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"When were you thinking of coming out, Ms. Welter?"
I didn't correct her. Let her think that I was related on the father's side—it didn't make any difference to me. "Would tomorrow be too soon? Around three P.M.?"
The sound of tapping keys and then she said, "I've got you scheduled and on the visitor list. Thank you, Camille. We encourage families to visit as often as possible. Even when the patient is as unresponsive as Benjamin, it seems to help them. You know, just having people here who care."
As I hung up, I felt like a first-class rat. But then again, Benjamin didn't want human companionship. Whether I was actually his cousin or just the stranger I really was, it probably wouldn't matter to him. And maybe, just maybe, there was something I could do to help. I pushed back the chair and stood.
Delilah glanced over at me. She'd managed to fashion a padded pen of sorts for Mistletoe, who looked miserable, stretched out on the mattress pad. He groaned and rubbed his belly.
"I've got to go. Smoky's about ready to blow. I'd better go find out what Morgaine's up to out there." I took a deep breath. "Everything should be okay but… just in case…"
"Do you want me to come with you?" she asked immediately. "You can break the deal. We'll find some other way to pay him back for his help." She hugged me, the black crescent tattoo beating a staccato pulse on her forehead.
I stared at the mark. A tremendous burden had been thrust upon her when she suggested we seek help from the Autumn Lord, and she seldom complained. Though she was bound to the Elemental Lord as one of his Death Maidens, Delilah took it in stride with as much grace as she could muster.
The Autumn Lord hadn't offered her a choice. Smoky had given me the option. Spend a week with him, and he'd help us contact the Autumn Lord. One week of pleasure, compared with a lifetime of fearful bonds to an Elemental prince? I had no right to complain.
I cleared my throat. "Everything will be fine. I'm looking forward to it, actually." And I was. For the most part. Yes, I was afraid, and yes, Smoky was likely to wreak havoc with my life. But who hadn't dumped a bucket of chaos into our lives in the past six months? Might as well be in the form of a tall, cool drink of water.
"I'll be home tomorrow," I told her. "We can discuss what you and Morio found, and what I've discovered about Morgaine."
She gave me a tentative smile and then pulled me in for another hug. As my head rested under her chin—at six one, she was a good six inches taller than me—I closed my eyes. It almost felt like Mother was holding me again, tight in an embrace that was forever safe and welcoming. Delilah reluctantly let go, and I stepped back.
"Have fun." She winked. "Smoky likes you. He won't hurt you. And if he does… we'll get him."
Laughing at the thought, I made my way out of the kitchen and into the living room. Morio was handing Smoky a satchel.
"I see you've been pawing through my goodies again," I said, sticking my tongue out at him.
"I like pawing your goodies," Morio said, arching his eyebrows. He planted a long, slow kiss on my lips. So different than Trillian. Bewitching instead of demanding. Trillian overwhelmed and conquered, whereas Morio encouraged his conquests to hand over the keys to the kingdom without so much as a twinge of regret. Trillian was alpha, Morio stood outside of the whole testosterone match and calmly bided his time.
I lingered in his arms, and he playfully pinched my butt. "You better get a move on," he said, then leaned close to my ear. "I'll be out there tonight, watching, to make sure you're okay." Without another word, he pulled away and gestured to me with a flourish. "She's all yours, Smoky. Treat her with care."
Smoky let out a long breath. "I never intended anything else," he said and turned toward the door.
I ran over to Feddrah-Dahns. "Stay for a day or so; you'll want to hear about Morgaine, I'm sure."
"Just don't let her get hold of that horn," he said. "You must not allow the horn to fall into the wrong hands."
Like Morgaine could withstand a million-amp lightning bolt any better than me, I thought, but left the thought unsaid. "Right." And then, without further ado, we were off.
"Did you want to take my car?" I started to say, but Smoky motioned for me to come closer.
He wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "Now you'll find out how I travel." Cryptic, but enough to warn me that I'd better prepare for something out of the ordinary.
I steeled myself as a swirl of magic spun up, a vortex with us as its focal point. Dragon magic. While I'd felt it moving within Smoky's aura before, the power had never gone raging through me like it was now.
One moment I was standing on the front lawn with his arm around me. The next moment the sky opened, and stars whirled above us as the world shifted. A chill a million degrees colder than the grave stabbed into my body, like someone had thrust a dagger made of ice between my shoulder blades. This was ancient magic, old and cunning and whirling us about like we were two leaves in the wind as we fell into the void. A crashing of thunder, and then mist rose around me, and I heard the persistent lapping of waves against a beach.
Oh cripes, I knew where we were.
We were swimming, but not like any fish or whale or porpoise I'd ever met. No, Smoky had shifted us between the veils, and we were zipping along through the icy currents of the Ionyc Sea.
The astral, etheric, and spirit realms were all vague and nebulous to physical life. An astral or etheric entity could pass through a corporeal form, and while the person might feel the sensation of intense cold, or sense someone there, the two realms wouldn't clash for space.
But out in the astral, the three realms of intangible force were joined by several other dimensions, and together they all comprised the Ionyc Lands. The energy that connected them also managed to keep them separate, for they were forever shifting and moving. That same energy also allowed passage from one land to another. This energy swirled around the Ionyc Lands in canals, like the waters of Venice.
The Ionyc Sea was a vast, churning ocean of currents that prevented the different realms of force from colliding. Collision was a bad idea. Collision of the differing Ionyc Lands could set off a chain reaction capable of neutralizing life as we knew it.
