Page 57 of Tempting the Fae Lord
What would my job be if I were left to provide for myself on this side of the gate? Would I work in an inn like the two boyswho ported the bath water? Would I cook food or pour ale at a pub?
Oh—Or would I be a blacksmith like my father?
I can’t imagine my life without Eulie and Chester. Without Jack, Marissa, and Amaris.
Without Ezra.
But if I’d grown up here or farther south as it were, it would be my real family I couldn’t imagine living without. My mother and father. Maybe siblings. Aunties, uncles, grandparents.
Who knows what I’ve lost?
No wonder Petru worries for his family. We may have saved him from a terrible master, but at what cost? Would Sonja really go after his people for failing to serve her?
Somehow, I doubt it.
Not that she has me fooled into thinking she’s a good person. Not after how she used poor Petru. But her obsession is with the gate and its master.
She wants the same thing I want. To find her family. To get a glimpse of what her life would have been without Ezra’s interference. If I were her, I’d?—
Smoldering ashes.
What if she’s already crossed? What if my half-baked method worked a second time, and we haven’t seen hide nor hair of her because she’s not here?
What if she’s already wreaking havoc on the fae side?
But if she crossed, the first place she’d come to is our fortress! Our family! They’d take her in without a second thought. We’re always so excited to receive travelers. They’d welcome her with open arms.
Panic tugs knots in my stomach. All the tension the water released in my muscles snaps back in the span of a fluttered heartbeat.
I have to tell Ezra, but he’s not going to like my theory.
I take a deep breath. “Sir?”
Chapter Eighteen
TheGatekeeper
No waymy gate would open for that meddling harpy!
And yet… Gale presents an unsettling possibility.
I cannot stay on this side when those under my protection on the other side might be in danger. But I cannot leave Petru unguarded, nor can I leave Gale on his own.
There is only one solution.
All three of us must pass through the gate so I can check on everyone.
I hate it. The mere thought of a death mage near my loved ones—those alive as well as those already passed—punches the air from my chest.
We leave the comfort of the inn, retrieve a confused Petru, and trudge our way north back to the abandoned forest dwelling of the Vartija.
I insist Gale and Petru stay back a distance, out of hearing range at least, while I open the gate—all the while scowling my disapproval at it ever having let Gale through, or worse, possibly Sonja.
If the gate has any opinion on my attitude, I can’t tell. It opens, same as always, and I usher our group through.
Icy wind embraces me in its prickling grip as I set foot on fae grounds. The energy and magic of the realm fill me up like monsoon rains in a creek bed. My fingertips tingle. I take a deep lungful of the air of my homeland and roll my neck.
Yes. This is where I belong. To the north. To Luminia. To the gate.
