Page 61 of Woods of the Raven

He opened one eye and looked at Lorne.

“What is happening right now?” Lorne asked me.

“He wants to know if he still looks like Declan Grant.”

“Yeah, man,” Lorne said, “you look just like the douche I thought you were this afternoon.”

Declan glanced at me. “What is a douche?”

“He didn’t like you,” I translated.

“Whyever not?” He sounded affronted as he surveyed Lorne.

“Because you were hitting on Xander, and I… I don’t want people hitting on Xander.”

“Oh, well, how charming,” he said, smiling at Lorne. “I find that terribly romantic.”

Lorne asked me, “If he has sex with a woman and has a kid, will that kid…”

“Be human? Yes.”

“Really?” Declan was breathless. “Oh…that’s amazing.”

“So if you like women and want to have children, you can, and if you like men and want to have children and want a surrogate, you can do that too with the same outcome. Human babies every time.”

He grabbed my hand and held it in both of his. “I am forever in your debt, Xander Corey, and if there’s anything I can do for you, you must tell me.”

I held his hand back. “Tell me where this Rulaine is?”

“She’s hiding in a cloche that—”

“A what?” Lorne chimed in.

“A pocket dimension,” Declan replied.

“That’s what you call them?” I asked him.

“Yes. What do you call them?”

“My grandfather called them slips.”

Declan thought a moment. “Because one slip and you’re in.” He smiled. “That’s very clever.”

“Thanks. He was.”

“So a place like the one you were in today?” Lorne asked me.

“Yes, though I doubt it’s the same one.”

“One of her many forms is a half-beast, half-human creature that’s far taller than she is, with antlers and—”

“I stand corrected,” I told Lorne. “I was in her dimension earlier today. She’s brought a lot of vargrs with her,” I said to Declan.

“What?”

“That’s another of my grandfather’s words, but faewolves. She brought a ton of them.”

He nodded emphatically. “Yes, yes. Without question. So many.”