her or losing her or never having her is what will define who Marcus Vorenus is. I have to think it’s the same for her. Would you take that away from them? How did you feel when Zoey’s father actively campaigned against you?”
Quinn had the good grace to look away. “It was horrible to be on the outside. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, but this is different. I courted Zoey. I earned her love. He took one look at my daughter and said she was his. Zoey had a choice and I will ensure Summer does as well. Marcus was born in a time when vampires stole companions, when companions were commodities.”
Oh, he couldn’t use that argument on me. I’d studied a bit of recent history. “And he helped ensure that will never happen again.”
He was silent for a moment. “You know Marcus campaigned against me, too. He called me Lancelot and told Daniel I would ruin everything.”
Quinn could hold a mean grudge. “That was over a decade ago. You won. Move on. He’s a good guy. What does the fertility god inside you say about Marcus and Summer?”
Quinn’s features shuttered. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not going to allow him to walk in and claim my daughter. I just found her. Do you know how long I’ve looked for her? Years. I’ve done everything I possibly could to find our first daughter. Goddess, she’s grown and we missed all of it. Time is the most precious thing we have with our children, with our lives, and I’m the reason we lost it.”
“What does that mean?” I didn’t even really understand how Summer was truly their daughter, but sometimes the mystical crap goes over my head and I have to let it go.
He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is convincing Summer to come home with me. And figuring out how to get home in the first place. Who could have guessed that painting was a doorway?”
I stared at him. “Uhm, the asshole who put it in the king’s office as a trap.”
There was zero question in my mind who the hell to blame for our current predicament.
“But that was a gift from Myrddin,” Quinn said with a shake of his midnight-black hair. It was longish, brushing the nape of his neck. He was a gorgeous man, utterly befitting his designation as a sex god, but he could be slow about some things.
“Yes, that’s my freaking point.” If anything came out of this, it would be that Donovan and Quinn would have to acknowledge that Myrddin wasn’t the kindly mentor they pretended he was. “He put that painting in there. Do you honestly believe the wizard of Camelot wouldn’t be able to see that the fucker was a magical trap?”
He might have replied back but a scream split the forest and I turned and ran.
No matter who Summer was, I wasn’t about to let her die.
* * * *
Summer
I strode away and was only the slightest bit upset that no one seemed to follow me. I made a mental note to look up what a hunter with a capital H was and how to deal with that kind of creature. I assumed she was from the Earth plane. I also needed to look up the god Bris. Or I could ask Erna. She was an expert on the old gods.
He hadn’t seemed unkind. There had been a moment when he’d addressed me as daughter that I’d wanted to walk into his arms and throw all of my problems in his lap. He was a god, or so he claimed. He should be able to fix me, right?
I’d done the smart thing by walking away. If there was one thing Erna had taught me over the years it was to stay far away from temptation. My past didn’t matter. Or rather, my past would only get me in trouble. I had to worry about the future of all the creatures of the planes if I couldn’t figure out what was going wrong.
I walked around the lake’s banks, seeking the place where the lake became a river. The river would lead me to the abandoned village where I would hide away.
“Hello, shining one.”
I stopped and turned, taking in the sight of a gorgeous woman lounging in the shallows of the lake, her naked body barely concealed by the dark water. “Hello, Gwragedd Annwn.”
That wasn’t her name. I didn’t know her particular name, but I did know her species. She