Deni smiled. “No fear.”
“She would understand eventually, but it’s the ‘eventually’ that would be uncomfortable.” Dylan sent her one of his rare smiles. “Let’s go have some barbeque.”
They had to, to keep up the verisimilitude. Deni only hoped Jace was safe, and that the half-crazed wolf inside her wouldn’t make her break away from Dylan and race around Shiftertown until she could find and protect him again.
* * *
“So this is Faerie?” Jace wrinkled his nose at the smell. “I don’t like it.”
“As my daughter would say . . . Suck it up.”
Shifters had left Faerie forever seven hundred years ago, not that they’d ever embraced it as home. Though they’d been created here, Shifters had cultivated a healthy loathing of the place.
Jace had followed Fionn to a grove of trees between the backyards of Shifter houses. In the glow of the few streetlights, he’d seen police officers walking from house to house, and patrol cars and vans creeping along the streets.
The darkness in the grove of trees had been deep, inky. A mist rose from nowhere in the middle of the ring of trees, one that smelled acrid to Jace. A tingling had begun in Jace’s brain that had him snarling, his claws coming out, before Fionn had grabbed him and shoved him into the middle of the mist.
Jace had blinked, the tingling dying, and found himself in another ring of trees, these old, towering, and damp. His boots squished in mud covered with gray green weeds and dead leaves. The thick trees ran as far as Jace could see, the land wet, dank, and muddy.
“Boring,” Jace said. “No wonder my ancestors chose to live in the human world.”
Fionn made an impatient noise. “This is only one tiny corner of one woods in Faerie. I live miles from here in a valley that would put anything found in your world to shame. Mountains reaching to the skies, snowcaps burnished by the sun, meadows of grass so green it makes you weep, and packed with wildflowers in every color. My garden is designed to run right into the meadows, so it’s as though I step into paradise every time I walk out my door. My manor house has marble floors, and walls veined with Fae gold, which humans have never seen—and never will. Fae gold is rare even for the Fae. Humans would kill each other—and Fae—over it.”
“Walls veined with gold,” Jace said. “No overkill there.”
Fionn started walking into the trees, ignoring him. “When I come to this area, however, I live rough in a tent. This way.”
“Wait a minute.” Jace jogged to catch up with him. The Fae-man was fast. “How do you know where the gateway, or whatever that was, is? All these trees look alike—and smell alike—to me.”
Fionn didn’t look back. “Then you’d better stick with me, hadn’t you?”
Great. “How do I know you’re not leading me to Fae warriors with big swords who’d love a Shifter snow leopard head decorating their fireplace?”
“You don’t,” Fionn said. “You have to trust me.”
“Thanks. I feel so much better.”
It was then that Jace noticed he did feel better. The feral restlessness had eased from him, the pain of his Collar lessening. When he put his hand to his neck, he still felt the soreness—did he ever—but the certainty he’d drop dead any second had gone.
Fionn led him around three gigantic trees growing close together and stopped in front of a pavilion. Tent, Fionn had called it. Ballroom-sized living space, Jace would term it instead.
He followed Fionn inside, though his Shifter instincts did not want him to. The interior of the pavilion was as lavish as the exterior. It had been divided into rooms by tapestries hung from solid rods, and carpeted with rugs that looked as though they were made of woven silk. Low couches, chairs, and tables were scattered everywhere, and a large brazier burned with a fire that cut the damp.
“You call this living rough?” Jace asked, turning in a circle. Everywhere he saw light, color, and shimmering texture.
“You’ve been living in human rejects too long. This is what you could have in Faerie, and much better than this.”
“Not as a Shifter slave I couldn’t,” Jace pointed out.
“Possibly not. Though I don’t keep slaves. Any Shifters who lived in my realm would be free to come and go as they pleased.”
A fair-minded Fae? “Good to know,” Jace said.
“I can’t speak for other Fae, though,” Fionn said. “So if you went outside my territory, yes, you’d probably end up a slave or a mantelpiece decoration.”
“You’re so comforting.”
“Wine?” Fionn poured a golden, smoothly trickling liquid into a cup. “Best I can get out here. The good stuff doesn’t transport well.”
Never drink anything offered by a Fae. The old tales about Fae, passed down by Shifters, rang in Jace’s head. His dad used to tell him the stories, as had Aunt Cass. Jace said nothing, but couldn’t stop himself from taking a step back.
Fionn laughed. “You’re superstitious. But probably wise. I know Fae who try to drug, poison, or spell everyone they meet. You’re lucky I’m not interested. If I want someone under my thrall, I’ll take over their territory and let them choose between following me or being put to the sword.”
“What a nice guy,” Jace said dryly. Fionn held out the cup, but Jace shook his head. Even if Fionn proved to be trustworthy, Jace couldn’t be certain what Fae wine would do to his system, especially as traumatized as it had been lately. Fionn shrugged, lifted the wine cup to his lips, and drained its contents.
Jace looked around the lush living quarters, again reflecting that he felt much better. He was afraid to pursue why. If living in Faerie was the only way to stop Shifters who had their Collars removed from going feral, he’d rather take his chances being feral.
“So tell me,” Jace said, as Fionn poured himself more wine. “If this is more or less the armpit of Faerie, why do you come out here?”
Fionn lowered his cup. When he spoke, his voice was softer. “To be near my daughter.”
“Oh.”
Fionn raised his brows and drank deeply again. “Yes, I am that maudlin. But I had to give up Andrea for more than forty years. I want to spend as much time with her as I possibly can. And my grandson.”
“I get that.”
The hard-faced warrior suddenly looked much older and more vulnerable. “That’s why I conquered this part of Faerie. So I could see her without anyone being the wiser. I’m alone now, but Andrea makes life worth living.”