"How?" Heather almost whispered.
"The archive entry stated the children had survived because they’d been protected."
No one spoke for several seconds. Everyone stared wide-eyed at Wadim.
Jen’s wolf growled as she waited for him to continue. "What the hell are you waiting on, history-boy? Spit it out!"
"The children were protected by the draheim.”
“What?” The expectant look on Lilly's face was replaced with confusion. “I’ve seen the draheim. They didnotseem like the type of supernaturals to protect anything but their own. They were quite … volatile.”
Nissa folded her hands and set them on the table in front of her. “Every race has those who choose the wrong path. That does not mean the entirety of them follow in those footsteps.”
“So, the draheim can withstand the cold fire…” Jen thought back to her attack on the Order compound, attempting to remember any details she might have noticed. Then her mind slipped even further back, and she remembered the very first battle at the compound. “There was a draheim at the compound,” she said quickly as she snapped her fingers. “Ludcarab,” she looked at Sally, “remember? He was riding that draheim.”
“Holy pixie babies.” Sally’s eyes widened.
“You think that draheim helped Peri?” Costin asked.
Jen held out her hands. “The proof is in the pudding.”
Costin frowned. “Is that some weird American saying? All I needed was a yes.”
“Bloody hell. Yes. I think that if that draheim was still around when Peri went kaboom, and it chose to help her, then that would explain why she survived.”
“Okay, that mystery ispossiblysolved.” Anna looked back at Nissa. “But I wonder who the two fae children were that were saved long ago.”
“Perizada, naturally, and … Nissa.” A male voice spoke from the door of the great hall. It was Disir. Lucian was nowhere to be seen. “Perizada and Nissa were the fae children saved that day.”
“Why do I feel like my entire world has just shifted on its axis?” Sally asked. “First the draheim can withstand cold fire, next we remember the Order had a draheim, and now Peri and Nissa are not simply high fae but miracle-baby high fae.”
Jen, along with every head at the table, turned to look at Nissa. The high fae reached for her glass of water, her hand shaking as she picked it up and took a quick sip. The skin around her mouth drew tight. Nissa kept her eyes down, avoiding the probing stares of everyone. “The memory of that day,” she finally spoke, “is lost to me. It is only now that I realize it happened.”
“You and Peri were saved, not for a single reason, but for hundreds if not thousands of reasons,” Disir continued. “You and Peri both have your flaws. But so do we all. That day, you were both protected by those who loved you and saved by those who knew that your life, and Peri’s life, would serve to protect many others. For whatever reason, Nissa’s path has led her here, where she has been able to help in so many ways. She is not in need of rescuing. But Peri needs to be saved again. This time, from herself.”
“I’m assuming you’ve found her considering you’re back from your adventure with her mate?” Jen pushed up from the table so fast her chair fell back to the ground.
“She’s in the draheim realm.” Disir’s eyes dropped, and he looked as if he saw something the rest of them could not. “I felt her magic end there, but that wasn't all. Mingled with her magic, there was despair—such hopelessness. I don’t…” He paused and swallowed, seemingly trying to hold himself together. “I didn’t tell Lucian. Only that I felt her magic there.”
“Where is he?” Wadim asked.
“He’s at the veil to the draheim realm. We tried to enter, but we couldn’t. Something has it blocked. I told him I would see if I could figure out a way in, but he refused to leave.”
“Of course he did.” Jen's chest tightened, her heart beating hard in her throat.
“So, we need to get into that realm.” Myanin spoke up. Gerick took her hand in his and ran his thumb across the top in a soothing gesture.
“This sucks pixie balls.” Heather huffed.
“Some of our females were trapped in the pixie realm,” Kale said. His hand rested under Heather’s hair on her neck, and she leaned into him. “We were eventually able to get through the veil. It was not an easy task, and it required the help of other supernaturals.”
“Who helped?” Lilly asked.
“Thadrick, the djinn,” Heather answered. "We were in the realm for four months.”
“But once Thad took the job, he had them out in no time at all,” Elle added.
“This isn’t the pixie realm we’re talking about,” Wadim said. “The draheim are a hell of a lot more powerful than pixies. And if Peri is working with them on keeping the veil closed, it will be even more difficult.”
