Page 28 of Fates Fulfilled
Isle visibly bristled, her mouth agape. “You wish to make her one of your harem? My parents didn’t lose their lives and I didn’t lose hundreds of years of mine only to see my child end up as a courtesan! She will become a part of your court over my dead body.”
Lex’s mother was a frustration he did not need right now. “If that is what you wish.”
“Stop!” Lex shouted. She glared at Garrin and attempted to rise—and fell back on the snow. “There is no way in hell I’ll become one of your-yourwomen, Garrin.”
He quirked his eyebrow, admiring the fire in her eyes. Lex already was his woman. When he thought back to their first encounter, she’d been his from the very beginning. He just hadn’t realized it.
Zirel had healed Amund, and Amund was finally on his feet.
“How do you feel?” Garrin asked, ignoring Lex’s comment for the moment.
“Tolerable,” Amund said.
Fae soldiers didn’t complain. Which meant Amund wasn’t well at all. “Strong enough to create a portal home?”
Amund looked off in the distance. “Not all of us at once, and not in one leap. The disruptive magic here causes my portals to be less precise. Once I’m off this mountain and away from the ravine, I will be able to find the kingdom quickly. Two, maybe three portals to the castle from there. I’ll need to eat before returning for the others.”
“Did you hear me, Garrin?” Lex said, her voice an octave higher.
Garrin rubbed his jaw and held back a smile. Lex was much improved if she was raising her voice to him.
“My daughter doesn’t go anywhere near Dark Kingdom, son of Casone,” Isle said. “I am not so weak as you. I have slept a very long time. And I am better at using Lex’s powers. Don’t think I won’t use them against you.”
Garrin picked up his pack. “Amund will take me and Lex to the castle. You and Zirel will stay here until he returns.”
“Absolutely not!” Isle said at the same time Lex shouted, “What?”
He slid his gaze to Lex’s slight form, stiff with indignation. “If there was another way, I would not take you from your mother. You must understand, I do this for your safety as much as for my people.”
She hobbled to her feet, though her balance was unsteady. “You do this for yourself! You care nothing for me or my family.”
Garrin would like for that to be true. It would make his duty easier to tolerate. He flicked his gaze to Amund, and it was enough to communicate his wishes.
The portal creator nodded.
“This is the way it must be,” Garrin said.
Before Lex could utter another word, Amund grabbed her from behind, and the three of them were inside a portal.
13
Lex was in a closet. A damn closet! How dare Garrin take her against her will?Again!
He was going to get a piece of her mind. Just as soon as his overbearing, princely butt returned.
He and Amund had dumped her in the room, demanded she stay put, and then left.
She wanted to strangle them.
Lex felt around for some way to illuminate the space because, of course, there was no light. If Garrin hadn’t insisted she remain quiet for her own safety, she’d be screaming her head off right now. It was creepy as hell being in the pitch-dark, and though her anxieties had improved in this craptastic land, for some reason, she wasn’t yet immune to small, dark spaces.
Lex sank onto her bottom and seethed for what felt like forever, debating whether to listen to Garrin and stay put or go in search of him. She was somewhere inside the Dark Kingdom castle—the one place her mother had insisted Garrin not take her. So, of course he’d taken her straight here, because he was on a mission to piss them both off.
She dropped her head back against the wall. Her mom was alive, and Lex still hadn’t wrapped her mind around it. Her mother’s story was overwhelming, but having her mom back was the greatest gift. She had someone else besides Jas who cared whether she lived or died.
Maybe she’d make it out of this place alive?
There were times while traveling the Land of Ice she was certain they’d all die, and apparently, Garrin had feared it too. When she’d woken to find her mother there, she could have sworn he’d been worried about her. And then he’d taken her from her mom and dumped her in a closet.
