The area Emery had led them to wasn’t large, but it was big enough to fit everyone comfortably. Devon found a patch of green weeds, laid down, and waited just long enough for Charity to push up beside him before he fell asleep. Charity followed soon after.
“Devon, wake up!”
Charity startled at the urgent whisper. Devon stirred beside her.
Penny leaned over him, her brown hair falling around her anxious face.
“Wake up,” she said again, shoving him.
His eyes snapped open and he sat up so fast that Charity rolled away.
“Nice,” she said.
“We’ve got company.” Penny motioned Devon to stand.
Charity was up a moment after him, noticing the tightness in his eyes, his shoulders bowed and his muscles tight before he could school his face into that mask of alpha confidence. Charity wondered if Roger always did the same thing.
Steve and Cole were waiting to the sides, and the rest of the shifters were rousing, most still in animal form. The big yeti tried to step in Charity’s way.
She slapped her palm to his chest and let loose a small surge of magic. No way was she letting him stop her. Cole staggered backward as though shoved by a four-hundred-pound man. Magic leaked out of Charity’s well, but Devon’s magic rushed in, light and clean and comforting, to smooth things out.
The dual-mages were geniuses, that was the bottom line. Charity only wished they’d done their trick sooner.
As Charity rounded the brambles near the broken bench, she heard, “I merely wish to speak with her. She’ll come to no harm, I can assure you.”
Fireworks went off in Charity’s middle. Hope flooded her.
Vlad had come, and he better have answers.
Chapter Eighteen
“Second, we have news.”
Romulus hesitated in glancing up from the architectural plans spread across his workstation. Soft light from the morning sun splashed onto his design. Spun-glass ornaments threw colored splotches around his desk, lending beauty to the chaos.
He breathed in fresh air from the many open windows before lifting his gaze. There was never a reason to rush when nature was offering up such a bounty.
Halvor, his assistant, stood in the doorway, his head tilted to the side, awaiting acknowledgement from a superior. His regal bearing displayed his excellent lineage and advanced training. Unlike normal, however, his right shoulder was raised ever so slightly, a tell that he was hard-pressed to disguise whenever troubling news conflicted his duties.
“What is it, Halvor? Is the First not pleased with her garden?”
“Not at all, Second. She expressed her immense pleasure.”
Romulus couldn’t help a smile. He sat back into his raised seat. Other than the High Elves, his mother was quite possibly the hardest to please in the entire Realm.
“Then what is this news that has you so out of sorts? Or did you have another fight with Jauni?”
Halvor’s head drooped slightly with embarrassment. The week before, he and his mate had had a truly exhilarating domestic squabble in the public park. Most of the community had enjoyed watching them, wondering who would force the other to submit, never a sure bet with two such masters. But they’d let the fight get out of control, destroying the tables for the communal cook-off. They’d had to reschedule the whole affair! Romulus had been forced to order Halvor to a week’s worth of plowing, a pastime his assistant detested.
“No, Second. Jauni and I have resolved our differences. We’ve had word from the office of the Red Prophet. Her latest prediction involves most of the Realm. The elves, mages, vampires, demons…and fae.” Halvor waited for a nod to continue. “It seems a half-human, half-guardian will be integral in deciding the victor of a power struggle between the elves and vampires. Representatives from the underworld were also mentioned in the reading, though the nature of their involvement was not clear.”
As if one drop of acid had plopped onto the top of his head and started burning its way down, Romulus felt his muscles tensing one by one.
“A half-human, half-guardian, you said? Half custodes?”
“Yes, Second. The outcome of this battle will decide who rules the Realm.”
“I see. And this halvsie creature is integral to the outcome?”
“Yes, Second, though the winner remains unclear. This is largely because of the role the underworld plays, a component that is too blurred for the Red Prophet to interpret. It is clear, however, that both sides of this battle will seek to enlist the aid of the half-human, half-guardian.”
“Of course they would. That is common sense.”
Romulus’s brow crumpled in contemplation of this news. He brought his