Kole’s aura strummed higher, fury lining every particle in it, but he gently thumbed my tears away, his touch soft and reverent as he stared at me with such intensity, so viscerally, that my heart wanted to burst.
In a shaky tone, thick with emotion, he continued, “And even though the female seemed ashamed of what she’d become, the male still cared for her. Deeply. He would always protect her.Alwaystake care of her. Even if she tried to push him away because she was afraid for him.”
My shoulders shook in earnest as rivers of tears poured down my cheeks. I tried to stop it. Tried to contain it, but I couldn’t. Sobs of relief shook my chest over and over.
Kole wiped my tears away again, not once flinching at how cold my skin was or how I was no longer fae.
I could only guess that Kole knew I was a vampire, yet he loved me anyway.
His voice gentled even more, and his deep tone reverberated right through me. “The male knew that the female was unable to help herself. That she hadurgesshe couldn’t control. He still didn’t know all of the details, but he knew enough to understand that. So he left her to search for answers, so he could try to find a way to help her. And while he was away, he discovered something.”
My sobs abruptly stopped, my gaze shooting to his. “He found something?”
Kole nodded. “He had to travel to theotherrealm, to learn more about what the female had become, but he thinks he may have found a way to speak with the female more clearly, if she’s willing to try.”
My jaw dropped, and it hit me why I hadn’t been able to feel Kole during the past few days. It wasn’t because he’d died or shut me out. It was because he’d been in theotherrealm, in an entirelyseparate universe.
Kole brushed his knuckles against my cheeks. “I’d like to go on a little trip with you, Primelle. Will you come with me?”
Happiness flooded me even though I still didn’t know what he had planned or what he thought he’d discovered, but I was willing to try anything. Anything at all.
Because Kole knew enough to understand how quickly my magic would take hold of him if either of us messed up. But if he’d found something in theotherrealm, something that could help me, I was willing to go to the end of the universe and back.
I grinned, and in a teasing tone, I replied, “I’m ready whenever you are.”
Kole took my hand, and we disappeared in a swirl of his mistphasing magic. The second the realm solidified around me, I gaped at the shining green portal door standing in front of us. We were still in the fae lands. The Wood surrounded us, but Ihad no idea which kingdom we were in or if we were even on the Silten continent.
But I did know that such portals led to theotherrealm. Wavering green magic, in the outline of a door, waited in front of us. Normally, such doors were encased in magic or locked behind warded walls, so if any creatures from theotherrealm came through them, they were met with barriers they couldn’t cross, and they were forced to return to wherever they’d come from.
But since the portal door in front of us wasn’t encapsulated, I had a feeling we were on the Nolus continent. The Nolus fae were the only fae in our lands who were welcoming to creatures from theotherrealm.
Kole didn’t wait for me to say anything or ask any questions. Instead, he tugged me forward, and we stepped through the green portal door together before I could second-guess anything.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
A rush of wind surrounded us, and immense pressure pressed in on me from all angles. Kole still clasped my hand as we tumbled through time and space. The feeling of being ripped apart and torn to pieces from the inside out made me want to scream.
But the painful sensations abruptly stopped, and I landed hard on solid ground. It was only my vampiric strength and nimble coordination that kept me from pitching forward.
Kole stood at my side, grimacing.
I squeezed his hand. “Are you okay?”
He nodded. “I’m not very practiced in realm crossings. The two times I’ve done it, it’s made me nauseous, but I’ll be fine.” The sensation seemed to pass because he stood up straight again, and his face smoothed.
I gave him a tentative smile, then cast my attention around us. We’d landed in a meadow, and above, abluesky shone from horizon to horizon. I gasped in awe.
White clouds were scattered in its opaque cerulean expanse, not a colorful cloud to be seen, and this realm’s strange atmosphere pulsed against my skin. I ran my hands over the long grasses that brushed against my thighs. The plants feltsimilar to the fae lands, but like the air, there was no magic in them either.
Everything here felt empty. Magicless. The usual power that bathed the air in the fae lands was absent, and I missed it immediately. But inside, my magic remained, although there was nothing to connect it with externally.So odd.
Behind us, a glowing green line outlined the door to the fae lands, and a part of me was amazed to see that such openings existed here, in a magicless universe.
“How was this created?” I reached a hand out to touch the magical portal’s border, but a buzzing feeling began to ignite along my skin, so I pulled back before I touched it directly.
“Scholars suspect that our universe brushes against theirs, and that at angles where our universes bend and touch, realm crossings have been naturally created. That’s why we have these doors randomly scattered throughout our realm, and it’s my understanding they also have these doors randomly scattered throughout theirs too, but I’ve been told that only those who possess magic can see them. The magicless creatures of this realm can’t detect or access them.”
“But how did magical creatures ever come into existence here if there’s no magic in this universe?”
