“Yes, I saw how well he was protecting you when I arrived in the caves,” her father snapped.
She rolled her eyes. The second she’d destroyed the amulet the spell had been broken, allowing Sariel the opportunity to use his portal to trace her.
He would, of course, choose the moment that she was being injured.
“I don’t want a protector. I want a partner,” she informed him. “A man who sees me as more than just a means to improve the status of his family.” She squeezed his fingers, willing him to understand just how important this was to her. “I want to be loved.”
Sariel pulled his hand free, squaring his shoulders. “Clearly you are still not fully recovered from your ordeal.”
Fallon clenched her hands in frustration. “You can’t keep me imprisoned forever,” she muttered.
“When you are prepared to choose a new fiancé from among the Chatri princes, I will release you.” With rigid dignity Sariel marched toward the door. “Until then you will remain in these rooms.”
“No.” Fallon darted forward only to have the door slammed in her face. Lifting her hand, she slammed it against the wooden panel. “Dammit.”
Cyn ignored the King of Vampires who stood at the edge of the meadow watching him pace with an unreadable expression.
He knew that his brothers were worried about him.
Over the past three nights he’d been visited by a half dozen vampires who had all urged him to return to his lair. Dante. Viper. Roke. Jagr. Santiago. Even Lise had traveled from Ireland.
He’d ignored them all.
Clearly they’d finally decided to call in the big guns.
And you didn’t get much bigger than a six-foot-five Aztec warrior dressed in leather.
Waiting until Cyn’s pacing had brought him within a few feet, Styx at last stepped forward.
“How long do you intend to remain here?” he demanded. Cyn came to a grudging halt, meeting Styx’s searching gaze with a fierce scowl.
He’d awoken three days ago in Styx’s lair to discover the threat to the world had been averted. Not that he was in any mood to celebrate.
Instead he’d slipped out of the Chicago mansion as soon as he was capable of moving. And while he knew he couldn’t force his way into fairyland, he’d gone to the one place that he knew there was an opening.
Months ago he’d stood in this very meadow while Roke struggled to reach his mate.
It’d been Fallon who’d opened a doorway . . .
His heart clenched, the pain that surged through him so raw that it nearly drove him to his knees.
“Until I have my mate,” he rasped.
“Cyn—”
“Don’t bother.” Cyn sharply interrupted the lecture. He’d already heard it all. Lise had warned him that nothing would have kept Fallon from leaving her home if she truly wanted to be with him. Viper reminded him how fickle the fey could be. Dante had emphasized the difficulties of mating with another species. Especially when she happened to be a royal princess. And even Roke had mentioned the fact that it would be hard for a female trained to obey her father with utter loyalty to turn her back on him. “I’m not leaving until I know for certain that she’s fully recovered, and that she doesn’t want to be with me. End of story.”
Styx grimaced, but he didn’t look surprised. “I have called in every fey who owes me a favor to try and find a way into fairyland,” he said. “Eventually they’ll come up with something.” He reached out to grasp Cyn’s shoulder. “You’re tired. Why not return to my lair and wait there?”
“No.” Cyn gave a stubborn shake of his head. “I can feel her presence here. I have to stay.”
“What about your clan?”
Cyn shrugged. “Lise has everything under control. And now that Erinna and Mika have returned to Ireland, I don’t have to worry about them.”
Styx lifted a startled brow. “Where were they?”
Cyn’s foster parents had called him each evening, eager to see him although they firmly supported his need to be close to his mate.
They, in fact, insisted that he remain there as long as necessary.
“They haven’t given me the full story, but it seemed that Erinna was convinced that she had a vision that the leader of the druids was involved in some nefarious plot and that I was destined to halt him.”
“A true vision,” Styx murmured. “But why did they leave?”
“They actually were searching for the missing druids. They had been a part of the vision as well,” he said, shuddering at what might have happened to them if they’d been around the druids when the spell had been cast. “They had no idea they’d already been trapped by Anthony in the Labyrinth spell.”
“I’m sure they’re eager to see you,” Styx said.
Cyn’s lips twisted. Styx had all the subtlety of a freight train.