AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Everina and Brantley said goodbye in the rooms but Mara and Roderick accompanied them to the portal to activate it. Once Roderick had keyed it to where they were going, he paused, still standing in front of the portal.
“If I don’t hear back from you in some way in three days then I will send warriors after you,” he warned.
“A week,” Malcolm negotiated. “We’ll need that time to establish trust.”
“Five days,” Roderick was firm. “And you tell the Fae that if I am not assured of your safety, barrier or not, I will bring the force of the Dragon Mountains down on them.”
Okay, they probably wouldn’t open with that if they wanted the first meeting to go smoothly, Claire thought but understood where he was coming from.
“I’m trusting you will keep them all in line,” Mara said to Claire as Roderick and Malcolm stared each other down. “Make sure they don’t take any unnecessary risks?”
“I will,” Claire promised. “I’ll keep them all safe.”
Mara nodded and hugged her tightly. “Keep yourself safe as well. And if you need us, call on us. The rot in our Realm has gone on for far too long. We are ready to cut it out.”
Claire just squeezed Mara tighter at her words before reluctantly letting her go. Mara turned away to break up Roderick and Malcolm’s staredown. She bumped Roderick out of the way with her hip and embraced Malcolm. “Don’t be dumb,” she chided lightly pulling back and staring up at him.
“I won’t, Momma, I promise,” Malcolm said, smiling and shaking his head.
“Remains to be seen,” Mara arched an eyebrow at him. “Keep her safe and remember, five days. You can tell the Fae there will be a pissed off momma-dragon on their doorstep if it’s a minute longer than five days.”
“We got it, Momma Mara,” Desmond said, stealing his own hug from Mara.
“Honey, you are stalling,” Roderick said, putting an arm around her waist and moving her to his side.
“Maybe a little bit,” Mara admitted. “Go and be careful.”
“We will,” Claire promised. She would keep them all safe.
The portal dropped them off right where the edge of the Dragon Mountains ran into the endless plains of the Fae lands. Claire knew that wasn’t actually what the Fae lands looked like, it had been spelled with a barrier since the end of the Great War.
As she stepped away from the portal to make room for the others, Claire took in her surroundings. Behind her, the mountains seemed like they ended in an abrupt line just a few feet behind the portal. Waves of long grass sprang from what should have been rocky soil for a few dozen yards at least.
“Well this isn’t weird at all,” Cody commented as he stepped through the portal on Bethany’s heels.
Without looking, Bethany backhanded him in the stomach. “Super helpful.”
“I’ll show you how…”
“Alright.” Holly clapped her hands. “Should we get moving?”
“Claire?” Desmond turned to her.
Claire looked out over the grassy plain. Something was niggling at her, at her magic. But as she looked out into their empty surroundings, she couldn’t see anything. The last time she felt like this was when she first used magic in the Elven Forest.
Something in her thoughts must have leaked down her bond as her men shifted closer to her, eyeing their surroundings suspiciously.
“What is it?” Zack asked, shifting closer to Bethany and Cody.
“I don’t know…” Claire trailed off, trying to figure out what was setting off her magic that was now leaping insistently in her center. She was trying to figure out what was out there but her focus was split on trying to keep her magic from bursting out of her and potentially endangering all of them over what may just be a wild animal. Its reactions were only getting stronger the closer she got to her birthday which was still months away. If it kept growing at this rate, Claire didn’t know how she was going to maintain control even with the bonds layered over it.
Holly’s brow furrowed as she reached out with her own abilities. “I can’t feel anything?” Holly said. “but that doesn’t mean anything.”
“Can you sense anything?” Malcolm asked Claire.
“I can try,” Claire said. She dropped to her knees and sank her hands into the soft grass. It tickled her fingers as she sank into her magic center.
In her magic center, Claire could see that what she was feeling was true. The dome that contained her magic seemed to have grown and she could see where the bindings were starting to fray. Even the layering of her Triad bonds over the dome of magic seemed smaller than before. She took a breath and focused intently on pulling just a little bit of magic out and sending it through her Energy Reading abilities.
