“We don’t give our children royal titles in this kingdom.” I never called my children princes or princess. We had fought to earn our crowns, but they would not be passed on to our kids. It didn’t work that way.
His smile turned distinctly sly. “Also an interesting choice. I shall call him what I wish, what suits him. For now, he is a princeling to me. And you must be a queen, but first a wife. Remember that you are always given the tools you need to succeed, but sometimes you pay for them in the harshest of ways. Go now and do your good work. The wizard is busy. You’re the one thing he didn’t count on. You and Grayson Sloane. Who could have guessed that by creating a dark prophet, the Hell plane would lose its advantage? Oh. That was me.”
He’d been the one to train Gray, the one to keep him close for months after his turn. He’d been planning for a while, it seemed. “Tell me it’s going to be all right, Jacob.”
He stood and his eyes seemed to find mine. “Eventually. Hold strong, Queen Zoey, and know none of this was your fault. As for you, little prince, forgive her one day. She never meant to leave you. When you see me next, know you are close. Do not leave the path.”
He stepped around us and began to walk away. I turned to try to see him, but he was gone.
“What does he mean, Mom? Some of the things that man said scared me. I’m not a prince,” Lee said. “He told me to forgive her. Who is her?”
I was deeply afraid Jacob had been talking about me. Something was coming for us. “I don’t know. That’s kind of the way prophecy goes, baby. I have to do this and do it now. Why don’t we go back and you can wait with Aunt Sarah and Grandpa.”
“No. He said you would fail without me. We’re going together. I can do this.” Lee started forward and I nearly tripped trying to keep up.
Jacob had said it pretty plainly. Why had he called my son a prince? Why had he looked so amused when Lee had told him he was only human? I had to put it all out of my head for now and concentrate on the task at hand, and that was doing the job and keeping my son alive. We made it to the door and Lee gently pressed the sides of the cloak around the knob and lock, giving me plenty of space to work. Dannan clung to the top of my son’s head, his wings carefully folded together, and I had to wonder at the pixie’s loyalty to Lee. Pixies don’t like enclosed spaces. At all. And yet Dannan was suffering through it for his sake.
Did the pixies know something I didn’t? They were kind to all three of my children, but they seemed to be particularly affectionate to Lee when there was no real biological need to be. Rhys was already powerful. The pixies gained energy from the boy who would one day be their good priest. Evan was already showing she had some skill with Fae magic.
So why did they adore Lee?
I shoved the thought aside and went to work. I still practice. Sometimes I shut myself out or in a place just to prove I can still pick a lock. I was happy I did that because I quickly had us inside Myrddin’s stronghold.
That was when I realized we weren’t alone and Jacob sucked.
A black cat sat in the hallway as though it had known we were there all along. It hissed and I knew our cloak wasn’t going to fool Myrddin’s familiar.
“Shit,” Lee said.
“Yep, pretty much.”
Chapter Twelve
Summer
My chest hurt as I came to and tried to focus on what was going on around me. The world was foggy and everything ached. What had happened? Why were all these people talking around me?
It came back in a flash. I’d been dragged under the water and Marcus had come for me. I’d been sure I would die there, but Marcus had saved me.
And then Kelsey had breathed life back into me.
I blinked at the afternoon sunshine and bit back a groan because it felt like a horse had been sitting on my chest. Marcus was beside me. I glanced up and he loomed over me, though his eyes were focused elsewhere.
“You will back off, vampire. I swear if you make one move to take my friend, I’ll put this arrow through your heart. You have no rights on this plane. She’s a free woman.”
I knew that voice, complete with its youthful, righteous tone. What the hell was Dean doing here? I hadn’t thought I’d hit my head. It was coming back to me and I knew Dean hadn’t been with me at all. He was supposed to be safely home with Erna.
“No one is trying to hurt her.” Devinshea Quinn sounded completely reasonable. “I would never hurt Summer. This has all been a huge misunderstanding. My name is Dev Quinn and I’ve known Summer since the day she was born. I consider myself one of her fathers, so you should know I’m here to help and protect her. Please put the crossbow down. Marcus isn’t going to take her against her will. I would stake him myself if he tried.”
“Who are you, child?” Marcus asked in that deep voice of his. I could hear the possessiveness dripping from his every word.
I wasn’t a fool. Marcus would view Dean as a rival, and that could go poorly for my friend.
“I’m her protector,” Dean replied. “Step away from her now. And she doesn’t have a family. She wasn’t born the way children are born. She’s something different and I won’t allow you or anyone else to use her.”
“I don’t think he’s going to hurt me, Dean.” The words came out of my mouth on a croak. Drowning was a really terrible thing.
Marcus’s handsome face loomed over me. His features were all sharp lines and hard planes, but somehow he managed to not look rough. If I hadn’t known he was from the Earth plane, I would have thought he was a vampire of royal blood, one of the wealthy who live high above the surface of their plane. “Please let me heal you. You don’t have to take it directly from me. I can apply it topically. I promise you there is nothing to fear from my blood.”
I rather thought I had everything to fear from it, but I wasn’t sure I could make it back to the brugh if I didn’t. Erna could work wonders, but I had to get to her first. Although somehow Dean had found me. “Can you help me sit up? Dean, don’t hurt anyone.”
“Uh, not really going to be a problem,” the kid I’d come to think of as a brother said.
I glanced over and Kelsey had somehow managed to get the crossbow out of Dean’s hands and had it trained at his head.
We were going to have to work more on his physical training. Dean often relied on his magic and forgot that a fist can work, too. I would bet that was a lesson Kelsey had learned early on.
Marcus managed to get behind me, letting me rest against his strong chest. “Kelsey, don’t kill the boy until we know who he is.”
“Don’t kill the boy at all, please.” I was so tired, and it felt good to be in Marcus’s arms. It shouldn’t since I knew exactly what he was and why he was attracted to me, but I couldn’t help it. I’ve always been attracted to vampires. Some might say I have daddy issues. “Dean, how did you get here? Please tell me you didn’t teleport.”
Dean had his hands up and managed to look even younger than his twenty-three years. “Something happened to you. Something was attacking you. You can’t expect me to leave you out here all alone. So it wasn’t the vamp?”
I let my head rest against Marcus’s chest, feeling the oddly familiar way we seemed to fit together. My head nestled under his chin. The pain was starting to come back now. I hadn’t felt my arm aching because of the dying thing.