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“It smells different.” Kaja was scenting the air. “Dante, I smell fields and forests.”
Dellacourt seemed to catch his wife’s enthusiasm. “I smell an adventure, Kaj. We have fun in forests, baby.”
“It’s going to be tight.” Roan dropped to his belly. “Hurry.” He put his hands through and suddenly his body began to disappear. One minute he was there and the next, his arms were gone, vanished as though they didn’t exist. The rest of his body followed, swallowed up by whatever was on the other side of the veil.
&
nbsp; Harry tossed a pack through and disappeared the same way.
Lach turned back to Julian. “You knew. This was here the whole time. You knew.”
Julian’s face was a careful blank. “The king wouldn’t let anyone tell you. He didn’t believe, Lachlan. No one did. Now get rid of your anger and prove us wrong. Your father is betting everything on this. His kingdom. His life. Forgive him and move on. You’ll be happier for it.”
Shim had figured it out the minute Julian had shown up, but he didn’t struggle the way Lach did. He took his brother’s elbow. “Go. We have to go.”
Everyone else was gone.
Lach dove toward the crack, his big body disappearing. Shim turned to Duffy who stood there, axe in hand.
“Go, Duffy.”
The gnome shook his head. “Ain’t going ’til you do. Someone’s gotta watch yer back.”
He could be so stubborn. There were only seconds left. Shim didn’t argue. He threw his body to the ground. “Grab my legs.” He could already see Lach’s big hands coming through, searching for Shim’s arms to pull him through. “Grab my legs, Duffy!”
Shim could feel the veil beginning to close. There was a crack, and it felt like invisible walls were closing in on him. His breath caught in his chest. He was going to die like this, cut in half, so close to her and yet forever far away.
It felt like his arms were torn from his shoulders, but he was suddenly in a completely different place. The sun was brighter. The air warmer.
Shim sat up. He couldn’t feel Duffy at his feet. “Duffy? He was holding on to my ankles. Duffy?”
And then the little gnome appeared just as the crack between the two worlds slammed closed. Duffy was a small cannonball popping in from the other plane. He rolled and grunted to a stop. His helmet was askew and his armor out of place.
“Sorry. I almost forgot me axe. Wouldn’t be nothing of a guard without me axe.”
There was a rich laugh behind them, and Shim looked up. Two identical Fae twins stared down at him.
“Well, look at that. I’ve never seen a gnome warrior before, Max.” The one who had spoken had a wide grin and a hat on his head.
Max looked to be the surlier of the two. “Well, that’s the Unseelie for you, Rye.”
Shim let his head fall back, dragging air into his lungs.
He was finally here.
Chapter Five
Lach stared out the back porch and tried to will the sun to go down. It had been hours and hours of waiting. Hours of listening to the Harper twins argue and crack wise. Lach was suddenly deeply appreciative of his own brother.
A huge black dog lumbered into the yard, a gnarly stick in his mouth. The dog was roughly the size of a small pony, though it appeared the Harper twins liked to grow large animals. Their entire stock of horses were oversized and ran the range of colors from a brilliant red to blacks so dark they shimmered blue in the sunlight.
The rest of the group was huddled around the large table inside the brugh, enjoying a meal the twin’s wife, Rachel, had cooked. It was a full table. The twins had five children, all but one larger than Duffy.
But Lach didn’t want to eat. He wanted to move. He wanted to get started.
“You should eat, Your Highness, I mean, Lachlan.” Roan walked out, followed by his vampire partner. They wouldn’t enjoy the cabbage and sausages Rachel had cooked. He stopped, staring for a moment. “Unless you take after your vampire half. Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen you or your brother eat.”
Lach managed a smile. “I assure you, we’re just fine. Lots of meat, though the hunger for blood grows by the day. Cousin Julian made sure we had meal pills to fill those hungers.”
