Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121339 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121339 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 607(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
It was for the best. This team, as it was, had a staggering diversity in magic and a gut punch of power. At the Demigod Summit every year, when they fought the crews of other Demigods, Kieran and Lexi’s team dominated. They were masters at their various magical strengths, and they worked together better than anyone else in the magical world. Individual Celestials might have more power, but they weren’t family. Not like Kieran and his team. They wouldn’t be as effective. Kieran wholeheartedly believed that. They all did.
Soon they’d be proving it.
“You folks magical?” the attendant asked, bracing his hands on his hips and squinting against the glare of the sun.
“Babe,” Kieran called to Lexi. “This man has a question for you.” Kieran stepped around him and headed for the wagons. Lexi’s magic was ten times scarier than Kieran’s. She’d get the point across way more effectively.
“Yes, we’re magical,” Lexi said, anger blistering through the magical bond she and Kieran shared, forged in intimacy and strengthened over and over with love.
“Oh well, I’m sorry to say, you can’t pass through here. This portal is for—”
He let out a high-pitched scream as Lexi’s magic whipped out. Kieran knew she was slicing through his middle, raking against the very foundation of his being. It was a terrifying and painful feeling, a primal fear that no one could be prepared for. Even training against it didn’t fully chase away the complete and utter vulnerability it caused.
“We can’t pass through here?” She stopped in front of him and stood over his cowering form. “You let fae pass through here—”
He continued on. Donovan, the sun highlighting his blond hair, led two horses toward the wagons. Dylan and Boman led two more. None of the horses wanted Mordecai near them. That was the problem with being a wolf shape-shifter.
“We definitely need to shut all this down.” Thane met Kieran near the wagons. “We shouldn’t have been blind to this.”
“No, we shouldn’t have. Nor should we have been complacent about the portals on the magical side.”
Hindsight.
With the others readying the supplies, Kieran filled the doorway of the cashier station and found a female attendant shaking on the ground behind the counter. She could hear the screaming from the attendants Lexi was using to make an impression. A man huddled against the wall, in the middle of purchasing supplies. Various items and tags lay strewn about the counter.
“Rounded ears,” Thane said, looking around Kieran. “Human. Non-magical, too, or else they wouldn’t be serving him.”
Kieran stepped in and grabbed the man by the shirt. He hoisted the man up the wall, holding all his weight with one hand. A Demigod’s excess strength sometimes scared Chesters more than magic.
“Why are you here?” Kieran asked in a growl.
“I—I…I…I…” The man was reduced to sobs. “My h-house. I want m-my house b-back.” He heaved, retching into the air. “D-d-deal. M-make a d-deal. I-I got passage. I-I-I got p-passage.”
“To where?”
“R-Ruby kingdom. Ruby! Please. P-please, don’t hurt me.”
Kieran lowered him an inch, looking back at Thane. Kieran knew the names of all seven kingdoms—eight, including the overarching Diamond kingdom—and their affinities for the natural elements of Faerie, having studied with Zorn the moment he’d heard they might have a fae problem. This was the first he’d heard of fae infiltrators from the Ruby kingdom, their element aligned with fire.
He wasn’t sure what they’d wanted with Daisy, only knowing it had something to do with those magical stone and crystal items, but other factions of fae were working their way into the human realm for different reasons. This guy had gotten passage, and that had to be granted by royalty. Fae were looking for desperate humans with which to barter. The gods only knew what they wanted.
Shivers washed over Kieran at that thought. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good for the human realm.
“Only a fool barters with fae,” Kieran told him, dropping him to the ground. “You might get your house back, only to realize you unknowingly granted them to stay, as well. Or something much, much worse. Dealing with their kind never ends well. Now get out of here. This portal is closed.”
Kieran stood back. When the man didn’t move, Kieran gave him a light kick in the thigh. The man started, scrambled up, then went running.
“What could fae want with a magic-less human?” Thane asked as Kieran stepped out again. He didn’t bother sparing a word for the cashier. Either the other attendants would fill her in, or Zorn would be in shortly to handle it. Lexi had done the heavy lifting.
“Same thing as Daisy?”
“Right, but what did they want with Daisy? We all handled those chalices or whatever they were. Why her specifically?”
“The easiest way to get information on us?”
Thane shook his head as Kieran followed one of the wagons around to the back. “None of the fae have had any interest in our territory or our faction. Can’t be that. When they worked with Demigod Lydia, they dealt with her directly. They made a deal, she forfeited, and they rummaged through her memories before they killed her. They don’t have much fear of Demigods, so why choose a magic-less Chester who didn’t work in our office and didn’t have access to all our secrets?”