Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
I blew out a breath as Austin parked. He turned off the engine and looked over at me.
“No,” I said.
“No?” he asked.
“No, I’m not good. I figured you’d ask.”
He nodded, studying me silently.
I looked away, out the window. “I know I’ve asked this a couple of times by now, but I’m going to ask it again. Was there any other way?”
“You were in that meeting, same as me. We didn’t have a lot of options. The basajaun is confident his people can handle it.”
“If they don’t take offense at a random slight and try to kill us all,” I said, feeling my nerves pulse. "This is a no-win situation, Austin. There are just so many risks. What were we thinking?”
“We were thinking that the people in our territory aren’t ready for a magical battle like this.” He put his hand over mine, resting in my lap. “I’ll grant you, this situation isn’t ideal. Not even close. But we can handle it. The basajaun will help navigate his family, and hopefully, they’ll help us defeat them. Worst case, they can help us get set up to make a stand. If they don’t want to get involved, they’ll be able to disappear into the trees. They won’t be in the crossfire.”
I rested my head against the seatback and nodded. “Thanks. I needed that pep talk. Again. I’m just…nervous.”
“There are going to be a lot of hard decisions in our future. It’s good to keep talking about them, keep affirming that we’re doing the right thing.”
He squeezed my hand as Mr. Tom appeared beside my window.
“How was the spread in the jet, miss?” He opened my car door. “I noticed that you helped yourself quite a bit. I made sure to have a little bit of everything for you in there. All the snacks you could hope for. As soon as you and Austin get your winery underway, I’ll keep that stocked as well. Flying in luxury, that’s the only way to do it.”
I brushed off my misgivings so they didn’t spread to the crew and stood from the car. “Great, Mr. Tom, thanks.”
“Did ye consult Elliot Graves before you stocked the jet?” Niamh asked as she ambled by. “Because there weren’t any gifts.”
The first time we took a jet, Mr. Tom had thought the company we used would provide snacks and refreshments. He hadn’t realized we were supposed to bring our own. I’d been so excited for a private jet and all the little perks that I hadn’t been able to contain my disappointment when there were no actual perks. Besides no lines or security, obviously.
Then, when we got to the meetup, Elliot (a.k.a. Sebastian) had supplied more snacks than one person could possibly consume. He’d even included baskets of thoughtful gifts. Mr. Tom had been wounded ever since.
“The only gifts people really need is the gift of your silence,” he told Niamh as I moved around to the rear of the black sedan that had transported us here from the small airport.
“Like I said,” she replied, “there weren’t any gifts on the jet.”
“Here, let me do that, miss.” Mr. Tom took my place in front of the trunk as Austin walked back toward the other black sedans parking behind us. “Actually, first let me go check in for everyone. One thing at a time.”
I removed myself to the curb in front of a little grassy knoll. Car trunks were opened, but nothing was removed, since we didn’t have our rooms yet.
The small group of shifters, about a dozen in all, fanned out immediately, looking around. They’d all been told about Sebastian’s second identity. He wouldn’t wear his magical mask here. We were trying to cut down on the lies and omitted truths we were working with.
Ulric joined me as he slipped his phone into his pocket. “My mom took a detour. Well…another one. Or a third? I can’t keep up.” He sighed. “Sorry about that. I really thought she’d get to Ivy House at least near the date she’d said.”
“It’s probably for the best, since we now have our own detour.” I indicated the quiet street. “Though after seeing that carriage, I’m interested in what else has come in.”
“Yeah, the carriage.” He shrugged and shook his head at the same time. “I have a lot of questions about that carriage. How’d they get it there? It looked brand new, so they clearly didn’t drive it. No horse poop, either. Clearly didn’t drive it. Why weren’t we alerted that someone was on the property to drop it off—”
“I asked Ivy House about not alerting me. She said that I was busy learning how to be a gargoyle, and that was more important—it was when we were with the enemy mage.”
“Be that as it may, the main question is, why a carriage? It must signify something. Is the cairn calling you royalty and giving you a symbol of that or something? I could see royalty of old riding in a carriage like that.”