Page 153 of Hidden Kingdoms

“Thank you,” I said, voice rough as I swallowed hard, the darkness fading with each second. Again, my thoughts raced with more information than I could process. To go from being so ridiculously in the dark—to this—was more than overwhelming. And yet there were still questions that needed answers.

I wanted to sleep.

I wanted to rest.

I wanted to give myself the time I had been denied to come to terms with all I had learnt, but I knew this may be the last chance I had to get a better picture of the situation. Especially when it came to Bastian. Though most of what came out of his mouth was just more thinly veiled accusations; I would take it if it found me my truth.

“If you had been searching for so long, how did you end up finding me when you did?” They hadn’t given me a time frame for how long they had been waiting for me to show up in their magikal rock. For all I knew, “too long” could have been mere months, and Big Man didn’t strike me as particularly patient.

“Because you finally showed up. For years we had been feeding magik into the stone in the hope it would show us where to go. We had had a few small sparks in the past, but nothing that gave us a clear location. Then all of a sudden, it found you. There was nothing different that we hadn’t done a hundred times before, not on our side at least.”

Years.

“Maybe the block had something to do with it?” Bastian’s emerald eyes gleamed as he offered a reasonable response for once. I could almost picture the churning of his mind, the thoughts I had no intention of learning.

“How did you get through my wards?” I asked, remembering how I had woken from my nightmare and found them in the dark corner of my room. It shouldn’t have happened, Fae or not, magik or not; they shouldn’t of been able to get through.

“There were none. Only that beast guarding the place.” Bastian’s gaze flicked to the arm I knew Titan had injured, and satisfaction broke through the anxiety that had coiled so tightly within me since I had started talking.

“Did you knock them out when you found me?” There definitely had been wards in place.

“No, Goldie, there were none. Honestly, we thought it was some sort of booby trap at first, like surely what we had been searching for wasn’t going to be that easy to get a hold of. Then Titan ambushed us, and we just took it as one of the things that would be in our way. Although, we weren’t expecting to end up in front of a cute little cottage with a purple front door.”

“Lilac,” I grumbled. “That shouldn’t of been possible, I only crossed through them a few hours before you woke me.”

“We could feel that there was magik around us, just nothing in place to keep us out.” Kaius added.

“That makes no sense.”

“Your wards were probably just too weak, considering all that time you were in the mortal realm.” Bastian decided to comment, proving once again I could expect nothing helpful from him.

“They were definitely not weak, Big Man.” I sighed in exasperation, leaning back into the chair and closing my eyes.

“Well, reality says otherwise,” he countered, and I decided not to look at his stupid face, instead trying to commit every word spoken here to memory.

That’s if I even have enough space left in here.

Finally getting the answer to why I was here wasn’t as rewarding as I had expected it to be. There were so many threads, and they were all getting ridiculously tangled the more I found out.

“Are you sure you were pointed in the right direction? Because I hate to tell you, but I don’t know how to help.” Bastianscoffed before the crackle of flames became the only noise in the room.

“I imagine the nature of a block means that you have no idea why it was put on you, let alone what it is you might know for the need to block you anyway.” Kaius’ tattooed hand scraped across his beard, and I could sense the hesitation in his words.

“And?” I pressed.

“What if that’s why Nova sent us to find you because you do know something? You just don’t know it.”

It was possible, more than possible. Without removing the block, I had no idea what was missing from my mind. It could well be nothing, but then why would someone go to the trouble of keeping it from me?

“I mean, maybe?”

“So, you’re telling me that she could hold the information I need, but it’s behind this block.” Bastian gestured towards me, and my stomach churned as his words took on an edge that I didn’t feel good about.

“Informationweneed, Bastian. And I’m saying it’s a possibility, along with other things.” Kaius’ voice was careful, measured, and I knew he could feel the way the room had changed.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Bastian rose from his chair in one fluid motion, flame-filled eyes searing with a determination that set the magik residing in my streaming across my skin.

“Let’s break the block and find out what Princess here is hiding.” His hand reached for me, and I felt a probing heat press against my skin. Pushing to my feet quickly, I stepped away from him. My pulse raced, and energy pressed into my fingertips as invisible flames began to lick across my face.

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