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However, another arrival caught everyone’s attention.
A beautiful blond long haired woman in the House of Lugh’s dark blue warrior leathers came to a sharp standstill. She held a Death Sword in her hands and a glint of steel in her eyes as she approached the circle of wolves and humans.
“Frankie?” she said softly.
Frankie broke through the wolves and ran to her.
Jazz’s Death Sword vanished as the two put out their arms to one another.
But no sooner had they embraced when Jazz screamed out, “Frankie, oh no…”
“What? What is happening?” Frankie demanded.
“Hold my hand…Frankie, quick.” Jazz cried and clutched Frankie’s left bicep with her free hand in something Frankie was sure was a death grip.
“I’m being pulled back and you are coming with me!”
Frankie’s bicep was in Jazz’s hand, and both her hands were in Jazz’s free hand, gripped so tightly that Frankie winced. Jazz was not taking chances.
The winds picked up in a sudden rush of swirling force, and Frankie could hear the wolves in the background howling, distressed, startled, and then the next thing she knew, she and Jazz were careening through space and time and for a moment everything went quietly black.
Frankie’s eyes were opened wide but couldn’t see through the darkness until she hit the ground with Jazz, who bumped into her hard before they rolled and came to an abrupt stop.
Frankie opened her eyes to find that they were back in Dublin near the River Liffey and thankfully on terra firma.
Frankie got up, bent over her knees which moved like jello and reached for Jazz to help her up, but she was too late, as Trevor and her father were there, making wild noises and lifting them both up into a family bear hug.
Through the crush of bodies, Frankie could see Graely hanging back, looking as though he was about to shift off.
His face was a mixture of relief and deep sadness and Frankie ever impulsive, found the strength and immediately shifted out of her family hold and stood before Graely, leaning against him for support, enjoying his hands holding her upper arms to steady her.
His eyes told her he was leaving and she grabbed hold and commanded, each word edged with a plea in her voice, “Ye are not going anywhere--not without me. Do ye her me, Dark Prince?”
“Could you not choke my fingers Frankie?” he asked looking at her with a tenderness that made her want to swoon.
“Graely,” she answered and realized how much she loved saying his name. She couldn’t say more at that moment as her heart filled with emotion.
It was as though saying his name would convey to him everything she genuinely felt, would always feel for him.
“Frankie, your da does not want this. You can’t go against him by showing me a friendship he has forbidden you.”
“Oh, but I can, and will. I choose who I am, I choose who I see, what I see, what I do. It is time he respects the woman who is no longer a child.”
“But don’t you see, Frankie, I must respect his wishes. A true prince must do the right thing by…by the father of the woman who is the most important thing in his life. If that woman is too young to see what she would lose by aligning herself with him, he must take charge and make certain…she doesn’t lose a thing.” his words were matched by a look in his eyes that displayed his struggling emotions.
Frankie had to find a way to make this clearer to him, make it easier for him to accept. She had to make him see. She stroked his arm and out of the corner of her eye, she saw her father clenching and unclenching his fists. She dropped her hand as she said, “If I forbid m’da from seeing his Daoine friends, any of his Daoine friends, because I thought them unworthy—he would tell me to mind m’manners. Why? Because he is an adult and it isn’t m’place to decide who he should associate with. I am an adult, Graely, and whether he is right or wrong about ye, doesn’t matter, does it? Nooo, because the time has come for me to take m’life in m’hands, to make m’own decisions and m’own mistakes. That is not disrespecting him… that is respecting me.”
Graely sighed heavily, “Let it go for now then. Go to your da. Tell him what you discovered in Conglam. Tell him he needs to confer with Queen Mab. Seelie and Daoine Fae have to be ready. Pestale is plotting something very big—bigger than what just happened here with the Blue Demons.”
“Not till ye promise to meet me on our mountain top,” she said softly.
“I promise, but it will only be to say good-bye,” he said solemnly.
“Ye don’t really believe that, do ye?” she grinned suddenly, “Ye aren’t thinking Dark Prince of mine, ye just are not thinking.” She raised a brow before she allowed him to have control of his hand once more. “One hour then, and if ye aren’t there, Graely, I shall hunt ye down and find ye, and don’t be thinking I can’t do it, because I can.”
“Precious brat,” he whispered on the air as he shifted off.
“Aye, but not a child, but I’ll give ye that,” she shouted after him. “Ye can count on it, but I would say, not precious, determined.”
