The Shadow Princess (Chronicles of the Stone Veil 6)

And with that, Bastien disappeared into thin air.

* * *

Not everyone could bend distance. It was a magical means of travel within Vyronas, but only those highly skilled in magic could accomplish the feat. Coming from the warrior caste in the House of Dunne, Bastien had the ability, though he rarely used it.

Only in emergencies, and this was the biggest one he’d ever faced.

The instantaneous method of travel didn’t propel the physical form through time and distance but rather pulled two separate geographical points together so one could step from one into the other. It all happened in the blink of an eye, and those experienced in it barely felt a shift in balance.

It was how Bastien was able to appear at his brother’s bedside within a second of leaving Maddox in the Garden of the Gods.

True… it was midday, and true, there was work to be done with the soldiers, but Kieran was taking a lunch break with one of the camp followers. A busty redhead who was busy on her knees before Bastien’s brother.

Always unflappable, Kieran didn’t so much as twitch a muscle at Bastien’s sudden appearance. The woman, however, squealed in fright and scrambled away, trying to cover her nakedness.

“Get out,” Bastien barked at her.

She didn’t need to be told twice. Commandant Dunne was the highest-ranking leader of the citizens of Kestevayne right now, and until the throne was restored, no one dared to disagree with him about anything.

Except maybe Kieran.

“That was rude,” his brother drawled as he tucked himself back into his pants, but he didn’t really sound put out. The redhead was nothing but a leisurely passing of time for Kieran.

“Thalia’s in trouble,” Bastien said, and Kieran instantly went on high alert. Holding the ring out, Bastien recounted his meeting with the demigod, Maddox. “I have to go to her now. You’ll stay and take over my command.”

“Fuck that,” Kieran said, ever the wordsmith. “If she’s without that ring, Ferelith has already sent someone after her. More than one someone, I’m betting. The army won’t fall apart while we’re gone.”

Bastien considered that this was probably true, but his instincts as a leader didn’t like leaving his army with no guidance. It was antithetical to everything he’d been taught growing up in the warrior caste.

“It will be a quick in and out of the veil,” Kieran pointed out, referring to that magical barrier that separated the dimensions. “We won’t be gone long.”

True enough. Travel through dimensions was too hard for most, but both Bastien and Kieran had the ability. Not only was their bloodline thick with magic, but it was strengthened by the ley lines that traversed Vyronas.

When this realm was created from a chunk of the meteor, it had been done by a sect of druid daemons who, though not overly powerful in any magics themselves, were incredibly smart. They used the stone’s power to set up a framework of magical ley lines that crossed the land with concentrated power hubs in the capital cities. Those with magic in their blood used the lines not only to charge their powers but also to cultivate and grow them with study and practice.

It was how the brothers would travel freely to the First Dimension without the Conclave’s aid. Not all dimensions were accessible, but the veil between Vyronas and the First Dimension of Earth was easy to breach.

They could get to Thalia in a matter of seconds, and get her back here where she would be better protected. Bastien had no thought to leave her there, even if he installed the ring back on her finger. Maddox had shared enough that Bastien believed the demigod was indeed delivering a missive from the gods, and he intended to obey it. He’d probably have conflict with the Conclave later for not discussing it with them first, but there was simply no time to do so.

As it stood, Thalia was on her own in a land called Wyoming. He’d only been there once before to set up a home for her to live in peace and safety until she could be brought back to Vyronas. Seven years ago, Bastien had helped the Conclave perform a ritual against Thalia’s will, stripping her of her memories and implanting fake ones in their place. A whole lifetime of falsities she would use to remind herself she lived a placid existence in a remote region of the First Dimension. They even programmed her to never want to leave the tiny horse ranch Bastien had acquired. Thalia loved horses more than just about anything, and he’d wanted her to be happy.

When she’d realized she was being sent away against her will, oh, how she’d hated him.

But then he made her forget that too.

Bastien was now going to have to bring her out of that false reality she’d been living in and restore her to her true self.