Cyn scowled. “Awesome.”
There was the faint sound of footsteps, then the door leading to the hallway was shoved open so Fallon could rush into the room.
“Are you hurt?”
Chapter Seven
Fallon hadn’t known precisely what was causing the ripples of evil to sweep through the lair, but she hadn’t hesitated to rush from her room to . . .
What?
To make sure that Cyn wasn’t in danger?
How stupid was that?
He was a vampire. Hell, he was clan chief. And a berserker.
A demon would have to be demented to try and challenge him.
Still, she couldn’t halt her agitated flight that led her to the large study.
Now she wiped her hands down the silky material of her robe, feeling like a total idiot as Cyn and Levet turned to watch her with matching expressions of surprise.
“Ah, ma belle, forgive me.” Levet was the first to recover, moving toward her to press a kiss to the back of her hand. “I have managed to remove the magic that disguised the spell.”
Her embarrassment was forgotten as her attention turned to the spell that Cyn held in his hand.
“Disguised?” She shook her head in confusion. “There was an illusion?”
“Oui.”
Without even realizing she was moving, Fallon was standing next to Cyn.
“Why didn’t I sense it?”
“It was woven into the writing,” Levet explained.
“Odd.” She bent to study the markings, relieved that the weird sense of evil was rapidly dissipating. “It looks the same.”
“Almost.” Cyn moved to a low table, smoothing the piece of scroll until it lay flat. Then, gesturing for her to join him, he pointed a finger at the hieroglyphs. “The basic patterns are similar, but now it’s . . . in focus.”
Fallon grimly concentrated on the symbols, refusing to acknowledge the tiny glow of happiness at being included.
Okay, he treated her as if she were a person with an actual brain. And he seemed to think she could contribute more than a pretty smile and the proper bloodline.
Still, that didn’t mean he wasn’t too large, too male, too . . . everything.
“Can you read it?”
“Not all of it.” His shoulder brushed hers as he used his finger to trace the symbols. “It’s a confused jumble of hieroglyphs. Fairy, imp, and even human. But I can read enough to get a general idea.”
“Well?” Levet prompted, struggling to see over the edge of the table.
Cyn’s finger halted at a hieroglyph that was made up of interconnecting circles. “This is a portal and these are the veils that divide the dimensions.” He moved to a half-moon shape with a line through it. “I don’t recognize this.”
Fallon’s breath tangled in her throat. “It’s Chatri.”
“What does it say?”
“Destruction.”
There was a long, uneasy silence as they exchanged wary glances.
Finally Cyn asked the question that was obviously troubling him.
“Of the veils?”
Levet clicked his tongue, his wings drooping. “Not again.”
“No.” Fallon leaned forward, reading the part written in Chatri symbols. “It says ‘the destruction of pathways.’” She pointed toward the end of the page. “And here. ‘The entrances shall be forever closed.’” She paused, rereading the passages several times before she finally lifted her head to meet Cyn’s searching gaze. “I think this is a spell to close portals. All portals.”
Cyn frowned. “What does that mean?”
“It would mean the end of travel between dimensions,” Levet said, his brow furrowed.
Cyn frowned. “That’s it? That’s all this spell does?”
“All?” Fallon pressed a hand to her heart. “It’s . . .” She shook her head, too horrified to even come up with the words. The mere idea of closing travel between dimensions was insanity. Instead she turned her attention to the tiny gargoyle. “Is that possible?”
“That is the question, is it not?” Levet muttered, rubbing one of his stunted horns.
Fallon’s shock shifted to fury. “If there is a spell that can prevent portals from being formed—even portals that open from place to place within this world—how would the fey travel?”
Cyn folded his arms over his chest, clearly baffled by Fallon’s outrage.
“They would be forced to use human technology,” he said with a shrug. “Or use their feet like demons were meant to do.”
She sent the vampire a frustrated frown, her earlier pleasure in being treated as an equal forgotten at his complete lack of empathy for the fey.
Was he always so annoying or did he make a special effort just for her?
“Don’t you understand?” she snapped. “My people would be completely cut off from this dimension.”
He gave another shrug. “You’ve been cut off for centuries.”