Sun Broken (The Wild Hunt #11) - Yasmine Galenorn Page 0,82
gulp. “Raj likes Angel. Raj lonely, so Angel will stay with Raj?”
“Angel will stay with Raj, yes.” I called Angel and asked her to come over to stay with Raj. “We’ll be gone, but Kipa will leave his key under the mat.” I glanced over to where Kipa was standing. I walked over to his side. “Leave your key under the mat for Angel. She’ll come stay with Raj. You certainly kept Raven and Raj’s secret.”
“Of course I did. That he can speak wasn’t my secret to tell.” He paused, and I could see the fear in his eyes. “I think I love her. I mean, I know I do. It’s still hard to say and to be honest, neither one of us has said the words to each other. But…”
“But the fact is, you have fallen in love with Raven?”
He nodded. “I don’t think she’s ready to hear it yet. And that’s fine, I can wait. But I can’t stand to think of someone out there hurting her. She never wants me to interfere, at least not without her instigating it, so I stood back when she went to the club with you. It wasn’t my place to stop her, but I wish I had. I wish I had argued with her, even made her angry. Just…something, anything so she wouldn’t have become a target. I feel like my heart is a second away from shattering.”
I rested my hand on his arm. “We’ll get her back. We have to get her back. She’s our Raven. Raj can’t make it without her.”
Herne interrupted. “Yutani and Angel are on the way with our weapons and some prepacked camping gear that we always keep ready. Grandfather, it’s time to tell us what we need to know about Pandora. How do we defeat her? How do we get Raven away from her?”
Mount Bracken was located a few miles from the trailhead leading into Lake Serene. The portal that would lead us to the area was located in the yard of one of the portal keepers named Gatsby. He had been named after the literary character by his bibliophile mother. Quest told Herne that Gatsby was half dwarf, half human. While his people would accept him better than the Fae would accept a half-breed, he preferred to live on his own, away from his father’s people. She didn’t tell Herne why, and he wasn’t about to ask.
Yutani and Angel made it over to Raven’s house in record time, and they had brought my sword and several weapons for Herne and Viktor. Yutani had obviously wanted to go along, but Herne told him no.
“If you go, the chaos from your heritage combined with the chaos from Pandora could wreak havoc. I can’t take the chance that she might be able to use you as conduit. She’s a goddess, remember.”
“I may have only found out about it, but I’m the son of a god.” Yutani stared at Herne, and I almost thought he was challenging him, but then he shrugged and looked away. “I’ll take care of the office with Talia. The three of you be careful.”
“We will,” I said, clapping him on the shoulder as I walked past, following Herne out to his Expedition. I turned to Llewellyn, who had crossed the street when he saw us exiting the house. “Watch over Raj for now. Angel’s here and she’ll keep you company. I’m hoping we’ll be home by tonight, but there’s no way of telling.”
“Let’s get moving,” Morgana said. She climbed in the second row of seats, and Merlin gingerly sat next to her. Viktor and Kipa sat in the back. I rode shotgun.
As we took off, I glanced over the back seat at Merlin. “It just occurred to me, you were around long before cars were ever dreamt of. What did you think when you saw technology emerging?”
He stared at me for a moment. “Quite honestly, it just seemed like a different form of magic. Magic for the non-magical. And though technology did push those of us who work with magical energy into a corner, it also gave us room to regroup and plan out how much we wanted to be involved in the new emerging societies. I will say that modern medicine is a whole lot better than relying on leeches and amputations.” As abruptly as he spoke, he stopped, looking back out the window to indicate the conversation was over. I glanced at Morgana and she shrugged, rolling her eyes. Oh yes,