Page 38 of Vicious Little Vows
“Shit!” I was dizzy and shaky, but seeing the gray grass below me gave me the strength to jump to my feet. Though the grass swayed in the breeze, and towering trees surrounded us, everything was silent and dead, like it was all a painting and not reality.
I had a horrible image of the gray-ness climbing up our legs, consuming us like it had consumed everything else, but nothing happened. I looked at Mistral, his face stony. “Do you know this place?”
He looked past me at Gabriel as he said. “This is the goblin realm. This is my home.”
SIXTEEN
Istood still, afraid to move. Ringo had peeked out from my hair, observing what was technically his home realm, or at least the home realm of his species. He was young enough to have been born on earth. So was Gabriel.
Without thinking, I said, “I take it it didn’t look like this when you left?”
“It did not.” Mistral started walking, his eyes on the distant horizon. Where the blue sky seemed to meet the land, there was a line of living green.
Gabriel knelt before me, pulling my socks from inside my boots then sliding them onto my feet like I was a kid while I gawked at our surroundings. When he got to my boots, I finally helped, and soon I was standing, if still shaky.
“We need to talk about what we’re going to do,” Lucas said. I had nearly forgotten about him. He was standing a few paces behind us, looking sullen.
I agreed with him, but Mistral didn’t seem to hear. He just kept walking.
I supposed I couldn’t blame him for wanting to see if his entire realm was dead. It had to come as quite a shock, especially considering his hopes of bringing his people home to save them.It was almost as shocking as all of us actually making it to a far realm. We had our theories, but I hadn’t truly believed it possible.
As we all started walking, Sebastian fell into step at my side. “This is a waste of time,” he muttered.
I shrugged, then whispered back, “We should probably wait until my great grandfather gets tired of looking for me before we go back anyway.” I was glad I had worn boots with my dress instead of sandals, but the heels certainly weren’t doing me any favors.
Sebastian wrinkled his nose, but didn’t argue. “I do wonder at what point he became aware of you, and why he is choosing now to act.” He glanced down at my inappropriate footwear, but didn’t comment.
I was slowly getting used to our gray surroundings, though I still couldn’t believe we were actually in the goblin realm. Afarrealm. And I didn’t think we had carved a new pathway—it was already there, glowing and waiting for us. I wondered what had changed between our last trip to the pool and this one. Why it had opened for us now, and how it had remained in existence.Allpathways had been severed, or so we’d thought.
I stopped walking and glanced back at where we’d landed, looking for a distinguishing landmark.
The stop was enough for Crispin to catch up with us. “Don’t worry. I’ll remember where it is.”
My shoulders relaxed. Crispin had been the only one of the guys to come with me to the pocket space somewhere between earth and the elven realm. He’d experienced the panic of not knowing if we could find our way back.
I watched Mistral’s shape growing farther away. Gabriel was in the space between, torn between following his prince and making sure I was safe. “I’m not sure that’s going to be enough.”
Crispin forced a smile. “Let’s just follow him for a while. We can come up with a new plan while we walk.”
When Sebastian said nothing, we continued walking, with Lucas grumbling behind us all the while.
The sun was beginningto set by the time we reached that distant green horizon, and my feet were absolutely killing me. My dress was stained with dirt, sweat, and a few streaks of green matcha icing. I was tired, hungry, and honestly terrified. The only thing that had kept me going was Crispin telling stories of his mishaps at the elven court, back in his homeland.
Now, not even funny stories could brighten my mood as we beheld the sprawling estate before us. The gray grass reached the stone wall at its perimeter, and seemed to be held back by some sort of magic. Though the green grass beyond was well tended, and the clay shingles atop the stone buildings looked recently patched and repaired. Everything was eerily silent.
A breeze hit my back, sweeping my loose hair forward. At some point, I had lost my only hair band. Yet another thing to make me rue the day my great grandfather came to the Bogs.
Mistral and Gabriel were quietly arguing until finally Mistral won, and Gabriel walked my way, his dark eyes an angry storm. “I will wait with you while Mistral investigates. He does not want to risk any goblins who might feel hostile toward celestials.”
“He shouldn’t go alone.” I chewed my lip as Mistral did just that, easily vaulting over the stone wall. I wished I was close enough to sense what he might be feeling. He’d barely spoken since we’d arrived.
Gabriel gripped my shoulder, and I realized I’d taken a step forward without realizing.
“This is his home realm,” Crispin soothed. “His magic will be greater here. He can take care of himself.”
I looked the other way at Sebastian to see if he had anything comforting to add, but he simply lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug, his torn shirt gaping.
Lucas plopped down in the gray grass behind us, not looking at anyone.
