Page 36 of Crown of Wings and Whispers

Wickham laughed. “When we all ken better than to make deals with a Fae?” Then he shrugged. “But what choice do we have?”

“Fallon for Lennon.”

Wickham lunged forward a step, then stopped himself. “Wedon’t have her!Youhave her!”

“Ihadher. Orion took her hours ago. I’m assuming to Moire’s Embrace. You have to get her back, and you have to give her to me. Alive and well, both of us. Harm not a hair on her head, is that understood? No matter what you believe.”

Persi would have believed the tears in the Fae’s eyes were faked, but he turned to speak to Annag, and when he turned back, they were gone. He didn’t want them to know how desperate he was.

His gaze met hers, briefly, and she knew he wasn’t pretending. He really was willing to give up everything to get Lennon back. Persi hadn’t been able to forgive him for taking her friend the last time, when he’d been more interested in capturing Wickham, to trade him to Orion for his sister. No doubt he could have traded Lennon for her now—since she was DeNoy.

Now, it appeared he wanted nothing but her.

Persi stepped forward. “And just how can we get to Moire’s Embrace?”

“I will escort you.”

“So Wickham can bring her out?”

“Yes.”

“But if she’s DeNoy, I would think she could come and go—”

“I don’t think she is—yet. And she certainly won’t be able to navigate the Embrace.”

“So you need Wickham’s help? This isn’t a trick to trade him for your sister?”

“My sister is gone by her own choice. And yes, I need his help. He must vow to pop us all out. I promised Lennon…” He shook his head, swallowed. “I have promises to keep.”

* * *

Alone.

I was completely, and utterly alone, floating in the universe like I’d accidentally stepped out of my rocket ship without my spacesuit. This wasn’t Daphne’s purple version, and if there was any color to the night sky encircling me, it was a blue so dark it barely registered.

I could breathe. My lungs pulled and exhaled normally—or was I only imagining it? It was impossible to tell.

I couldn’t think normally. Random questions entered my brain and most floated away again before I could examine them.Did time have meaning? Was this just a dream? Was I cold? Griffon… Persi… Flann…

Sometimes, I caught myself thinking the same thing over again, like it was the first time I’d thought it.Why wasn’t I cold?

Dé·jà vuafterdé·jà vu. So weird.

The whole suspension thing would make me motion-sick, it was only a matter of time. If I puked, would it float back in my face? On long drives, to keep my stomach under control, I had to watch the road. The only option for me now was to keep my attention on the brightest star out there, and it seemed to work. If my body drifted around so I could no longer see it, I wiggled around until it was dead center again.

After a while, I realized I wasn’t going to be sick in this strange little universe, so I stopped trying to control my view…

Minutes passed. Possibly hours. Possibly days. When the nuance to the nothingness wore off, I figured, as long as I was powerless, I might as well sleep. Hell, if this was eternity--if I was dead and this was it--there wasn’t a lot to stay awake for anyway.

Deep down, I wasn’t worried. This couldn’t be the end. Orion had been too happy to see me, and I was pretty sure revenge wasn’t something he was after. So I relaxed, and I floated, and I zoned out, hoping my t-shirt wouldn’t ride up and expose my bare butt.

Hardly caring if it did.

12

A Skeleton Crew

Kitch snagged Wickham a secure line so he could make a quick call. Lorraine answered.

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