Daniel paced the floor, his jaw going tight even as he spoke. “Wasn’t there something in that prophecy about a magician?”
Kelsey nodded. “The magician will rule but you can win. Take back the plane.”
I didn’t want to take back the plane. I wanted to go home and be with my children. I wanted to be their mom and have fun with my husbands and…
I was pregnant. I was pregnant with Daniel’s child.
While we’d been on that distant faery plane, our daughter’s magic had taken my vampire husband and turned him briefly human. It had been a terrible change since we’d been in danger and Daniel had been the vulnerable one for once. But we’d taken the chance we had, and our faery prince had overseen fertility rites for us.
I was pregnant. Kelsey was pregnant. She had to understand. “Kelsey, if this is true, you’ve been away from Trent and Gray for twelve years. Fenrir is grown now. You lost all that time with your son. You have to want those years back.”
“Of course I do, but I don’t think that’s going to happen, and we need to consider the fact that we’re now standing in enemy territory. We need to find a way out,” Kelsey insisted.
For the first time in our acquaintance, Kelsey’s steadiness bugged me. “How can you be calm? Your son is on a wanted poster.”
“Yeah, but he’s wanted for something I would do too, so I can’t judge him.” Kelsey opened a metal cabinet and quickly went through the contents. She sighed and closed it again, not finding what she wanted. “I’m calm because I have to be. I have to get us out of this building. And honestly, that freaking prophecy has been haunting me for years. Now I understand it. There’s a little peace in that.”
I shook my head because I didn’t get her logic at all, but the painting was nothing but a blank canvas now, and none of us understood the magic behind it. We weren’t going to be able to jump back through it and get a do-over. Dean wouldn’t be willing to do it even if he understood how.
Kelsey was right. We needed to move.
Arwyna flew up and disappeared into the air vent.
I went on my toes because I couldn’t scream at her. “Hey, we don’t know that’s not dangerous. Come back.”
Daniel went still. “Devinshea, maybe you need to see if that sonic weapon you stole is working.”
Kelsey shook her head. “If it’s anything like the one I stole, it’s out of charge. It’s the first thing I checked.”
Dev had a small sonic gun in his hand. He’d taken it from some vampire mercenaries we’d had a run-in with on the outer planes. “Mine’s dead, too. But it had a full charge when we came through. How could both of them fail?”
Daniel moved to the door, cocking his head and likely opening his preternatural senses. “Are there plants you might be able to use? Someone’s coming. I don’t recognize the scent.”
Dev brought his hands up, sending his power outward. Devinshea is a Green Man, and in addition to his fertility powers, he could call all things green to our aid. It might seem like a soft power, but Dev could do a lot of damage with vines and roots.
Kelsey picked up the nearest object she could find. It was a stapler.
“What are you going to do with that?” Daniel asked, his brows rising.
Kelsey shrugged. “I’ll probably throw it and then use my fists, but I feel better with a weapon.”
“Zoey, I think you should move to the back.” Daniel was tense, his shoulders straight and claws out.
I didn’t want to move to the back. I wanted to go through that painting again and restart the damn day. Once it had been a slow-moving scene of a beautiful woman running through a field. Summer. Now she was in her rightful place and the painting was empty.
“Now, Z.”
Dev moved at Daniel’s barked order. He placed himself in front of me, and I could practically feel the frustration rolling off him. “I can’t use my magic. Something’s blocking me.”
Dev crowded me, sending me further back, and I caught sight of another stack of wanted posters.
Wanted for Espionage and Sheltering Enemies of the King
The Vampire Known as Sasha
Bounty paid only on a live recovery
Sasha. His real name was Oleg Federov. At least that had been his human name. He was the only new vampire to rise in the last few years, and Daniel had turned him on the night of his death in Munich. He’d stayed in Europe. At least he had been in Venice at Marcus’s home when we disappeared.
Sasha had once been a spy, a member of Russian intelligence, and then he’d worked with a group of former military men for a long time.