“Who?”
“She’s a popular fairy in the human…realm.”
He got walking again. “Rather dangerous of her to leave her own realm.”
“Well, we mostly thought she was make-be— Uh… Never mind,” I said as I changed my mind about discussing real and not real with the fae guy who was already feeling salty. “So what’s it mean to be in his prime for a fae prince? Like, twenty-something?”
“I’m four hundred and six.”
“Pardon?”
“Fae age slowly and are immortal for the most part.”
“You look like you could be about—I don’t know—maybe twenty-five, if you were human. I felt pretty invincible when I was twenty-five, so I guess that would’ve been the prime of my life.”
“How old are you now?”
“Just turned thirty.”
“Well, you’ll age much slower now that you’re here.”
“Really? How much slower?”
Solaris shrugged. “As a child, I met a human who was over nine hundred years old.”
“Shit. Okay.” But I stopped being so impressed as plenty of movie references came to mind of cobweb-covered senile old men who’d lived way longer than they should’ve. “Was he a drooling pile of brittle bones begging for death?”
“No.” Solaris gave me a look like I was nuts. “He was elderly but not unfit. I believe he’s still alive.”
“Okay then. Something to look forward to, I guess.”
“Especially since the rings have been closed for three years as part of the curse. Though you somehow managed to arrive, there is no way to send you back.”
I stopped in my tracks and felt suddenly cold. “What?”
He came to a halt and looked back. “Uh, yes, the person—or persons—who cast the curse have made it impossible for spellworkers to open a ring to any other realm. We are all well and truly trapped in place.”
“But I got here.” I gestured behind us to where we’d fallen, noticing dark clouds rolling in. “I mean, it was from the ground in my world to the fucking sky here, but something opened. How’s that possible if it’s impossible?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged only to wince. “I’m unable to do it, and those of equal or specific skills are also unable.”
Trapped in place. That phrase started banging around in my brain until I had to lean over, bracing my hands on my knees and taking deep breaths. Whatever weird magic sent me here wasn’t going to send me home. How was it possible that I couldn’t ever go home? I didn’t want to accept that just because I was in some ridiculous fairyland.
I felt Solaris rest his hand on my shoulder. “I apologize for my casual delivery of such news. However, I do think it’s best for you to know the truth now rather than live with a hope that will only be dashed later on.”
Taking one last deep breath, I stood straight again, and he took his hand back. He didn’t know everyone. Who even was this guy? Just because he didn’t know anyone who could fight against the curse and open a portal to send me home didn’t mean no one could. I just had to find them.
Before I could say so, a startlingly loud clap of thunder had us both flinching. Those dark clouds behind us were seriously roiling and a hell of a lot closer. As I watched, lightning cracked the sky and honest to god hit the ground somewhere back there. It left a plume of smoke.
“Fire,” he said.
“You’re kidding.”
He fluttered his wings and immediately cried out in pain. “We need to go. Quickly.”
I looked back again and— Okay, yeah, now I could see fire. “Run!”
Chapter 3
