Page 14 of Fractured Souls
“I do want to prepare you for something.” Adriel ran a hand over my waist and I stepped into him, his moss eyes shading with concern. “There is a possibility, to find what we need, that we may have to go to the Kingdom of Day.”
“It’s pretty bad, isn’t it?”
“Extremely so,” he bit out. “The worst part is that you have to turn a blind eye. Unless you plan on changing the kingdom as a whole…but that isn’t possible. The chaos is ingrained like the blood soaking the soil under their feet.”
Normally I would say it would be easy to ignore, but considering I wasn’t high anymore…yeah, I could see that being a bit more of an issue. Also Adriel’s imagery painted a rather morbid picture.
“We’ll deal with that if we have to,” I said. Adriel kissed the center of my forehead, and Desmond appeared in the door.
“We’ve got everything ready—you okay?”
I met his gaze and offered a small smile. “I’m perfect, just thinking about everything going on and what we need to do.”
Desmond’s eyes warmed, and I felt a surge of pride. I was getting damn good at this ‘communicating my emotions’ shit.
My siren, who had been suspiciously quiet since the Demonic realm and more so since last night, offered me an encouraging thumbs up. It was hard to take her seriously, though, considering she was dressed like we were going skiing. No, seriously, she looked like a total ski bunny. Her outfit was really cute though.
I didn’t think she wanted to leave here, and Itotallyunderstood. This place seemed amazing, and having people recognize me didn’t put me quite as on edge as it once would have, especially with being surrounded by my men. If we were here under different circumstances, maybe we would be able to enjoy this type of trip.
“Lorcan?” Desmond said, pulling me from my thoughts. He was directly in front of me now, Adriel having slipped out the door to talk to Dean.
I offered a small smile. “Sorry, thinking about how great this place seems.”
“We can stay.”
“No.” I let out a small sigh and then grabbed his hand. “Come on, Desi. Let’s go save the world and shit.”
Desmond’s warm chuckle had my chest relaxing as I realized everyone was gathered in the main room, ready to go. As they went through a list of everything we needed and discussed meeting a contact to lead us up a mountain path, I found myself walking towards the span of windows. I wasn’t that surprised when Zander came to stand next to me, both of us watching as the dawn sky continued to lighten.
“It’s beautiful; I can understand why you don’t want to leave,” he admitted.
“I think it’s less about this place and more about the idea of being able to relax and stay a while,” I answered, realizing he had overheard my conversation with Desi.
“Sirens are always on the run, always moving from place to place. I don’t know what it’s like to be somewhere willingly for a long period of time.” His voice was hushed, haunted, and when I looked up at him, his gold gaze didn’t meet mine. His reaction inspired words from me that I didn’t even know I possessed.
“Sometimes it doesn’t have to be the same place, as long as you’re with the right people.”
Zander’s gaze shot down to mine and filled with warmth. I gave him a small smile, reaching out to squeeze his hand. I knew the dark ones were coming, I knew that our future was standing on the edge of being threatened, but I didn’t want Zander to doubt that he was wanted here.
ThatIwanted him here.
* * *
Our contact was actually way cooler than I expected.
Freda was a witch, and despite appearing to be in her thirties, she had magic that read far older than that. I watched as her bright red hair, braided in two sections, swung back and forth, her light voice filling the crisp morning air as she explained the path ahead.
The wind was cold against my face as we made our way up the mountain, but I found myself not getting cold. I had to assume that was a byproduct of the spelled stone she’d given each of us to keep in our pockets. It was like a freakin’ mini heater. I swear if she ever wanted to sell these, it would be a massive hit.
I didn’t think Freda had any interest in selling anything or even interacting with the modern world, though. In fact, she had specified that she didn’t want to meet us at the hotel—instead we’d taken a small hike through the snowy trees to find a cottage buried in the woods.
Freda and her horse Pixie had been waiting for us there. I had no idea how Desmond found these people to help us, but it totally worked in our favor. Pixie wasn’t carrying any passengers, but she was carrying all of our bags. Considering it was our luggage we’d had with us since leaving Arizona…well, it was a lot.
Which left me free to admire our surroundings as we walked. Occasionally I would ask our contact about things or listen to what my men were talking about, but most of the walk was spent in companionable silence that had an undercurrent of anticipation. I often found myself wanting to quicken my pace even though I didn’t know where we were going, exactly.
“Why the Elven realm?” Freda finally asked.
“Visiting the Kingdom of Night,” I said easily, trying to keep as chill as possible.
