I didn’t belong here. None of us did. But I had to pull it together because if I couldn’t find a way out of this mess, I would be stuck here, and my kids needed me. Devinshea had been right when he’d told me to shove my pain down and be the queen. Or in this case, be the mom.
“Before we get to the heart of the matter, I’d like to know what happened to Faery,” Dev said. Dinner was winding down, and we’d promised to talk business after. “I always assumed if anything happened to all three of us that Declan would come for the children, or Albert would take them to my mother. That was the plan we had in place.”
Devinshea always had a plan, though in this case it was one we’d all agreed on. If something happened to all three of us, the future king of the Seelie Fae, Dev’s brother, Declan, would come for his niece and nephews. If he couldn’t come to Dallas, he would show up to open the door to the sithein for them.
“Eddie was our best way out of the penthouse, and he had never been to Faery. He’d been to Italy and the base Marcus Vorenus kept there.” Rhys was sitting at attention, as though this supposed family meal was a high-level war council. Which in all honesty it was. I noted that Shy had taken the seat across from Rhys. She was back to being herself, though she’d promised if my dad had something to say, he would take over.
“By the time we felt comfortable enough to reach out to Faery, they had closed their borders,” Sasha explained.
“And that’s that.” Rhys had a mug in front of him, and I was almost certain it was filled with the same beer Albert had placed in front of Dev.
Lee snorted and rolled his eyes. “Sure it is. You’ll learn Rhys likes to ignore the stuff he finds distasteful. Papa, Albert tried to follow your orders. When Sasha and Trent decided it was safe enough, they reached out to Faery. The Seelies wouldn’t take in me or Fen.”
“What?” That had me sitting up. “Your grandmother refused you entrance?”
“Yes, though she apologized. She’s had trouble since Papa disappeared. My human ass wasn’t welcome, and Fen was considered too dangerous,” Lee replied. “Apparently the last time werewolves were let in there was a war or something.”
“It was more complicated than that.” Rhys stared down at his mug.
“You mean they thought the human was unlucky, and my disappearance proved it,” Dev said, every word dripping with bitterness. He’d been raised mortal in the world of the Fae. It hadn’t been until he’d ascended that they truly accepted him.
“The Unseelie would have taken us in, but I decided against it.” Sasha’s color was up, proof that he’d fed this evening. The last I’d seen him, he was living off animal blood because the thought of taking a human female was distasteful to him. He’d lost his wife and been forced to send his daughter off to another family. I hoped he had someone who comforted him. “It was too rough a place for a human and a companion. So we sat down, Trent and I, and we decided to walk the planes for a while. It allowed us to stay off the wizard’s radar while the children were young and in training.”
“How did you walk the planes?” Danny asked. “It’s not an easy feat.”
“Albert’s mother is highly placed in the demonic world,” Sasha explained. “Through her we were able to obtain a map of the doors and how to open them. The map was spelled to work for several years, and then we made the choice to come back to the Earth plane and fight. But those years out there on the planes were important.”
“We went to a dinosaur world. Rhys nearly crapped his pants,” Lee said with a snort.
Rhys’s eyes rolled. “And you took that time to say fuck as often as you could.”
“Well, we were allowed to use it in case of a dino attack. Or stepping in a massive pile of dino droppings.” Evan was grinning again as though those terrible, dangerous times had also produced good memories. “Fen had to bathe for a week before we could stand to be around him.”
“We didn’t stay long,” Sasha said. “The UV light was too much for me there. We spent much more time on a werewolf plane.”
Evan shivered. “It was cold. Fen spent a lot of time in his wolf skin.”
Fen’s lips went up in a wolfy grin, and he leaned over to kiss Evan’s cheek. “I did that so you could cuddle up and stay warm.”
I put a hand on Dev’s thigh, a reminder to not make an ass of himself. It was obvious the kids had connections we couldn’t understand yet. Although I could understand Evan and Fen. When I stopped feeling sorry for myself and looked at the situation, I could remember what it felt like to have that one person in the world I could count on. I’d had Daniel. And then I hadn’t.
I didn’t want that for Evan. I could start healing by supporting her.
“I’m glad,” I said. “Evangeline was always cold as a kid. She carried around her blanky. Is the wolf plane where you learned archery?”
“Some of it,” Evan allowed. “But most of it I learned here on the Earth plane. Sasha found a tutor for us. I took to it better than the others.”
“You come by it honestly.” Dev’s voice was still tight, but I could see he was trying to shove down his anger. It wouldn’t be directed Evan’s way. It would be all about his family. The Seelies hadn’t always been kind to my husband. “Your uncle was the best archer in Faery.”
“I don’t remember much about him, but I do miss Sean from time to time,” Evan said.
“Well, given what we know about how time moves in Faery, our cousin is now younger than we are.” Rhys took a drink. “He wouldn’t recognize us.”
“Certainly not me, since I used to have two eyes.” Lee grinned my way.
“I’d like that story, son.” Daniel, like Sasha, didn’t have a plate in front of him. “I’ll have all the stories, but our time is running short. I’ll start taking meetings tomorrow and all through the week. We have to rebuild our coalition and convince a bunch of supernaturals who hate each other to work together. Hugo and Henri brought me up to speed on what they know about Myrddin’s plan. Why does he think he can close the doors between Earth and Heaven? Shy, if you please? I’ve been told Harry knows the most about this particular subject.”
“Of course, Your Highness.” Shy took a breath and her eyes shifted. “Hey there, my Danny.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened, emotion plain on his face. “Hey, Harry. I…”
Shy’s hand came up. “Don’t even try, son. There’s nothing to apologize for. I would die a thousand times to save my grandchildren. And I don’t regret a bit of staying here to wait for you.”
“Shy and Harry have done more for the resistance than anyone,” Sasha explained solemnly. “Without them we would have very little intelligence. We would still be blind. Our spies have worked well for the simple fact that Harry was able to put a structure in place, and Shy was able to get him to us so we knew about the work he’d done. When we came back to the Earth plane and made Frelsi our base, we put up strong wards. Harry had been looking for us forever. Through his network of informants, he and Shy found their way here. Those assets formed the base of my own network.”