Sun Broken (The Wild Hunt #11) - Yasmine Galenorn Page 0,81
that you were a busy man. There were always so many things that required your attendance. And when you took over the Force Majeure, I knew better than to expect you home for dinner. I would like for you to spend more time with my son, though. I’d like him to know you better.”
“I’ll try,” Merlin said.
I had the feeling that his promise was more for appearance’s sake rather than being true. I didn’t pursue the subject, but turned to Morgana. “If Pandora is a goddess, how are we going to get Raven away from her?”
“Wait till Herne comes back. My father can tell us how to best approach her.”
There was a studied nuance running between Morgana and her father. It wasn’t exactly tension, but a formality that I hadn’t expected. I sensed that Merlin might be one of those parents who always promised more than he came through with. A promise of time together, a promise to help out, a promise that he was listening…
“I hate sitting here,” I said. “Pandora could be torturing Raven right now.” I was rapidly losing all patience and my frantic feelings were bubbling to the surface. We knew where she was. I wanted to go get her.
“She could be,” Merlin said.
“That’s not helpful,” Morgana said, glaring at him. She turned to me. “We’ll get underway as soon as we can. There’s nothing I can say to make it easier, but I promise, we’ll do our best to get her back.”
I turned to Morgana with a grateful smile. “Thank you. I’m so worried.”
Viktor reached over and took my hand, giving it a tight squeeze. “Herne and Morgana won’t let us down.”
I nodded, pushing away from the table and walking over to stare outside. The weather was holding steady. At least we had that in our favor. At that moment, Kipa came up behind me. He gave me a sideways glance and lowered his voice.
“I don’t like him much either,” he said.
I couldn’t help but grin. “Great minds think alike. I have the feeling Herne isn’t that fond of his grandfather, either.”
“Those who work with magic at his level… There’s something less than human about them. A detached nature, and it can come through as cold and calculating. Remember Louhia? From Pohjola?”
I rolled my eyes. “How can I forget her? She was fucking scary. But you’re right. She had a ruthlessness to her that made my skin crawl. The gods don’t have it, though, not like that. At least not the ones we’ve met.”
“I think the humans are closer to us in nature then the magic-born. At least the greatest among the magic-born. It seems an odd thing to say, but I’ve met quite a few higher-level witches and magicians and sorcerers. They all have that streak of callousness to them.”
“Kipa, Ember? Come back to the table, please.” Herne shoved his phone in his pocket. “I found a portal we can go through. It’s actually a local portal.”
“What do you mean, ‘local portal’?” I asked.
“The native people of this area created it. They also have portals throughout the state. We very seldom use them because we don’t like abusing our welcome. But I just called Quest Realto and she has contacts. There is a portal in Issaquah that leads to the Skykomish River. Very close to where we’re going. She also has friends who live up there—the portal keepers there. She called them and they’ll wait for us and provide us with a vehicle.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank the gods. That’s such good news. When do we leave?”
“I don’t want to go back to the office to pick up supplies. So I asked Quest if her friends could gather some things for me. You don’t have any of your weapons on you, do you?”
“No, and I want my sword. I saw myself in one of the visions carrying it. Actually in most of the visions. There’s some reason I need to take Brighid’s Flame with me.”
“All right. I’ll call Yutani and ask him to gather our weaponry and bring it to us. Quest said her friends can supply a tent and some gear for climbing, in case we need it.” Herne jumped up again, taking off to call Yutani. I glanced over at Raj. He looked lonely and frightened.
I knelt beside him and once again put my arms around his shoulders. “Would you like Angel to stay with you while we’re gone? We’re going to go find Raven now.”