She readily agreed we could bring Dad and the wolves and Sasha?” Rhys asks the question in a challenging tone.
“Yes. She agreed to it,” Devinshea replies with what seems like patience. “She understands the rules. When Mom, Dad, and I went missing, the Fae took it as a bad portent. They are deeply superstitious. In their minds they had only recently gotten their fertility back and then it was gone again. They blame my interactions with non-Fae creatures. Once we start setting the fields right and perform a few rituals, they will calm down.”
“Fecking bastard.”
The words are spat from somewhere over my head as Devinshea continues to explain why it’s going to be all right this time, why it’s not like when she turned away Lee and Fenrir.
“I hope they kill him.”
I glance up, and there’s a small creature sitting on the lowest branch of a tree to the left of the door. Not that you can see the door anymore. It disappeared after Sasha walked through it. I move in closer. “Are you all right?”
I think it’s a troll. Oh. A dead troll. I can see a gaping wound on his neck and one eye dangles.
The troll nearly falls from his perch.
“So, I think it’s safe to assume she can see dead Fae creatures,” the queen says.
Rhys nods his mom’s way. “She sees them back in Frelsi. I’m not surprised she can see them here.”
The hounds circle the tree and the troll shrinks back. “Leave me alone, fecking bastards. Don’t let him look at me. Don’t let him send his evil eye.”
“They can’t hurt you,” I explain, moving beneath the big oak tree. I tilt my head up. “They’re curious.”
His head turns down, one big black eye taking me in. “I assure you they can hurt anything they want to. And so can the king.”
“I don’t think the king is here to hurt anyone.” I’m not sure how this troll knows Daniel Donovan, though I’m sure he came to Faery many times with his family. The king has a profoundly calm energy. Not that I haven’t seen him mad, but his base energy is good. The queen has this frenetic but lovely energy around her. A little like chaos, but the kind that works for good. Devinshea is the one with hard, purposeful energy.
The troll stares at me for a moment. “Why are you with him? This is not your world. Are you his captive? Is he taking seers now?”
“I’m no one’s captive. He’s my boyfriend’s father.” I’ve found simple replies are best with new “friends.”
I swear that dead troll paled. “Then I curse you, too, and all is lost.”
And then he’s gone.
He is a very dramatic troll.
I turn to the king. “Did you screw over some trolls the last time you were here, Your Highness?”
King Daniel looks confused. “Why would you ask that?”
“Because that was a dead troll who really doesn’t like you. And he curses me because I’m with you. How much magic do dead trolls have?” I ask. In all my time in Frelsi I only met witches with my best interests at heart. Rhys keeps me shielded when we’re in the field. When I’m allowed in the field. I don’t like the thought of being cursed by a troll. Dead humans don’t have a lot of magic, but I don’t know about the Fae who live in a sithien.