Page 11 of Hijack the Seas: Seismic

And used our bond to borrow one of Pritkin’s abilities.

The next thing I knew, a giant-sized Mircea was meeting the towering Athena on her level. Because one of Pritkin’s abilities as the son of the Prince of the Incubi was to steal talents from the souls he ingested. Not that he went around ingesting souls, as he hated his demon half, but Mircea had no such qualms.

Like most vamps, Mircea loved power, especially a new one that appeared when he most needed it. Which was why Athena’s intended butchering of Dorina did not go as planned. A furious father, every bit as big and strong as she was, had jumped her, huge vamp fangs glistening under the cold skies of an alien world, and shortly after that, RIP Athena.

That would have been great if, shortly afterward, he hadn’t ended up stranded in said world when the portal linking it to Faerie was blown up by a vengeful pixie.

It’s a long story.

But the point was that the Lover’s Knot spell binding the three of us was now well and truly dead, with one of its parts not only out of town but out of this universe. Because Jotunheim wasn’t like Faerie, which was within a stone’s throw from Earth, metaphysically speaking. No, Jontunheim was well into the universe that Faerie had initially come from, and that was a problem.

That was a big problem, as the spell was acting like Mircea had died. I didn’t think that was the case, as his vampire family hadn’t run amuck, and Pritkin and I hadn’t keeled over, which a dead triumvir would have definitely caused. But as far as our link went, it didn’t matter.

Lover’s Knot was kaput since a partial spell was an inoperative spell. I didn’t need to tell Pritkin that, who had forgotten more magic than I was ever likely to know. I just needed to tell him why.

And there was no way to make it any easier.

“He went through a portal into Jotunheim,” I said, fessing up. “Which was destroyed soon after—”

“What?”

“—so he’s stranded there for the moment. His daughter is planning to go through a similar gateway in my court’s library—”

“Gateway? What gateway?”

“—which has been inactive since the gods left but which her family lineage may allow her to open. But even if she gets through—”

“Wait. Go back.”

“—and somehow links up with him and manages to rescue him, it won’t be for weeks, as she was pretty banged up the last time I saw her—”

But Pritkin wasn’t listening. Pritkin was talking. “What the hell? The portals to other worlds are barred, save for Earth and Faerie! That’s what this whole damned war is about, to keep them that way and the gods out!”

He had flung out a hand as he spoke, I guessed at the collective crap fest the universe insisted on handing us, so I knew he was seriously pissed. Pritkin was usually tightly controlled, especially regarding physical actions, since war mages were essentially magical nukes. They could take out a building by a stray spell, especially those who had learned silent casting.

I’d often wondered if that was where all the swearing came from; it was literally his only safe outlet. But it hadn’t been enough this time, and he didn’t even know the half of it yet. This was going to be fun.

“Yeah, I know,” I said, wondering where to even start. “But Dory has a pass through the barrier from her family background, which is even more messed up than, uh. . .” The green eyes flashed, and I wondered if there was any way to postpone this to a time when I wasn’t tired and hungry and could think straight.

But I guessed not. Because, before I could come up with a good excuse, he came out with it: the question I’d been dreading. “And how the hell do you know all this?”

There was no point beating around the bush, as Pritkin was like a bloodhound on a scent. He’d have it out of me sooner or later. I sighed and womaned up.

“Because I was there when it happened.”

Chapter Four

Fifteen minutes later, things had not improved, even though I’d finished filling Pritkin in on recent events.

Or maybe because of that.

“I sent you back to Earth to keep you safe!” he snarled. “Not to have you fighting gods!”

Yeah, that was what he’d thought was happening since I’d had information that I hadn’t shared with him. It hadn’t been a lie, unless by omission, but it hadn’t been the entire truth, either. Because he’d been coming here and needed to concentrate on what he was doing, not be constantly worried about me.

But I’d made that decision for him, and he was pissed about it. It had been one of those times when duty had to supersede our relationship, but I didn’t think now was the time to bring that up. Or to remind him exactly why we were here.

Once upon a time, having the spirit of Faerie, essentially the soul of a planet, giving me orders would have sounded weird, but that time was long past. I had accepted that she was real, was tired of seeing her creations destroyed by a bunch of vagabond gods from another universe, and wanted said gods dead. And since she’d noticed that we felt the same, we’d gotten an ally.

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