Devlin gestured for Rabbit to walk. “There are other artists here. Many artists. Halflings and mortals.”
“There’s nothing left for me over there.” Rabbit still sounded weary, but not as much as he had when Devlin first saw him at the studio.
“Stay here,” Ani urged, “at least until we figure out what to do. Please, Rab?”
Rabbit nodded.
Without any further discussion, Devlin took Rabbit to the artists’ cottages.
After they had delivered Rabbit to a pristine cottage filled with various art supplies and tattoo equipment, Devlin led Ani to his own home.
When they reached his quarters within the queen’s palace, he found Rae in his previously unused sitting room. A smile played on his lips at the sight of her. No longer hidden away in a cave, she was dressed for court and awaiting him.
“She’s awake,” he told her.
Rae smiled. “And Faerie is intact once more. Such a simple thing, isn’t it? You bring Sorcha’s son home, and the world wakes.”
“Indeed.” Devlin wished he could embrace her. He couldn’t, but he could tell her what he felt. “You saved Faerie. Without you, I wouldn’t have known—”
“Without me, she wouldn’t have been lost in her dreams,” Rae corrected. “Do not forget how she was able to see Seth in the first place.”
“You can do all sorts of things in dreams, can’t you?” Ani’s voice was soft, but there was a fear in it.
“I didn’t create any illusions, Ani.” Rae stayed as still as any prey. She didn’t straighten her arms or legs. “I simply stitched your dreams together.”
“Why?”
Rae shrugged. “You needed each other.”
And in that instant, Devlin understood something he’d not admitted. “You knew.”
The world stilled for Rae. “Knew what?”
Devlin, the center of her world, crossed the room to her. His voice was soft. “All these years, you knew Ani was meant to be in my life. Did you know that when you asked me not to kill her?”
“Oh, Devlin, don’t ask me too many more questions.” She lifted her hand as if she would touch his shoulder. “I knew things I shouldn’t have… or maybe things I was supposed to. Who can predict what threads are the ones that were meant to be?”
“Threads?” He frowned as he tried to piece together some clarity from the clues she’d given him. “What all did you know?”
“I cannot answer that,” Rae whispered. “I wish I could.”
Ani sat on a high-backed chair with one foot tucked under her. The wolves in her skin shifted restlessly, but Rae couldn’t tell if that was in response to Ani’s worry or Devlin’s discomfort. The wolves were a part of the New Hunt, the one that belonged in Faerie, and they’d respond to both Devlin and Ani.
Will this Hunt protect me as well?
Rae waited as Devlin puzzled out the things he was learning. If Rae had her way, she’d tell him that he and Ani were meant to be in Faerie, that the whole order of Faerie was awaiting his understanding of what he could make real. If she had her way, she’d have told him everything years ago, but the Eolas’ injunctions were binding.
“Please, Devlin,” she said. “Think on what you know, but don’t ask me questions I am forbidden to answer.”
A knock at the door of the outer chamber made them pause.
“Stay here.” Devlin walked away to answer it.
Once he was gone, Ani looked at her. “You love him a lot.”
Rae sighed. “Your bluntness is not always charming, Ani.”
The Hound grinned. “I believe you’ve mentioned that before.”