Chapter 64
Darrow
“Stay right there, brother,” he said, gripping Aella’s young cousin by the shoulder. With his other hand, he held a jagged, one-foot section of the portal ring.
Visions of tearing Vas apart, limb by limb, ran through my mind. “What have you done?”
“You wondered again and again why I wanted you to make it to this world.” He smiled, and his eyes glowed with god powers—maybe Wrath, but more likely another that the Unseelie worshiped who apparently didn’t fear the deities of this planet as much.
“I couldn’t get here without your help, but now I can establish alternate means to return home. Thank you so very much.”
Faina glared at him. “You’re trapping us here by breaking the ring!”
“Oh, this?” He held up the broken chunk of metal. “Your group has proven quite resourceful, so I’m sure you’ll eventually figure out how to fix it, but I doubt that will happen before your window to return closes. A year on this…interesting planet should be good for you.”
“Why are you doing this?” I asked, fighting the urge to attack him. Only Rynn’s fearful gaze stayed my hand. My brother could kill her in a heartbeat if provoked, and I would put nothing past him, especially not now.
“My father forced me to swear an oath that if I came here, I would make sure you couldn’t return with that fountain.
I had no choice except to damage the ring, but he failed to use wording that implied forever.
” Vas glanced at the metal. “So I’ve done what I can to delay you considerably to fulfill my oath. ”
Aella trembled, and her face turned pale. “Paxia will die before we get back.”
“Then you’ll have to go to Faelaria instead. See how I thoughtfully grabbed this cousin you love so much, so that she wouldn’t die with the others?” He patted Rynn’s head. “It could have been worse.”
Despite herself, the girl shot him a dark look. “You lied to me.”
“No, I said I’d bring you here, and I did, but you failed to ask for specifics.” Vas gave her an arrogant look. “Considering your age, it’s to be expected, but let this be a lesson for the future. If someone makes you an offer that seems too good, there is likely a catch.”
“Give her to me,” Aella demanded.
My brother sighed. “She really is so lovely and sweet, I almost hate to let her go. Her healing abilities are truly impressive for her age.”
I clenched my fists. “If you have harmed a hair on her head…”
“Oh, she’s fine,” he said, giving me an exasperated look. “I’m many things, but I’m not a monster. We are going to leave now. I’ve tied her life force to a stone for the next week, so I suggest you don’t follow me because she will pay the price if I see you. That would be tragic.”
He removed his hand from Rynn to finger a smooth, white stone that hung from a chain around his neck.
Then, he nudged Aella’s cousin forward before he and his group of Unseelie disappeared into the shadows of the trees.
The thirteen-year-old girl raced toward Aella, who ran to meet her halfway. They embraced with tears in their eyes.
I quickly followed and met Rynn’s gaze as my wife held her close. “How did he get to you?”
She clung to her cousin. “I was in Radoumar helping to heal the injured from the latest attack when he showed up during my break and offered to bring me to you. He said you’d need me on Earth, and you know how badly I wanted to go, so I agreed.”
Noting a pack on her back, it appeared he’d even let her bring some of her things. It was the same one she always took with her on her healer trips, since she often needed a change of clothes afterward.
“He teleported into the town?” I asked.
She nodded. We had wards there to prevent it, but several times over the last couple of months, Karganoth soldiers had broken through them.
It was how Vas saved our sister once from being taken.
Rynn came to the city once or twice a week when there were too many injured to handle, and they needed extra healers. Could my brother have known that?
Aella’s expression was forlorn. “How will he get back?”
“He’ll create a fixed window from this planet to another dimension where he already has access,” Idwal replied, glancing at the ring.
“From there, he will be able to use another established window to return to Faelaria. It likely won’t take him more than a couple of hours for the whole trip.
A convenient ability that only the Unseelie possess. ”
“Who is he and why does he smell differently than the rest of you?” Galadon asked.
I gave him a brief overview of the differences between Seelie and Unseelie fae, along with the war we fought millennia ago.
“Whereas Paxia needs the fountain to balance magic, Faelaria needs a combination of different races. By doing this, he’ll force select fae from Paxia to return to our homeworld, and he’s likely going to take humans from here because they’re easier to control, especially if they have no magic.
Their planet will flourish the way it once did before they became too greedy. ”
Titan, who had gone to inspect the broken ring, returned.
He was a large, muscular male with short, black hair, olive skin, and amber eyes that had slits for pupils—all the dragon shifters lacked round ones.
The difference with him was that something tragic lurked in his gaze.
A sort of quiet sadness, yet he looked at us with a faint glimmer of hope. What did he expect from us?
He turned his attention to me. “There may be a chance we could mend this sooner, rather than later, but I don’t want to make any promises.”
“How?” I asked.
He glanced at Rayna and Galadon. “We need to visit Aidan. He may already have enough spare zaphiriam, so he or Donar can repair the ring.”
I could only assume they were referencing the type of metal used for this portal.
A spark of hope lit within me. “How far away are they?”
“About a day if we fly.”
Aella frowned. “You don’t have more rings for traveling?”
“This is the only one we’ve ever seen,” Rayna said, glancing at it. “There is a sorceress who can teleport and open portals without a ring, but she lives in Oklahoma, the same as Aidan.”
“There is a woman who can do both those things?” I asked, incredulous.
“She’s over a thousand years old due to a sleep spell, so she gained a lot of power over that time,” the slayer explained.
Some rules appeared to be different on Earth compared to Paxia. It was unheard of for anyone to gain both of those abilities, much less without needing a ring to portal, and be able to keep growing in power after reaching fifty years old.
“For Aella to have enough time to reactivate the ring, recover from that, and then open the way back to our world, we must begin repairing it in four days,” I said.
Rayna lifted her chin. “We’ll do everything we can to help you and hope it's enough.”
“Why are you so eager to assist strangers?” Jax asked, frowning at her.
She glanced at Galadon before returning her gaze to us. “Let’s just say that’s a long story I’ll explain later, but first, how about we take you to our home, so you can get cleaned up and we can form a plan? It looks like you could all use some rest and healing, too.”
I hated to put so much trust in people we didn’t know, but what choice did we have? They had fought with us against our enemies and been helpful so far.
“What do you think?” I asked Aella.
She was quiet for a moment. “Let’s hear them out. If we do nothing, we’ll have no home to return to, and I refuse to accept that until we’ve done everything we can to save it.”
“Agreed,” I said, and heard the others in our group murmur similar sentiments.
“Well, then,” Rayna clasped her hands. “Let me be the first to welcome you to Texas—as the humans call it—or Faegud territory if you go by what the dragons say.”
“Does this place have food?” Rynn asked, stomach rumbling. “The Unseelie forgot to feed me.”
Ujala gave the girl a broad smile. “Don’t worry, little one. I’ll prepare the best meal you’ve ever had.”
And with that, we followed these strangers on Earth into the unknown and hoped we’d manage to find a way home in time. For Paxia, we couldn’t afford to fail.
Thank you so much for reading Wrath & Desire.