Two hundred and twenty-five years…
“How…” I start, but my mouth won’t work as V continues to fly around and embrace each of them.
He had connections with them…
“You said you weren’t leaving the way you came. Where are you going from here if this is the portal?” Amick asks.
Thank fuck someone can think straight.
She studies him for a beat, then glances past us toward the long stretch of meadow.
“A barrier within your realm. Do you all mind if we walk and talk? I’d love to stretch my legs a little and finally see this gorgeous meadow.”
She may have asked, but she doesn’t wait for an answer.
Her steps eat the distance between us, and she links her arm through mine like it’s the most natural thing for her to do. My body turns without my permission, and my footsteps fall in line with hers.
I peer over my shoulder and nearly trip over myself.
She steadies me, giggling. “Let them be. They’ll figure it out on their own. They’re all big boys.”
She didn’t even look behind us but somehow knows that her men have taken places between mine. As in they’ve created a pattern. One of my men, then one of hers, and so on and so forth.
My Valtrue isn’t all that happy about it.
“This is crazy,” I mutter.
“You know what’s actually crazy?” Draken asks. “From the stories we know, I really had it in my head you gods would be huge. Maybe not as big as the giants, but bigger than us for sure. You’re definitely edible.”
My feet fall still.
“Did he just say edible?” I ask.
Willow fucking laughs and pulls me along. “Don’t mind, Draken. He won’t really eat anyone. I mean, he will, but not any of you. We had a conversation about this before we came.”
What the fuck?
V’s hoot ruffles my hair as he perches himself on my shoulder and rubs his face across my cheek. I lean into him but also cut my eyes to the side.
“You’ve got some explaining to do. Starting now. What the hell is happening?”
“What’s happening is the beginning of a very powerful alliance or the continuation of a hostile division. Trust myadvice, and even if you can’t trust her, as a person, for now, trust in the things that come out of her mouth. She wouldn’t benefit by leading you astray. If anything, the worse off our realm gets, the more it hurts hers.”
“What does that mean exactly? Is she here to help us save the realm?”
“No. No, I am not. I’m only here to help you, and what you do with what I leave you will be entirely on you.”
“Did you just tell her what I said?” I sneer at V.
“He didn’t tell me anything. Your thoughts aren’t quiet.”
My thoughts…
Gods damn it.
“You can hear my thoughts, can’t you?”
Her guilty smirk spills that truth.
