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Rei froze. Was there something he should be asking her? Something she could help him with that he wasn’t thinking of?
Stay! How can I stay?
His brain screamed the words, but he couldn’t say them out loud. Speaking them meant having some hope of remaining at his Yiyi’s side, but that wasn’t an option. That was insanity. Someone had to force all the fae back through the door. Someone had to sit on the throne to take care of his people. No, he didn’t want to do it, but who else was going to slide into that role?
The old witch made another displeased noise and leaned forward. “Since we’ve planned for the possibility of needing to feed from the elf in an emergency, why don’t you ask about how to keep the crown prince alive if he were somehow trapped in the human realm, cut off from the fae realm?”
Rei sat hard. It was really more like collapsing into his chair. His legs gave out. The witch had known exactly what he was thinking. Now that she’d spoken the words, she had to have an answer. She couldn’t be so cruel as to bring it up and not know a way to keep him here.
“Can you do it?” Yichen asked.
“It was our understanding that any fae left in the human realm after the door closed would wither because of a lack of magic from their homeland,” Chen chimed in.
“That’s true,” Zelda nodded.
Rei got his tongue to work at last. “Would the magic removed from Yichen using the bloodstone be enough to sustain me?”
“No, but it would buy you some time. Depending on how much magic you capture, you might sneak a month or two. But you can bottle some very potent magic that lives in the human realm.”
“How? Where? What do we need to do?” Yichen practically lunged in front of Rei, stealing the elf’s breath away with his desperation.
“It’s a bit simple, and a bit difficult. You need a sandstone rock about the size of a half dollar.” Lifting her hand, she formed a circle with her index finger and thumb, giving an approximate size. “Drill a hole in it so you can wear it around your neck against your skin.” She paused and sighed. “This is the hard part. You need the blood of a huli jing, phoenix, or a dragon. Older the better. They are among the few creatures in this world that are filled with earth magic. Soaking a sandstone in the blood of one of those creatures for fourteen days—from new moon to full moon—will give you an amulet that’s as powerful as stepping into your home world. After the power has saturated the stone, you need an earth witch to seal it.” She turned her attention to Moon. “Your friends, Redstone and Maddox, would do the job fine. Don’t let Sky touch it. He’d muck up the magic, and you’d have to start over.”
“Oh! Oh!” Rei’s head whipped about to see Xiang standing with his hand raised in the air, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet. “I get to tell Huli! That’s my job! I get to tell that annoying fox. How much blood do we need? A lot, right? Several liters?”
Zelda snorted. “Half a liter at most, I’m sure. Enough to cover the stone completely in a bowl.”
“Nah. We can get more.” Xiang hit Chen’s shoulder and grinned broadly at the vampire. “We should drain him. Just to be on the safe side.”
“Hey! Huli isn’t that bad. He’s been helpful!” Moon argued.
The bickering continued, but it all became white noise as his brain struggled to process what he’d been told. He could stay. He had a way to remain here, near his Yiyi.
Except what about his people?
And did his Yiyi even want him to remain here?
Chapter 13
Wu Yichen
Rei was being too quiet.
Ever since Zelda had laid out how he could remain within the human realm, the elf hadn’t made a single noise other than to thank her for the information.
Armed with at least a rough plan of what they needed, they left the nightclub after Chen told Rafe that they’d be in contact with King Aiden about dealing with the fae king and his army. As they walked to the SUV parked in a lot nearby, Yichen slowed his steps so he was at the rear of their group with Rei.
His companion was shuffling along as if in a daze, his eyes locked on the ground and a wrinkle forming between his eyebrows. Knots were tightening in Yichen’s stomach as Rei’s silence stretched. Sure, they hadn’t discussed for a second the notion of Rei remaining in the human realm after the door shut. This blood-soaked sandstone was just a backup plan in case everything went horribly wrong.
And things very much had a habit of going wrong where they were concerned.
Besides, Rei didn’t need to know that Yichen wanted him to remain behind more than anything else in the world. Or that the idea of Rei leaving was giving him nightmares. Who was going to protect him in the fae realm when they separated? Who was going to listen to Rei’s rants while combing his hair? His servants wouldn’t know how to handle him. Who was Rei going to tease? The elf couldn’t go five minutes without teasing or taunting someone, and his favorite target was his Yiyi.
Logic said that Rei needed to remain in the human realm, and now Yichen had a way of making it happen.
Okay, maybe not logic.
Definitely his heart was demanding it. Logic said that Rei had to go home to rule his people. Why would he give up his chance at power for Yichen?
