Page 11 of Broken Veil
“I always braid it. And you usually wear yours down for meetings.” Carys laughed and finished gathering the papers, shoving them into the bag. “My friends just arrived, so perfect timing.”
She stood with Dr. Beck and held her hand out to the woman. “It’s so good to finally meet you in person.”
“And you as well. Please, call me Luna.” She shook Carys’s hand while wrangling her overly full handbag on her shoulder. “Welcome to Oxford.” She clapped her hands together. “Finally!”
“You must call me Carys.” She turned to Duncan. “And this is Duncan. He’s…” Her mouth fell open, but nothing came out.
“I’m her boyfriend.” Duncan held out his hand and shook Dr. Beck’s. “It’s new.”
Luna’s eyebrows flew up. “Oh, you’re lovely and Scottish. Very pleased to meet you.”
Carys found her voice again. “And this is my friend Cadell.”
A shadow fell over the small woman when Cadell reached them, and Luna looked up and up, her eyes widening as her gaze met Cadell’s.
Her mouth formed a smallO, and she took a step back.
Cadell crossed his arms over his chest. “She’s fae.”
Carys blinked and looked at the dragon, then at the delicate woman to her right. “Dr. Beck?”
“You brought a dragon to Oxford?” Luna whispered. “My dear Dr. Morgan, why did you do that?”
“Fortunately it’s summer.”Luna Beck set down the massive bag holding her papers and books on the table in the seminarroom. “If it was in the middle of term, finding space in the library on short notice would be impossible.”
Dr. Beck had reserved a seminar room at the Weston. The glass windows looked out over the reading room, but once the door of the seminar room closed, even the quiet shuffle of activity in the reading room was cut off.
“We can speak freely in here.” She sat at the head of the large table. “So a dragon, a wolf, and a fae are visiting the Brightlands.” She looked around the table as everyone sat down. “And you…” She nodded at Laura. “You’re not without your own magic either, are you?”
Laura said, “I’m pauwau inwe of the Yurok tribe in Northern California.”
Luna nodded. “Wykanush Lalem then,” she said. “You’re from the Salmon People in the Pacific Northwest?”
“Yes.”
“A shadow-walker?” Luna asked. “A go-between?”
“Exactly.”
Luna glanced at Cadell. “We’ve needed her like for years in Briton.”
“We do not disagree on this,” Cadell said.
“Why are you in the Brightlands?” Carys asked. “It’s probably none of my business but?—”
“Oh, it’s such a boring story.” Dr. Beck laughed. “My fellow fae could probably guess.” She looked at Naida, who was starting to regain her color as she sat near Luna.
Naida smiled sadly. “You fell in love?”
Luna shrugged her narrow shoulders. “Aren’t we predictable? All that magic in our own home, and we fae end up chasing pretty faces in this one. A tale as old as the trees.”
“Was he… she a human?” Carys asked.
“Of course, dear. Nigel and I were married for nearly sixty years before he passed.”
Carys blinked. “You don’t look older than forty.”
“Of course I don’t.” Dr. Beck smiled. “I’m still fae.” She leaned on the table. “That said, a few weeks ago, Ididlook a bit older than I do now. In the past few days, I’ve had a bit of what my students would call a glow up.” She raised her eyebrows.
