Ronan set Mischief back on her feet. “I don’t want to hear it from you, X.” He slid a meaningful look to Gisela.
Xaydin pulled her to his side and smirked. “Didn’t take me twenty years.”
“Fair point.” Ronan stepped back from Mischief but didn’t go far as she caught his hand and held him there.
“Shall we portal, then?” Masakage asked.
“We can always go by way of my ship.”
Xaydin shook his head. “That’ll take too long. Better to update Dash on what’s happening now than wait.”
Ronan agreed. While he knew Mischief would hate to be without her boat, it would take days, if not a full week, to reach Dash’s palace over sea.
The portal would be even faster than if he flew. And it wouldn’t leave him tired on arrival. “Who’s going to open it?”
“I will,” Candara and Masakage said in unison.
Candara smiled at her brother. “Together, then?”
“Sure.”
They joined hands and began to chant under their breath.
Xaydin braced himself as a small circle began to spin the air in front of them. He’d always hated portals. They were extremely disorienting.
Slowly the spinning red circle grew larger and brighter. Taking Gisela’s hand, Xaydin stepped through to find himself in the courtyard outside of Dash’s Clovenshire Castle.
It was a large dark gray fortress that spread out into a perfect square. Each corner was equally anchored by a tall, square tower.
That was the outside. Inside those formidable stone walls was a spectacular manor house.
Dash’s ancestors had built this place over three hundred years ago to hold back those who wanted to invade and tear the unicorns down.
It hadn’t been that long ago that the unicorn race had been relegated to only this area of their lands and had stood on the edge of extinction. Until they fought back.
Unicorns were nothing if not resilient.
And violent.
“Welcome to your ancestral home,” he said to Gisela.
Stunned and amazed, Gisela turned around in a small circle as the rest of their party joined them just outside the beautiful manor.
This was so different from Meara’s castle. And it wasn’t just because there were no centaurs. Children ran about, laughing and playing. Some were in unicorn bodies while others were in human form.
And they all seemed so…
Happy.
A few appeared disgruntled, but nothing like the ones who inhabited Meara’s lands.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered, wishing she’d grown up here instead. How different would her life have been had she known these people.
People who would no doubt hate her for being blood related to their biggest enemy.
Shit.
Just as she was tempted to run back through the portal to escape those she was sure would demand her head, the portal closed.
