“You went out into the city alone!”
One black brow twitched. “I’m not exactly easy to catch, Eva.” He extended the bag.
I had half a mind to refuse the bag but… it was from my favorite bakery. I took it and peeked inside, noticing a blueberry danish on top that I would absolutely be claiming for myself.
But still, I lifted my narrowed eyes to the devil. “Your sister could capture you.”
“We have a contract with my sister.”
“Yeah, after she tricked us and sold us out to my grandfather, putting us in the predicament we are in now.”
“Now that she has signed the contract, she can no longer bring us any harm. Once your grandfather failed to claim you, she deemed us her better bet. Isn’t that nice?” His tone dripped with sarcasm.
“I’ll just have to take your word for it, now won’t I?” I grumbled, snatching the coffee from his hand before turning to walk back toward Crispin.
Sebastian followed at my heels. “Mistral has made some progress with the vortex. Marcie is asking to witness a demonstration.”
I stopped in my tracks, but didn’t turn back. “Well you’ve just been all over the city today, haven’t you?”
And I knew he was absolutely loving it. He had a free pass to the Bogs, Emerald Heights, and the Silver Quarter. Maybe it was all his plan from the beginning. I wouldn’t put it past him.
We had mostly made up since he’d admitted what he had done to Mistral, knowing that a marriage could save the Bogs but keeping the information to himself. Of course Mistral already knew, and was just being far too noble about it.
And now I was a married lady, at least in the eyes of the Bogs. It wasn’t a legal marriage by human standards, but I was a lot more afraid of wild goblin magic than I was of human bureaucracy. So what did that say about me that I had still gone through with it?
Oh yeah, it said I loved Mistral and didn’t want him to die. And it said he didn’t want to die either. I knew he loved me too—with our bargain of truth, he couldn’t exactly lie about it—but he’d done everything he could to avoid joining himself to me. And his first goal had always been to find a pathway home. A home far, far away from the city I grew up in. It all left me feeling not exactly sure where I stood with the goblin prince.
Overwhelmed with my thoughts, I took the blueberry pastry out of the bag, then handed the rest to Crispin. Ringo had already moved to Crispin‘s desk and was rubbing his little paws together in anticipation.
I took a bite, sipped my coffee, turned back to Sebastian, then wished I hadn’t. The dark gleam in his eyes made my cheeks prickle with heat.
Never have I ever had sex with four guys at once in a magical meadow—
Oh wait. I did.
2
Reaching the Bogs was a lot easier now that I could just hold on to the guys and pop right across the boundary. Ringo seemed the most fazed by the journey, clinging to my shoulder with his tail wrapped around my neck. He had as much of a free pass to the other realms as Sebastian did, but only because I’d realized that as long as he was close to me, my magic was enough to carry him even beyond boundaries where goblins weren’t normally allowed. Once he was over the boundary, he was so small that he was usually good. It was kind of like a bird passing through. Birds went wherever the hells they pleased.
The little stone cottage we arrived at was in the middle of nowhere, deep in the Bogs and far from prying eyes. Now that my great grandfather had attacked the Citadel, it wasn’t somewhere to be hanging around. Only those gathered presently knew about the cottage, and I trusted each of them with my life. It helped that the golden cords between us now often let me sense their emotions, and right now everyone was a mix of anxiety and anticipation. I was pretty sure the eager anticipation came from Sebastian. He was more than ready to murder my great grandfather. We just had to lure him to the city first,because according to Marcie, he wouldn’t risk attacking us directly beyond any of the magical barriers.
Oh, he would blow stuff up and have no conscience about innocent lives being lost, but he wouldn’t stay around long enough for us to face him. He knew I was a conduit, and that the guys were all bound to me, and he hadn’t lived so very long by taking unnecessary risks. It meant we were strong enough to face him—if we could catch him.
The glowing orb that was the vortex rested on a bronze stand. Leave it to an ancient high goblin to have the proper stand for a magical orb. The vortex was about the size of a bowling ball, glowing with swirling green light. It had been a lot smaller when Varian attacked us with it, but after the Bogs ate it, a great deal of wild magic was absorbed. It was the perfect weapon to use against my grandfather—if we could figure out how to actually use it.
I watched as Mistral positioned himself in front of the orb. The rest of us stood in a semi circle on the other side of the table, the confines of the small cottage keeping us closer to the vortex than I liked. Varian had used the vortex to absorb my mother’s magic with the intent of using that power to create a new pathway home. Now we were promising him exactly what he wanted, but we still didn’t trust him enough to ask for vortex lessons. All I could hope was that once that crazy fairy made it home, he would stay there.
My breath caught as Mistral lifted the green orb in his bare hands. It was lighter than it looked, and seemed to float slightly above his palms. The green light, far brighter than the scant sunlight creeping in through curtained windows, reflected off his long white hair and pale gray shirt. Ringo hopped down from my shoulder and crept a little closer, his eyes as round as the orb.
“Crispin was right,” Mistral explained. “It’s not terribly different from goblin magic, which is just compressed energy.We simply compress energy into a tight enough space that it becomes magic. I believe it was through this process that Varian created the original vortex. Although it must have taken him months to gather enough energy for such a thing in this realm, even within the Crystal Vale.”
He lifted the orb a little higher, the green swirls reflecting in his gray eyes. “And just like any magic, it performs based on intent.”
“But does it not absorb magic on its own?” Crispin stroked his chin. He had walked closer to the table, though I knew he was cautious about touching the vortex.
“It does, but only because energy is naturally drawn to such a force. With the intent of a strong wielder, however, such an effect can be either greatly amplified, or mitigated entirely.”
“So you use it to drain my great grandfather’s magic, then shut it off and we blow him up?” I asked.
