Page 14 of The Shadow Path
“Oh, I know that.” Laura sat in the chair, and Carys sat across from her. “There’s a reason I rarely eat salmon back home. Because any meal in the Shadowlands? Salmon. Roasted salmon. Smoked salmon. Salmon with greens. Raw salmon for festivals. Salmon soup. Salmon stew.”
“I love salmon, but that’s a lot.”
“You have no idea.” Laura bit into a croissant, and her eyes rolled back. “Oh my God.”
“That good?”
“The butter.” Laura devoured the pastry in three more bites. “You want me to eat, I’ll eat.”
“Good.” She glanced at the door. “I wonder who the mysterious guide is going to be?”
“Do we really need one?” Laura frowned. “Cadell is adragon. We’ve all crossed over to the Shadowlands at other gates. Another guide seems unnecessary.”
“I don’t know, but fae gates here are not as friendly as they are back home. Duncan’s probably right on this one.” Someone knocked on the door, and Carys rose to answer it. “He’s probably being overly cautious, but having some kind of magical escort that knows this gate isn’t a bad idea, especially if we’re walking into a troll market.”
“Okay, but who?” Laura frowned. “How many fae does Duncan know who are just randomly hanging out in the Brightlands?”
Carys opened the door and looked up into the intoxicating blue eyes of the last person she’d been expecting.
The corner of Dru’s mouth curved up and he bent low, taking Carys’s hand in his own before he placed a courtly kiss on her knuckles. He looked up and smiled. “Carys Morgan, daughter of two worlds, it’s so good to see you again.”
CHAPTER FOUR
“You called the bartender?” Carys followed Duncan, who was following Dru, with Laura at her side and Cadell at her back. “If he’s here, who’s watching the Four Crowns?”
Dru glanced over his shoulder with a smirk. “You don’t even realize what a question that is.”
Dru—no last name given—was a dark-haired fae of mysterious origin who made his life in the Brightlands for a reason Carys didn’t know. He was the owner and keeper of the Four Crowns pub in Scone, which as far as Carys could tell, had no magical connections except for Dru.
“Four Crowns pub,” Carys said. “Four crowns of Briton. Trust me, I got the connection months ago.”
“Ha!” Laura smiled. “That’s clever though.”
Night had fallen in the Brightlands and they were as rested as they were going to get, so they were headed to the mythical Shadowlands of London via a troll gate accessed via a Chinese restaurant on Knightsbridge’s main road.
It was only a fifteen-minute walk from Duncan’s family home, but the wind was brutal and Carys was already chilled toher skin by the time they turned left and the pedestrian traffic picked up.
“Not far now.” Duncan glanced over his shoulder. “How you doing, dragon?”
“I’m ready.”
“Ready?”Duncan’s eyebrows went up. “No. Pick a different answer, because I don’t like that one. Calm. Calm would be an excellent answer.”
“I’m not calm,” the dragon muttered. “I’m ready.”
He rolled his shoulders under a large wool coat that Carys had forced on him after he tried to leave the house in nothing but his sleeveless leather armor.
Her dragon was ready to return to the Shadowlands. Carys could tell by the set of his jaw. He’d been in human form far longer than he liked.
Of course, he’d have to remain in human form until they passed through the gate and arrived at her uncle’s house unless he wanted to create an international magical incident.
“Attention to the humans.” Dru fell back as Laura and Carys gathered on either side. “A short lesson about where we’re going.”
Carys pulled her coat closer around her body as a gust of wind cut through the street, which was bordered by town houses. She glanced to the right and saw a man in a black overcoat leaning against an archway and smoking a pipe.
Belgrave Mews.
“The London you’re going to encounter on the other side of this gate is nearly as diverse as the one in the Brightlands,” Dru continued. “Whatever you think you know from movies or popular books, you would be better to forget it.”
