Page 204 of A Sanctuary from Shadow
Exhaling, Pete settled his hands at my back, gripping me close. “Think nothing of it.”
For just a second, his lips skimmed my forehead. I tipped my chin to meet his gaze. Molten molasses poured down on me in a sweet, slow burn. My breath caught. My heart stopped. My blood sang.
Oh—my—stars. Nowthat’show you want a guy to look at you, Amy.
Leave it to Myrrdin to stroll in and fuck that shit up for us.
Smirking, he said, “Sorry to intrude,” and chuckled as we broke apart, ruffled as chickens. “But it seemed you’d reached the end of the story, and this business about your powers must be tended to, my dear.”
Behind him streamed Morus and a bevy of clerics of varying fae races, all of whom avoided eye contact with Pete. He’d escaped back to the pitcher with his empty mug.
Jeesh. He’ll be black-out drunk before we leave here.
“We weren’t completely at the end of the story,” I corrected Myrrdin as he directed me to a stool in the center of the crowded cabin. “Pete just got to the part where you found him and me, but he didn’t say how you got us away from Gentian.”
Humming, Myrrdin claimed his own stool by the door. “Ah, well—before Gentian took his spite out on your mother, she shrieked to alert the guards. A skirmish broke out in the chamber—which I assume was how our resident harbinger was able to crawl over to safeguard you, unnoticed.” He glanced to Pete for confirmation.
My savior merely burped before downing another mugful of whatever was in that pitcher.
“I came through a secret corridor to your parents’ room,” Myrrdin said. “So secret, in fact, that your parents had no notion it even existed.”
“Might’ve been nice to know about,” I said. “In case someone broke into their bedroom and tried to kill them.”
“On that account, Amy, we agree,” Myrrdin remarked. “Alas, the corridor was built so long ago and along the centuries was forgotten. I only chanced to find it when I heard the commotion that night on my way to bed and cast anExemplarspell to find a clear path to your parents. I raced through that abandoned passage until I shoved open a door hidden behind a flora tapestry hanging in your parents’ chamber—where I found you and Pete.” Myrrdin shrugged. “Through that same passage, I spirited the pair of you out of harm’s way. Once I’d deposited you in your own chamber, Amy, I sought out Morus to help Pete evade the royal guard and flee the palace.”
Morus strutted past me on cloven hooves. “He makes it sound much simpler than it was. We got caught, obviously—barely escaped with our lives.”
Myrrdin waved. “Still, you made it out.” Was he an optimist or just apathetic?
Chewing my lip, I crossed my legs, propped an elbow on my knee, and rested my chin in my palm. Settling in for an interrogation. Myrrdin’s, not mine. “And when did my family pack up and head off to Earth?”
As though he knew I was delaying whatever probing magic he meant to enact upon me, Myrrdin sighed. “Several days later, after an ascension service was held for your mother—a custom—”
“A custom to usher a soul to heaven,” I finished for him, waving. “Uncle Neel made sure we followedsomeDanann customs. Although, he would’ve called it the Isle of Apples here, right?”
“Correct.”
“So, after my mom’s ascension service, my family sneaked over to the human realm? Through the Angel Oak portal?”
“Yes. With a substantial entourage, though we managed to keep word of your departure secret.”
“Bloody good secret,” Pete commented. “I doubt Gentian himself knew.”
I shook my head. “But he had to know where we’d gone. Somehow. How else would he have known to send the bogeybats to Earth?”
“He mightn’t have sent them there specifically,” Morus said. Lord, did I wish he’d stay out of the shadows. The light made him look less monstrous. “Gentian’s bogeybats frequent known portals on the off chance of sneaking through. They'd have noticed the Angel Oak portal was open within days.”
And I’d just ushered them right on in, I finished for him.
Juking that painful train of thought, I swiveled toward the Kobold. “Was that the portal you went through too? Angel Oak?”
“Nay, Amaranthine.” Clearly, I’d taught him a lesson about calling me princess. “‘Twould have taken too long to travel there.”
“Such a trip was unnecessary for you, anyhow, as you ken the black-market portals,” Pete fumed. Even in speaking to a phone thief, his mood swing seemed unwarranted.
“You must forgive Pete,” Myrrdin explained at my wide eyes. “He’s been in search of an open portal to the human world since I’ve known him. Irrespective of what’s known to become of humans who return to Earth after spending too much time in our realm.”
I blinked.What’s known to happen to them?
