Page 30 of Beauty

I feel a deep connection to the vampire. It must be hard onhim. He was promised so much as a royal. He was promised wealth and power and along, long life with his consort, and all had been taken from him.

“We will follow you, Roan,” Lach says, respect back in histone. “Just tell us what to do. We’ve never been to Tír na nÓg.”

Roan walks to the spot where he set his pack and tablet.“We’ll enter here. We’re going to line up as quickly as possible when the timecomes. As soon as you’re through, reach back and pull in the person behind you.We’re going to be met by some allies on the other side. This part of the veilleads directly onto a ranch of sorts. It’s run by two brothers who raise andtrain horses. They keep my packs and tools and vehicles hidden. I’ve alreadysent word, and they have everything ready for us. We’ll need to stay with themuntil darkness falls, and we can travel at night.”

“Boss.” Harry’s sharp yell comes before the tablet beginsbeeping. “We have thirty seconds before the crack forms.”

Roan grabs his backpack, giving Julian a jaunty salute.“Lodge, I hope to see you on the field of battle in a week.”

Julian flashes a wicked smile. “I’ll be there. No matterwhat the Council says, a whole lot of vampires will be there. Try not to die,Dellacourt.”

Dante grins, grabbing his wife’s hand. “My Kaj won’t let medie.”

Kaja shakes her head. “I will not. It took me too long totrain this husband. I do not wish to go through it again.”

Dante shakes his head before capturing her mouth with a softkiss.

“I’ll go in first, followed by Harry. The rest of you followas quickly as you can.” Roan’s fangs are out, a sure sign that his adrenalineis up. His eyes move, searching for something in the air in front of him.“There you are, gorgeous.”

Gabe brings some kind of light and flashes it where Roanpoints. Sure enough, the light shimmers a few inches above the beach. It’s odd,like the way the horizon seems to shimmer in the distance on a very hot day,but this is close and small.

“It smells different.” Kaja scents the air. “Dante, I smellfields and forests.”

Dellacourt seems to catch his wife’s enthusiasm. “I smell anadventure. We have fun in forests, baby.”

“It’s going to be tight.” Roan drops to his belly. “Hurry.”He puts his hands through and suddenly his body begins to disappear. One minutehe’s there and the next, his arms are gone, vanishing as though they don’texist. The rest of his body follows, swallowed up by whatever is on the otherside of the veil.

Harry tosses a pack through and disappears the same way.

Lach turns back to Julian. “You knew. This was here thewhole time. You knew.”

Julian’s face is a careful blank. “The king wouldn’t letanyone tell you. He didn’t believe, Lachlan. No one did. Now get rid of youranger and prove us wrong. Your father is betting everything on this. Hiskingdom. His life. Forgive him and move on. You’ll be happier for it.”

I figured it out the minute Julian showed up, but I don’tstruggle the way Lach does. I take my brother’s elbow. “Go. We have to go.”

Everyone else is gone.

Lach dives toward the crack, his big body disappearing. Iturn to Duffy who stands there, axe in hand.

“Go, Duffy.”

The gnome shakes his head. “Ain’t going ’til you do.Someone’s gotta watch yer back.”

He can be so stubborn. There are only seconds left. I don’targue. I throw my body to the ground. “Grab my legs.” I can already see Lach’sbig hands coming through, searching for my arms to pull me along. “Grab mylegs, Duffy!”

I can feel the veil beginning to close. There’s a crack, andit feels like invisible walls are closing in. My breath catches in my chest.I’m going to die like this, cut in half, so close to her and yet forever faraway.

It feels like my arms are torn from my shoulders, but I’msuddenly in a completely different place. The sun is brighter. The air warmer.

I sit up. I can’t feel Duffy at my feet. “Duffy? He washolding on to my ankles. Duffy?”

And then the gnome appears just as the crack between the twoworlds slams closed. Duffy is a small cannonball popping in from the otherplane. He rolls and grunts to a stop. His helmet is askew and his armor out ofplace.

“Sorry. I almost forgot me axe. Wouldn’t be nothing of aguard without me axe.”

There’s a rich laugh behind us, and I look up. Two identicalFae twins stare down at me.

“Well, look at that. I’ve never seen a gnome warrior before,Max.” The one who speaks has a wide grin and a hat on his head.