Page 160 of Ulune's Daughter

I squeeze her fingers. “Good.”

She laughs, low and carefree. “Chase me.”

I’m down for that. “Run, baby. Don’t let the big, bad Rhodes catch you.”

With a shriek of laughter, Kellan takes off toward the castle. I give her the count of one before I chase after her. I’d have an edge on her in the water, but on land, she could be faster than me. I’m lugging around a lot more muscle than she is and like most swimmers, I’m top-heavy.

She probablywouldbe faster than me if she made any serious effort to get away. Instead, she zig-zags across the path like she’s trying to shake off an alligator. At every turn, she glances over her shoulder and laughs when she sees me chasing after her. Before she tops the hill in front of the castle, I catch her, throwing my arms around her waist and after a moment’s tussle, toss her over my shoulder.

I give the juicy ass perched on my shoulder a hard smack and walk down the path to the castle’s gate with Kellan laughing breathlessly and pounding on my lower back with her fists. Feels like the team trainer’s deep tissue massage.

From a distance, Kellan’s castle looks like gray stone, but up close, there’s a sheen to every surface, a reflectiveness, like glass. A central tower rises behind a two-story-high wall dotted with arched openings. The wall is square, with smaller towers at the corners, while the central tower is round. A circle within a square. The gate’s open and leads through the wall into a big courtyard. Flower and herb gardens radiate through the courtyard with the tower as their hub.

Fluffy white sheep graze on grassy strips in the courtyard, considerately avoiding the flowers which bloom in shades of white, purple, red, and blue. More sheep, and what I swear is a small unicorn with a chestnut coat and black horn drink from a pool that the path to the tower splits around. As I carry Kellan toward the tower, the unicorn lifts its head and shakes its black mane before going back to its drink.

The square gate into the tower is open just like the outer gate. I expect it to be dark inside the tower, but it’s filled with soft witchlight that plays over richly colored rugs underfoot and tapestries on the walls. The entryway opens into a hall that stretches right and left with stairs going up on either side.

“We’re going up,” Kellan says. “But you need to put me down first.”

“Do I?”

“Just for a sec. I have to do something.”

She sounds serious. I lower her to her feet. She hugs me before she steps back and turns three times in a circle.

“You are all welcome in my lands,” she says.

Her words tickle over my skin like a hundred kisses. Then they nip, drawing just a drop of blood that rises off my skin and swirls toward Kellan. A hundred other wisps of red mist gather around her. Her cloak flickers and flares around her for a moment, each feather outlined in red.

Then her cloak disappears. My skin’s whole. Kellan turns to me with a brilliant grin. “Catch me.”

She takes off up the stairs.

I pound after her. She might have had a little edge running on the grass, but coach thinks thirty minutes of stair-climbing is an excellent warm up before a weight-lifting session. No one beats me on stairs.

I catch her on a landing and throw her over my shoulder again. “Where’s this bedroom?”

She pants and wraps her arms around my ribs. “Got me. But I think if you keep going up, there’s a good view.”

I can enjoy the view while she’s on her knees. “Okay.”

I carry her up another two flights of stairs, through a door and out onto a parapet. I should be able to see for miles in each direction. There are no other buildings to block the view. Instead, the forest presses in on all sides, broken here and there with clearings dotted with sheep, and in the distance, a gray shimmer, like a veil over golden hair.

Letting Kellan slide down to her feet, I point at the horizon. “What is that?”

Kellan follows my finger. “The Mists. That’s the border of my lands and Hraena’s. I remember we were friends. But I don’t remember what she looked like.Lookslike. If she’s still alive. I’ve found the others. I can’t seem to find my way into her lands.”

I step close behind her, pressing my lips to her hair, sliding my arms around her. “Anything I can do to help you look?”

She twists to look over her shoulder at me. “I don’t think so but thank you. You’re not freaked out by any of this? Crow Queen? Court of Cold Mist? Ponycorn in the courtyard?”

“Ponycorn?”

“The vertically challenged unicorn?”

I chuckle, kissing her temple. “Yeah, a hundred percent freaked out. Mostly by the ponycorn.” I work a hand between us to rub my chest which is itching like a bad sunburn. “I figure you’ll make it up to me.”

She turns in my arms. Her eyes slide down to where I’m working my fingers over my pec. Her hand comes up to cover mine.

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