Page 14 of Broken Veil
“No, that sounds workable,” Duncan said quietly. “When? Probably a couple of weeks at least. Not sure, but I’ll let you know. If there’s a project…”
Carys rolled over to look at him.
“No, that’s fine. I trust you, Valentin.” Duncan sat on the edge of the bed and reached out for Carys’s hand. “That’s why I put you in charge. Ignore Robby; he second-guessesmemost of the time.”
Duncan folded her fingers in his massive, callused palm. “Yes, good.” He cleared his throat. “Good man, Val. Talk to yousoon.” He ended the call and tossed his phone on the bedside table. “Sorry about that.”
“Don’t be sorry. This is one hundred percent not how I imagined my first trip to Oxford.”
“Eh.” He shrugged his massive shoulders. “It’s not the worst. I had to visit a mate here when he was in university, and it was much worse being surrounded by a crowd of snobby public school lads with more money than sense.”
“Weren’t you a snobby public school lad?”
He put his hand over her mouth. “Hush.”
Carys laughed and pulled his fingers from her face, kissing his knuckles.
She hated the idea of facing all this without him, but she had to be honest. “Do you need to go home? You have gone above and beyond trying to fix my screw-up, and at this point?—”
“Don’t be daft.” He stretched out next to her. “Besides, none of these magical tossers have any money. You don’t need to be paying for their room and board when you have a rich boyfriend.”
Carys groaned and pressed her face into Duncan’s chest. “I’m officially a freeloader. My father would be horrified.”
“No, he wouldn’t.” Duncan ran a hand over her hair. “You’re trying to right a mistake, Carys. And we’re making progress, aren’t we? None of us knew a fae was hiding in Oxford and teaching Celtic mythology, did we?”
“And somehow it’s just not that hard to believe.”
“No, it isn’t.”
She relaxed as Duncan stroked her hair. “I’ve written back and forth with her for years, but I never expected that.”
“Why would you?”
What had she done to deserve friends like Duncan and Laura who crossed oceans to stand with her?
I think that when you love someone—really love them—you’ll cross an ocean to find them again. Maybe even cross a world.
She looked up. “You really love me, don’t you?”
“Aye, I do.” His accent got thicker. “Even though that scaly arse is always following you around.”
“Don’t call my arse scaly. I just need some moisturizer.”
Duncan burst out laughing and hugged her tight. “You’re going to fix this. We’ll figure it out.”
“And if we don’t?”
“You can’t think that way.”
“No, but I have to.” She gripped the front of his shirt with her hands. “It helps. If I imagine the worst thing that can happen, take it in, and really process it, then I feel like I can tackle anything.”
Duncan grumbled, “That makes no sense to me.”
“For the longest time, the worst thing I could imagine was losing my parents and being completely alone.” She blinked hard to battle the tears that wanted to come out. “But then it happened. I lost my parents, and I was completely alone. So the worst thing that could happenhappened. And I survived. See what I mean?”
“No, that’s not the way of it though, darling. Because yes, you lost your mum and dad, but you’re not alone, Carys.” He kissed the top of her head. “You’re never going to be alone. I promise you. Laura and Kiersten were with you. And now you have Cadell. And better than that fire-breathing numpty, you have me, don’t you?”
She wanted to kiss him, but she needed to make a point. “What happens if we don’t stop the Morrígan?”
