Page 30 of Gift from the Source
“Don’t tell her what she needs to know,” Draken growls at the same time Corentin asks, “Why does she need to know that now?”
“Fuck.” Tillman sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. Corentin’s nor Draken’s comments fazed Trex, but Tillman’s has him spinning on his heels.
“Get out of my head,” he says, narrowing his eyes.
“You’re the one leaving yourself completely open. Not that it would matter, but have you forgotten how to put up a mental shield?” Tillman asks, arching a brow.
“No, but you go years not being able to have one up. It’s not natural to just cast it up anymore, but that doesn’t mean you just get to invade my mind now that you can.”
“Good luck. We’ve been telling him that for years with no headway, so just answer my brother’s question,” Caspian orders.
Trex rolls his eyes at Cas’s tone before turning to me. “I’ve already told you all he can travel to the other realms through this realm. He’s done it before. He’ll do it again in this crazy-ass pursuit he’s on.”
Shit, he definitely did tell us that.
“Do you know why he did it before?” I ask.
He obviously didn’t go after the Gods gift that he’s now wanting, but whatever it was, was important enough he took the long way rather than tap into the supply of blood he had then.
“Shit. Might as well tell him now,” Tillman says.
Trex pushes his tongue into his cheek while sneering at Tillman before looking over at Keeper. “He traveled to Essemist Keep to steal that book of yours.”
“The book he presented to you when he tricked you into that vow?” I ask, shocked.
“That would be the one. I’ve figured with all we’ve learned so far, he used a portal somehow to move but didn’t realize he went through that much effort to get it. I still haven’t a clue how he knew about my book.That’s information only myself and my family should know.” Keeper growls.
“Well, regardless of how he found out, he did. He’ll do it again to get to the Valorian Veil. So you’ll need to close the portals here before we go,” Trex says before turning on his heel and continuing his trek toward my tree.
Well, damn.
“Looks like I’ll need to learn how to open and close them right now then,” I say, pinching my lips in a tight smile as Aria and Oakly grip my hands.
As the two of them walk ahead to join their men, my Nexus closes in around me. The closer we get to my tree, the more my thoughts continue to run wild. It’s not that I’m any more or less nervous than I was moments ago thinking I only had to open a portal for us. The emotion I’m trying to work through now is the sudden sadness that’s engulfing me because I have to close the portals.
“What’s wrong, little wanderer?”Draken asks.
“I don’t—”
Keeper’s deep laugh cuts off my sentence and my eyes find him standing with Gaster. They’re both wearing bright smiles, enjoying whatever one of them just said. I mimic their grins for a fleeting second, then my face crumbles as the truth of my sadness hits me like a freight train.
“Closing these portals…I’m about to trap beings in this realm that don’t belong here. There’s no doubt there are some here and they won’t have a way back home,”I croak to all my men.
Although they’re behind me, I sense them turn their gazes from me to Keeper. Their realization slams into me and I choke back a muffled sob.
I’m essentially trapping these beings. Just as my father-in-law was.
“You can’t look at it that way, princess. Firstly, remember that the vampires were locked in the forest because they were hurting innocent people in Elementra. Keeper was the minority who was locked away unjustly. Something we will continue to try to make right.
“Second, you aren’t doing this with evil or self-serving intentions. You’re doing this not only to protect Elementra but the Valorian Veil as well. Theyobviously have their own issues from what you’ve seen, but there’s no doubt, if the Summum-Master gets into their realm, they will have many more. And like you’ve said, it will bleed into all the realms,”Corentin says with steadfast confidence.
“This also doesn’t have to be forever, Primary. As soon as we wipe him from existence, we can return, and you can reopen these portals. Until then, they will be safe here,”Caspian tacks on and I release a shaky breath.
This isn’t forever.
“Okay. This is just for now,”I mumble.
“Just for now,”the four of them echo.
