Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The passage back through the gates was less treacherous than the previous journey, but Godrik had not appeared in the forest, and Carys could see that his absence was troubling Naida.
They had just walked through the dense stand of rowan trees and the blue wisps were scattering into the predawn forest when Carys slowed down to walk next to her.
“I’m sure he’ll find us,” she told the small fae woman.
Naida nodded. “I think the imps triggered his true form, and it’s possible he joined a local pack for a time.” She glanced at Cadell and Laura on the path in front of them. “Creatures of all sorts usually prefer their own kind.”
“Sometimes, yes.” Carys nodded. “But not always.”
Naida smiled. “Do you wonder if I have feelings for the wolf?”
“I’m sure you have feelings of friendship.” Carys wanted to be nosy, but prodding at Naida—after knowing her history with Dru—just seemed cruel.
“Godrik is protective and loyal,” Naida said. “Those are qualities I admire. They are not so common among my kind.”
“He’s blunt too.”
Naida smiled. “He is.”
They passed the ruins where Andy had said the redcaps hid, but there was no sign of the imps or the small wild fae that had pursued them on the way into the Shadowlands.
“Looks like your visit to Lord Algar was successful,” Carys said.
“It was not unpleasant, and he was very respectful toward Lachlan. I believe seeing imp bites on the son of the Alban king brought the gravity of the situation into focus.”
Lachlan.
Carys glanced over her shoulder to where Lachlan brought up the rear of the walking party. Angus had remained deeper in the forest to shore up the fae gate on this side.
The sky was a deep azure blue as dawn creeped closer, and Lachlan’s pale face took on a moonlike luminescence as they walked out of the trees and into the rolling meadows that marked the boundaries of Murrayshall House.
Duncan turned, his face lighting up. “Carys, almost there.”
She was shocked to realize that it had been less than twenty-four hours since they’d crossed into the Shadowlands.
She walked to Duncan and slipped her arm around his waist. “I feel like my internal clock is going to take a year to recover when all this is over,” she murmured, leaning into his side as they waded through the long grass.
“We should rest at the house today,” he said.
“Do you think we have time?”
Duncan said, “That fae lord seems to be doing his job, judging by how much easier it was walking back. Angus will harden the gate on this side so the imps and redcaps can’t sneak through.”
“That’s one gate. Angus can’t shore up every gate in Scotland.”
It was fairly evident to Carys at this point that Angus was some kind of demigod or deity, which meant his power over the gates was at least as strong as Dru’s. Good news for them, but hardly helpful for the hundreds of fae gates that dotted the British Isles.
“You need sleep, Carys.” He glanced over his shoulder at the ragged group of travelers walking down the hill.
“Even Cadell is exhausted. And he’s probably hungry as fuck.
I don’t think he had time to hunt in the Shadowlands.
At least let Mary feed him. Naida is looking peaked again, and Laura is dragging. ”
“Okay, fine.” Leave it to the acerbic blacksmith to end up being the mother hen of the group. “You’re right. We need to rest.”
“Besides” —Duncan glanced over his shoulder— “Angus didn’t change a whit when we walked through that gate, so I need to figure out how to disguise a goat man so we can move around the Brightlands without going viral.”
A voice called from the trees. “I heard that.”
“Christ, he’s scary sometimes,” Duncan muttered.
Carys couldn’t help but check on Lachlan again; he seemed to be moving on autopilot. His face was locked down, and his normally bright eyes were fixed firmly on the ground.
“Stop it.” Duncan squeezed her hand.
She turned her face forward. “I’m not doing anything.”
“It’s bad enough that he…” Duncan shook his head. “No, I’m not going to discuss this. Not when we’re both tired and hungry.”
“Fine.” She didn’t want to talk about it anyway.
Didn’t want to talk about her fears that the voice in her head might come back.
Didn’t want to talk about how hard it had been to let Lachlan go when he was so very vulnerable.
Didn’t want to talk about the weird stab of jealousy in her chest when she saw Lachlan’s haunted eyes.
It doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter. You’re in love with Duncan.
She was in love with Duncan. He was an absolute rock and the one thing that seemed to make sense in this absolute fever dream that had become her life.
She loved Duncan.
And her feelings for Lachlan were complicated, but nothing was going to change the fact that she had made her choice. And that choice was holding her hand and holding her up when she was ready to fall over.
“Nêrys.” Cadell spoke from behind her. “You need to rest.”
“And you need to eat.” She kept trudging along the path, and her spirits lifted when she saw a thin stream of smoke over the trees.
“Mary lit the fire,” Duncan murmured. “We’re almost home.”
Carys glanced over her shoulder. “Hey guys, Duncan was just saying we should stay a day at his house.”
Cadell nodded. “The surly human is not wrong.”
Laura raised a hand. “I vote rest and recover too.”
“The Morrígan—”
“Is not going anywhere,” Naida added. “Whatever havoc she is causing at the moment will not be made better if the hero chosen to defeat her runs out of energy.”
The hero chosen to defeat the Morrígan.
A daughter of a Brightkin and a Shadowkin who could walk through worlds.
Seren could walk through worlds too.
Carys reached back in her memory to the voice that had stayed with her through battle.
The voice that had been as familiar as her own.
You never came to look for me, she mused in her own mind as she walked on the path toward the house.
Why not? Duncan told me you crossed the gates, but you never came to look for me.
Who says I didn’t?
Carys froze.
“Carys?” Duncan shook her hand. “What’s wrong?”
Her heart raced in her chest. “Nothing.”
Liar.
Carys focused on the faint, thready voice in her mind. Can you hear me? Seren?
Nothing. Her mind was silent again.
Whatever magic that had allowed Seren to reach her from Annwn, it had run out of energy as the path widened and they approached Murrayshall House.
Within moments, the door opened and the smell of roasting meat reached her nose.
They were home.
Carys slept for what felt like an entire day. She woke in Duncan’s bedroom and a note was on the pillow beside her.
There is food downstairs when you’re awake.
—D
Perfect man. He was a perfect man.
Her stomach rumbled and she hopped out of bed, throwing on one of Duncan’s massive robes and sliding her feet into slippers that were four sizes too big.
She was going to eat, then go back to sleep. The light outside her window looked like late-afternoon sunshine, so she knew they wouldn’t be heading anywhere new until morning.
Carys walked down the stairs and froze when she saw a most surprising sight.
Laura on the stairs, Cadell a step beneath her, his eyes narrowed on her face as he leaned in.
He was either going to bite her or kiss her, and Carys didn’t know which, but she turned and tried to hide.
Too late.
“Nêrys.” The dragon straightened and cleared his throat. “Food has been prepared and is available in the morning room.”
“Yeah.” Laura’s voice was as cold as the North Pacific. “You should eat something. Everyone else has been up for hours.”
“Okay.” She wasn’t going to ask what was going on between them because it wasn’t her business, but as she walked past Laura, she caught her friend’s expression and her eyes went wide.
Laura had been crying. There was going to be a conversation.
“Cadell, have you eaten?” Carys felt a little frosty. No one messed with Laura.
“I have.”
She could read nothing from his voice. “Okay. I’m going to go eat. Laura?”
“I’m going to my room.” She practically ran up the stairs, leaving Carys and her dragon in the middle of the massive front staircase of Murrayshall House.
“Explain,” Carys said.
“I cannot.” Cadell looked as irritated as Carys. “She is… recalcitrant.”
Carys’s eyebrows went up. Cadell was angry. Like… really angry. “Something happened.”
He glared at her. “Are you going to eat or are you going to stand and gawk at me while your stomach churns in a most unpleasant way?”
Carys stood on her toes and stared into his eyes. “The fellowship is breaking…” she said in an eerie voice.
“If you continue to reference that movie, I will be forced to petition King Dafydd for redress.”
Cadell continued upstairs while Carys shouted after him.
“Just because you don’t like the way they portray dragons is not a reason to hate one of the most important works of fantasy fiction in the English language, Cadell!”
She walked downstairs and into the morning room off the main entry hall, where she remembered Mary serving breakfast in the past.
A table was laid out with mounds of roasted vegetables, platters of potatoes, and a half-carved leg of some massive beast. There was a grey-headed figure sitting at the head of the table, his head bent over the newspaper.
Carys muttered, “Surprised there’s still meat left.”
The grey-haired figure raised his head. “That’s the second leg of venison the ogre has brought in.”
Carys blinked. “Angus?”
Gone were the horns and the hooves, at least as far as Carys could see. The beard was brushed, and there was no grass or flowers sticking out of Angus’s hair. The middle-aged man sitting at the head of the table looked kind of… professorial.
And Carys had to admit, it was the kind of professor who would attract attention.
She slid into the seat to Angus’s right. “So this is your human face?”
It was recognizably Angus but without the trappings—his angular cheekbones, olive skin, and deep brown eyes read more dignified than wild.