AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Davido glanced back at Oregis. “You’ll have to help them, my friend. They’re going to need you come nightfall.”
“What? Hell, no. I’m not going back in time only to return like a limp dick. Speaking of which, I need to get home. My wife will be wanting me by now.”
“Vojalie said you have a gift and you’re going to use it.”
“What gift?”
“I believe she referred to how comfortable you are in the black market. She said it will be one of the ways we can find the Tannisford Underworld.”
Rez listened to this exchange as though he was underwater again. His hearing wasn’t working and his thoughts jumped around. One thing stood out. He had to tell Stone, to warn him about what he’d seen. Battle plans needed to be made.
“Why has that fire entered Rez’s eyes?” Oregis again. “Maybe he’s thinking about his last hard-on.”
Rez ignored him. He shifted his gaze to Holly and watched her rise from the floor. “Thank you, Davido. You have amazing abilities. I feel a thousand percent better.”
“Holly, what’s wrong with Rez?” Oregis again.
As he recovered, still prone on the floor, he continued to stare at the beamed ceiling. His mind was caught up in the cavern images. Certainty of purpose came to him, full-blown. All his naysayers were wrong. He loved Tannisford and would do everything he could to protect his realm.
Right now, he needed to take Cruce on which meant he also needed Holly.
More than at any other time in his life, he knew the course he had to take.
One final thought flooded his mind with determination. Was it possible his daughter had been taken to the Tannisford Underworld? Had she been there all this time? Was that why he’d never been able to locate her?
He wouldn’t consider the possibility she’d become a victim of Cruce’s bedroom sadism. He wouldn’t go there. He would hold to the belief she was still alive until faced with specific evidence to the contrary.
While on his back, all three faces appeared this time. It took him a moment to even register them.
Davido shifted his gaze to Holly and said something to her, but Rez couldn’t make it out. All he could think about right now was his daughter and how to stop Cruce from attacking Tannisford.
~ ~ ~
“Will you, Holly?” Davido asked.
Holly was surprised by the question, mostly because she hadn’t heard the part preceding it. She had no idea what he wanted her to do.
The old troll had never looked more intense as he caught and held her arm. “Will you, Holly? I must know. It’s important.”
“Will I what? Remember, Davido, I’m still coming out of time-lethargy.”
“Will you accompany Rez on whatever mission he sets for you both? No matter how difficult?”
She felt her mind grow very liquid, though she wasn’t sure if it was time-lethargy or the troll’s charisma. Her lips curved. “Are you trying to charm me, old man?”
At that, his eyes filled with laughter and a chuckle left his throat. “I adore how you just said that to me. Old man. Well, I am old, indeed.” No one knew Davido’s true age, but it was rumored he was over two millennia in years.
Holly had gone with Rez in the time-path because it was essentially a very safe journey. They’d been protected in the continuum. But every fae sense she possessed told her the next part of the mission wouldn’t be so simple.
She glanced down at Rez. Though Davido had healed his mind, he was still finding it difficult to revive. Yet, Oregis was right. There was a fire in his eyes.
Could she do this again? Or something even more difficult? More frightening? “I don’t know, Davido. But I promise, I’ll do what I can. I won’t retreat, if that’s your concern.”
Davido patted her hand. “Of course, you must weigh every consideration.”
Rez finally sat up, though he put his head in his hands. Davido went to him once more and settled his thick troll fingers on his head. Rez moaned softly as the healing flowed.
Holly knew exactly what he was experiencing and the relief the troll was delivering. That Rez was suffering more wasn’t a big surprise. She’d been time-pathing for two years. He’d only had a few trips in the continuum and this one had been way too long. She’d struggled to bring them home.
