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Thanking Vojalie again for her willingness to stay, he then headed to his office and made the call to Grochaire Realm. Fortunately, this time, realm-to-realm communication worked.
Quinlan’s bass voice hit his ear. “Ethan. What the f**k do you want?”
“You’re still such a complete ass.”
“And you’re still a pain in mine. I see you’ve stayed alive somehow.”
“Still kicking.”
“Can’t talk right now. I’ve got a doneuse with me and we’re a little busy.”
“You don’t sound busy.” He smiled though.
Ethan heard a drag on a cigarette. “Just taking a break. In that sense your timing was good. I’ve got a great view and I’m enjoying it. ” A faint moaning in the background confirmed Ethan’s suspicion. Quinlan still took his donors to bed and by now Ethan knew exactly what was going on.
A vibration went straight through him as thoughts of Samantha slipped through his head.
He rubbed the back of his neck, squeezed his eyes shut and forced himself to focus. “I won’t keep you long. One of the fae had a vision of you, in a battle over Sweet Gorge. How soon can you get your ass over here?”
“Hold on.”
Ethan heard murmurs in the background, as Quinlan talked things over with his doneuse. Ethan could have extended his hearing to listen to the conversation, but he respected Quinlan’s privacy.
Back on the phone, Quinlan said. “Sorry about that. Just needed to figure a couple of things out. Tell me the rest, more about this fae. Do you trust the vision?”
Ethan thought he should just come out with it. “This one’s half-fae and half-human.”
“That’s a lot of power for a partial-fae to have.”
He took a deep breath before he said, “Her name is Samantha and she’s Andrea’s daughter.”
“No shit.” Quinlan had a deep voice, and it had gone deeper still.
“There’s something else. Something you need to know. She’s a blood rose.”
A slight pause, then, “Are you f**king kidding me? A second one in only a few months? What the hell’s going on?”
“So you didn’t know. Apparently, it’s all over the Bergisson blogs.”
Quinlan laughed low. “Again, I’ve been a little busy.”
Ethan strove once more to clear his mind of the suggestive images. He chose to press on.“I’m thinking her arrival might be a reaction to the Invictus, that we’ve got some kind of rogue fae power on the loose of tremendous ability, who’s been working to increase Invictus cohesion.”
“Action, reaction.”
“Something like that. And Ry’s joined up with them. He led a concerted attack at the fairgrounds last night.”
A soft hiss sounded and afterward another drag. “That prick. But the hell if I’m surprised.”
“He went after Samantha last night. If he’d gotten to her before me, he would have enslaved her.”
“Sweet Goddess.”
“You said it.”
“Okay, so what am I doing in this vision?”
“Fighting for the cause. You’re in flight and carrying a short-sword. Lots of Invictus.”
“Okay. That’s all I need to know. I’ll come to you as soon as I see my lieutenants. Just one question: Have you taken from this blood rose? Gerrod said the result is incredible. How’s the starvation, right now, I mean?”
Ethan took in a long, slow breath. He searched for even the smallest sensation, a trickle of blood hunger, but found nothing. “It’s like it never existed.”
“Fuck. Me.”
The thought streaked through Ethan’s head that he shouldn’t let Quinlan get anywhere near Samantha. He knew how he’d reacted to Abigail so he shared with Quinlan what that had been like for him. “You’ll want this blood rose really bad. But for now, she’s mine. Keep your f**king hands off.”
He’d meant to say the whole thing in more diplomatic terms, but even the thought of another mastyr getting near Samantha, caused his fists to ball up and his biceps to twitch. “I need you to understand.”
Quinlan chuckled, a low deep sound. “I’m feeling you, Ethan. I’ll keep my distance.”
“Thank you. So when can you come?”
“I have some things to straighten out with my lieutenants. Three, four hours tops. And if I’m going to stay a few nights, you’ll probably want to alert a couple of your doneuses that I might need them.”
“You got it.”
“Around eleven, then?”
“Sounds good.”
Ethan ended the call and reached Finn through his telepathic frequency and asked him to stay on point. Finn was all too happy to take charge, eager even, which made Ethan wonder if Davido might be right after all. Maybe he should let go of some of his leadership roles.
But the thought of it, of relinquishing even a small part of his committed rule over Bergisson, sent a flash of guilt through his brain. He’d let down just once, to party with Quinlan, and his family had died.
No, the present circumstances with Samantha were temporary. As soon as he figured out what to do with her, he’d take back the reins.
When Samantha returned, however, wearing a loose, red-flowered dress to mid-calf, his heart paused in his chest. She was so beautiful and walked with willowy ease. Hell, even beyond her blood rose qualities, he was drawn to her.
So exactly how easy was it going to be to let her go?
*** *** ***
Samantha’s heart pounded and not just because she was in flight, or because Ethan’s heavily muscled arms surrounded her, or his tough, wild, grassy scent teased her senses. Nor was it a blood rose thing, although that existed as well, an acute awareness of Ethan’s feeding requirements like a temperature she could take by just thinking the thought.
No, the excitement she felt was all about her heritage, her faeness, and discovering what powers she possessed beyond her visions of the future.
She’d seen Vojalie’s expression when Samantha had come out of the vision, something approaching a deep sense of hope. The realm-world needed Samantha; she felt it in her bones.
She sighed as Ethan moved swiftly along the deep oak wood path that would eventually lead to the Guildhall. This middle portion of his realm appeared to be mostly wooded with numerous lakes and streams. She’d already learned that Sweet Gorge, the place in her vision, had once had a good-sized stream running through that met up with Bergisson River, the main water source for the realm.
