“I’m over here!” Briony calls, jumping up and down on the ground and waving at us from the far distance. She’s right outside the building that the dragon raided, just like Tudor instructed.
“Shit,” Dray says. “She’s good. She’s really fucking good.”
The professor stares at her in utter disbelief. I’m guessing he’s as surprised as the rest of us at just how quickly our little mate did that.
“Took me fucking years to learn how to do that,” Dray says. “I once ended up in the bedroom of my cousin, Daniel, instead of my own. He was screwing his girlfriend at the time and I got an absolute beating for it.”
“Can you displace back here?” Fox calls to Nini over the distance, his voice booming like it always has.
She waves back and nods enthusiastically. Then we watch as she closes her eyes and promptly disappears from sight, reappearing only a second later right in front of us all.
“I did it,” she says with a massive grin on her face.
“Yes,” Beaufort cautions a second time, “but that was an easy displacement, Briony. You could see very clearly where you wanted to go. You’ve never been to Dray’s homestead before – you have no idea where it is or what it looks like. Displacing there is going to be much, much harder.”
Briony continues to grin at him, and he examines that grin with curiosity.
“What?” he asks.
“I’ve been there,” she says. “Dray and I flew over it on the way from the capital.”
Beaufort swings his gaze directly at our shifter bond brother, who’s living up to his name. He’s looking incredibly shifty right now, shuffling on his feet.
“How in all the stars’ name did you show her your homestead?”
“We flew right over it,” Briony says, “on the way here.”
“Yes,” Beaufort continues, “but that isn’t exactly a direct route. You must have taken a detour.”
Briony’s gaze also snaps toward Dray. “Is that true?” she asks.
Dray nods sheepishly. “We had plenty of time,” he explains. “We weren’t due to meet those soldiers until dawn, and I really wanted you to see it.”
I expect Briony to give him a piece of her mind, but instead she rolls her eyes indulgently.
“Well, I can’t exactly be mad about it, because it turns out it’s going to be useful after all.”
“Yeah, exactly,” Dray says. “Useful. All part of the plan.”
Beaufort shakes his head, but Dray just grins, mirroring our little mate.
“I’ve never been to your homestead,” Tudor says.
“But you’re well practiced at this, aren’t you?” Briony says, clearly a little less sure about this plan now. “You could do it.”
“I can,” he confirms. “But I need you to explain where it is, what it looks like.”
Dray scratches his head, mischief twinkling in his eyes, and Briony spots it. She scowls at the shifter and points a finger in his face.
“No funny business,” she says. “We’re stronger if we all stick together.”
Dray smirks. “Yeah, I know. I was only considering it for a minute, Prof. The homestead is in Lonsbury. It’s this big old house in the middle of the prairie. You can’t miss it. The river’s a couple of miles to the south.”
The professor nods slowly, and I suspect he’s conjuring up that image in his mind.
“Do you think you’ve got it?” Beaufort asks.
The professor repeats the address and the description.
