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Jazz was on him the moment he appeared by the Liffey River, “Graely, what did you find? Do you know where the portal took her? You haven’t been gone that long…only minutes. Did you find her?”
Trevor had just returned from depositing the Daoine Prince with Queen Mab. He had quickly told her the facts as they knew them to be and asked that she relay them to Queen Aaibhe as he wished to return and help find Frankie.
Thus Trevor, upon noting that Graely was too close to his mate, shifted between them, and cast him a darkling, unhappy look.
Frankie’s father appeared nearly insane, as he marched helplessly in circles. He stopped short all at once as Graely announced, “I found Frankie in Conglam.”
“How did you enter? It is warded against all of us,” Trevor demanded.
Deimne was in his face, “If you found her, why isn’t she here? How could you have left her with your brothers?”
Jazz put a restraining hand on both Trevor and Deimne, “Stop it! You are again wasting time.” She turned back to him and said urgently, “Graely?”
“She was trapped in a cell made of iron…all iron…” he started to say.
“That wouldn’t trap her,” Deimne shouted. “She isn’t affected by iron!”
“No, but the netting, the Gold Wiele coated with Dragon’s Breath stopped her, and I couldn’t get to her before the wards pulled me back. I am able to shift into Conglam, only because I discovered that I can bring up my father’s genes as dominant--his genes allow me to enter Conglam for a short time, as though the wards are confused, but once they sense my presence, I am yanked back and always to the Highlands.”
Deimne began pacing again, his wings tightly drawn in at his broad back. “Dragon’s Breath is mind-bendingly painful to Fae,” Deimne ran a hand through his hair. “My daughter…?” he pulled at his free flowing platinum locks. “My daughter…” he was obviously too distraught to say much more.
“Yes, but she is determined to release herself,” Graely was himself in some distress, “And she is in excruciating pain—has been for too long. It will drain her if she doesn’t find a way out soon.”
Jazz closed her eyes, but even as she opened them again to see that Graely was reaching out to both comfort her and get her attention, Trevor smacked his hand away hard. Jazz turned on her mate and glared, before she turned back to Graely and said, “What can we do?”
“Frankie wanted me to tell you, Trevor and Deimne that we must inform your Queens that Pestale is using the Blue Demons in some sort of capacity to initiate his plan. I have no idea what that plan is, but he has had six years to plot it out. Secondly, Jazz…” he hesitated. “I think you can help. I think if you concentrate on your human—your Fios, you can get past the wards and we—you can get to Frankie. You are also immune to iron, and can break open the door that keeps her within.”
“NO,” Trevor said. “You can’t go there.”
“Trev, this is Frankie. I must… we don’t have a choice.”
She turned away from him.
Trevor couldn’t give up. He kept calling her name. “Jazz…let me try.”
She didn’t answer him and he turned to Graely, “What is happening?”
“Your mate knows you can’t get past the iron walls that keep Frankie a prisoner. She is, I imagine, calling on everything she was before she became Fae. She has to fool the wards,” Graely said quietly.
“Why don’t the wards pull Frankie back? Why did they let her in?” Deimne demanded.
“They let her in because she came through a portal, which is tantamount to an invitation. The wards can’t pull her out because she is hidden in an iron cell,” Graely answered and sighed heavily.
“Won’t the wards discover their mistake? She is a Daoine and forbidden to enter Conglam—portal or no. Won’t the wards return her to the Human Realm as they did you?” Deimne asked.
“We don’t know how long it will be before the wards ‘discover their mistake’ as you put it, and in the meantime Frankie is being poisoned by Dragon’s Breath,” Graely returned on a hard grim note.
Jazz turned and kissed Trevor lightly on the lips. Graely watched as the Seelie Prince stroked her golden lengths of hair and softly said her name. He felt an ache inside and an overwhelming need to get back to Frankie. “I can shift you there, but I am not certain, I will get through,” he said quietly.
“Just point me to her,” Jazz said and Graely lightly touched her shoulder.
As it happened, the wards opened their doors to Jazz, but Graely couldn’t get through and he found himself facing two angry Fae by the Liffey River.
He was heartsick. All he wanted was to do was get to Frankie, and help her home, and here were two Royal Seelie Fae who moved menacingly in his direction.
He could shift away. He should shift away and avoid a confrontation, but Frankie wouldn’t want him to do that. She would want him to stand his ground and help them through this.
* * *
