“That wouldn't stop me from taking her," Devyn told him.
There was a beat of silence, McKell clearly struggling to rein in his temper. "Very well," he finally said. After waving his men away, he changed directions completely, heading back toward his home. They skirted two shops and rounded three corners, and soon stood in front of a wall of loose rock. There were no people present, as though the area itself was somehow tainted. "Here you are."
Bride hesitantly, shakily stepped forward and traced her lingers over a few of the crumbles. "This
was a doorway?"
"Yes." McKell nodded. "Tell me what was inside."
"A home very much like mine. When you entered, there was a main meeting area and three doorways that branched into rooms. One was for your parents, one for you, and one for the food."
"What was my mother's name?" she asked softly.
"Ellen."
"Ellen," she repeated.
"She was beautiful, a lot like you. Same dark hair, same red lips, though you have your father's eyes. His name was Dominick, and he was a soldier like me. His strength was legend."
Her shoulders drooped a little. "I wish I remembered them."
In the distance, a clatter of bells rang. When the last echo faded, a strained apprehension settled over their little group.
McKell was the first to break through it. He cleared his throat. "The king is ready for visitors. Come, if we hurry, we might be able to beat the crowd."
Dread tightened Devyn's stomach as he reached for Bride. Once again, she was trembling. By coming here, he had placed their fate in the hands of a fierce king he apparently no longer knew. And all because he'd wanted to do what was right for a female. His female. Last time he'd tried to please a woman, that dark day on his mother's birthday, he'd spent weeks nursing a broken heart.
God only knew what would happen this time.
CHAPTER 23
Dallas didn't even have to knock on the metal door in front of him. Kyrin was already there, standing in the entryway, waiting. Dallas wanted to believe the otherworlder was there because he'd called ahead, which he had, but he knew better. Mia's man was as attuned to Dallas as Dallas was to him.
"I am glad you've come," Kyrin said, shutting the door behind him.
Silent, Dallas strode into the living room. Mia, lounging on the couch, flipped off the TV when she spotted him. He'd never seen her so relaxed. AIR was her life. Well, it had been until Kyrin found her.
She smiled a contented smile. "Took you long enough. Idiot."
His lips curled in response. She'd always been ballsy. "What can I say? I recognize that I need help.”
“You've been using your powers," Kyrin said from behind him.
He nodded. "Not as well as I'd assumed I would, but I've accepted that they're a part of me. That's something, right?"
"Sit, sit." Kyrin's arm, with pale skin that reminded him of Devyn's Bride, stretched past him, motioning toward the nearest chair.
His nerves were a little raw as he obeyed. Kyrin hadn't meant his words as a command, but that's exactly how Dallas's body took them, planting one foot in front of the other until Dallas was at the chair and easing down.
He faced his audience with narrowed eyes.
"Sorry," Kyrin muttered. The otherworlder settled beside Mia, who snuggled up next to him without shame or hesitation.
Hadn't pegged her for a cuddler. Amazing what love did to people.
"Before you guys begin," Mia said, "why don't you tell us what happened in that clearing. The full story, not the condensed version in your report."
He nodded, grateful for the reprieve. "Yesterday when I pegged Nolan with the night-night cocktail, he passed out, and a woman spoke from behind me. I turned, fell to my knees because my energy was completely drained, and there she was. An angel. There were guards behind her, and I shot them all. Didn't stun them, but killed them. I heard and smelled the sizzle of their flesh."
Dallas drew in a deep breath before continuing. "She promised to come back for me. I could feel the power radiating off her. It was like she had me in a trance. I wanted to shoot her, but I couldn't force my fingers to work. Then she was gone, the men were gone, and Hector was standing over me, telling me I must have imagined it."
The queen was part of the reason he'd finally decided to take Kyrin up on his offer of training, to prepare himself for the day she returned. And he knew, knew, she would return.
Kyrin frowned. He rubbed his smooth jaw with a finger, pensive. "You shot the men, but there was no sign of them when you awoke."
"Right."
"And we were only minutes behind you, so there would have been no time for her to drag them away."
"Right." But she'd been real, damn it.
"She could have walked through the wormhole again," Mia suggested, "taking the men with her." God bless her.
Then Kyrin had to ruin it. "To my knowledge, other-world travel is only possible through solar flares. There wasn't another solar flare after she stepped through."
Dallas's shoulders slumped. "So you're saying I dreamed her, too? Or maybe had a vision of her?”
“It's possible, I suppose. Have you ever seen yourself in a vision?"
He shook his head. "I'm always a shadowy figure. Faceless."
Once again Kyrin tapped a finger against his chin. "You don't see yourself because your decision about what to do hasn't yet been made when you see the future."
"Well, I saw myself clearly in this. I was an active participant."
"I doubt this was a vision, then." With a sigh, Kyrin leaned back on the couch. "Not a hallucination, either. We aren't prone to those. Our minds are too locked on what could happen in the future to give way to fantasies."
One small thing in his favor, at least.
"My best guess is that you spoke to this woman, and she has a power very similar to Nolan's. Not invisibility, because we would have seen her with the infrareds. Perhaps she can travel from one location to another with only a thought. My queen had that ability, as well."
Which would mean that Dallas now had a very powerful enemy. A powerful enemy he was insanely attracted to. A woman who slept with legions of men to save herself, killing them. A woman who had nearly controlled him with the same force Kyrin possessed over him.
A woman who could ruin his entire life, taking everything he loved from him. "We'll have to place you under surveillance," Mia said, "in case she returns."
He gave a reluctant nod. Wouldn't be his favorite thing, being watched constantly, but it was better than the alternative. He didn't trust himself with Nolan's queen.