Course, if the warden had been paying her visits, that would explain the shadow addiction. They could keep her away until they cleansed her system.
“You up for transporting two of us?” Maddox asked abruptly, and Fin didn’t bother to hide his smirk.
“Already eager to see her again?”
“I made her a deal,” Maddox gritted out. “She’d listen to the whole story, then she was free to go if she wanted.”
“That’s a terrible deal, why would you offer her that?” Fin stared at him.
“Because she wants nothing to do with us, and she’s still fighting the fact she was turned. She needs a sense of control.” Then Maddox gave him a firm look. “I plan on honoring my word.”
Of course, he did.
Dragons had honor for miles. Sometimes for days.
Why had the species begun to die out? Oh right, they honored their treaties when so many others didn’t.
“Well, good for us, I made no such promises.” He clapped Maddox’s shoulder and then focused. Inside him, the magic unlocked. Portal magic wasn’t difficult. If anything, it was one of the first mysteries he’d trained in as a young druid. Trees linked the world, their root systems tangling deep beneath the earth and creating routes that those who developed the art could slip along.
Even when a tree had been uprooted, the memory of its pathways remained, which meant even wooden structures couldn’t keep him out if he could find the right one. It was knowing how to read the myriad of pathways and follow them. Taking passengers along was slightly more difficult.
But only slightly.
Maddox didn’t block him out as he wrapped his power around him. If anything, the dragon allowed Fin access to his own strength, not that this simple transport required it. The world whooshed past them as he found the route they needed and followed it home.
Coinnigh an Rí, King’s Keep, had been the center of Alfred’s domain for years beyond counting. They’d all called it home at one point or another. Granted, it was a monolith built almost completely from cut stones hauled miles from their natural habitat and put together.
Magic infused some of the stones, but the rest of it? They’d held it with strength, skill, and wit. When that wasn’t enough, a few good slaughters had at least been entertaining. The factions left them alone. But they’d begun to fade from common memory. A choice, really, if the majority didn’t think about them, they didn’t have to fend off the occasional glory seeker.
The problem, however, was the reckoning Fiona faced. The turning of other species besides human into a vampire was considered impossible, improbable, and socially unacceptable. The legends around so-called hybrids had painted them as monsters.
Well, at least they got that part right.
While rare, hybrids existed in a delicate balance. One Fin, Maddox, Rogue, and Alfred maintained. They were all hybrids. Some of the first.
Currently, the only ones beyond Fiona.
They’d waited a long time for her.
Too long.
Whisking along the paths, he slowed them as they neared the ancient oaks bordering the fields nearest the keep’s location. With a pop, he stepped out and yanked Maddox with him. The dragon looked vaguely green, and Fin chuckled as he patted him once and left him to catch his breath. It was a testament to how much Maddox wanted to see her again that he’d not objected to transporting on the ancient pathways.
He preferred to fly, but the keep was halfway around the world from where they’d penetrated Nightmare Penitentiary’s defenses. It would have taken him a while to get there, and that meant leaving the beautiful Fiona to Fin and Rogue.
Huh. Maybe he should have let Maddox fly on his own.
The sight of smoke curling toward the sky from one of the chimney flues had Fin smirking. He smacked Maddox’s arm again. “See, I told you he would bring her here.”
The defenses were still active, but they had nothing to worry about. They passed harmlessly through the magical field that would send up an alarm to them no matter where they were of possible invasion. Once inside, Fin took a cleansing breath.
It had been a long time since he’d come home. The air was cool and damp, but the clouds had already parted to let watery sunshine reach the wet earth. They’d just missed the rain. While it had been night where they made their escape, it was nearly midday here.
The wood smoke was almost an invitation to a fire roaring in