Promise pinned her with a look. “Are you going to ask permission from your mate?”
Instead of being insulted, Mercy’s eyes widened. “Is Ivar going to be your mate? For sure?”
Oh, for goodness’ sake. “We’ve entered into an agreement,” Promise said.
Mercy snorted. “Seriously? You’ve entered into an agreement?” She shook her head, and her dark red hair flew all around. “You have no clue what you’re entering into. An agreement.” She snorted again. “Girlfriend, you have to stop thinking so logically.”
“Ivar has said something similar to me,” Promise said slowly. But logically was the only way to think. She was missing something. Subtext? No. “One can be illogical, but one can’t think illogically.”
Mercy pressed her lips together. “All righty then. Let’s just do this and face the consequences later.”
“Consequences?” Promise smirked. “What in the world are you talking about?”
Mercy just smiled. “Where do you want to go?”
Promise rolled the question over in her mind. They should start with the familiar, at least to her, and then circle out. “Do you know of any islands in the Pacific? Deserted ones?”
“Sure.” Mercy moved forward, watching Promise intently. “Is your head okay?”
Promise nodded and held out her hand. “Yes. I think I have it under control.” She kept the diamond shield in place. “Is there any way you can go slowly? As slow as possible?”
“No. I just draw on energy around me, suck it all in, and direct the universe to send me where I want to go.” Mercy frowned. “But I’ll try to go slow. I’ve just never done that.” She took Promise’s hand.
A jolt shot up Promise’s arm, and she blocked her brain.
Then the room disappeared. More darkness, more weightlessness, more pressure. Light came first and then sound. They stood on snow-white sand, surrounded by aqua-colored water and healthy reefs. The sun beat down, heating Promise’s head instantly. The island was only about twenty yards across with no vegetation. The ocean spread out in every direction as far as the eye could see. “This is thrilling,” Promise said, her voice hushed.
Mercy looked around. “Yeah. We should’ve brought a picnic.”
Promise turned toward her new friend. “Thank you.”
“Sure.” Mercy smiled. “Where to next?”
Exhilaration filled Promise just like when she solved an equation. A hard one. She took the devices from Mercy and read them, not finding any surprises. She handed them back. “Off of this world. Or rather, out of this world. Will you take me someplace else?” It was nearly unimaginable. The idea that she could be on a world, or in a world, other than this one. “Please?”
Mercy faltered. “Um, I don’t know. That’s the kinda thing you might want to talk about with your contracted-to-be mate. You know?”
Promise swallowed. “Do you talk about all jumps with your mate?”
Mercy shrugged. “Usually. He doesn’t like me to jump dimensions without him.” She held up a hand as Promise began to protest. “Fine. Jump worlds. Not dimensions.” She shook her head. “We should’ve never given that word to humans. They misused it, and now I can’t even use it with you.”
The word was in the dictionary, so the immortals should just start employing it correctly. “Well, you did donate the word, so let’s go jump into a new world.” Promise held her breath, wanting this almost more than anything else in her life.
Mercy sighed. “All right. But I did warn you.” She held out her hand.
Promise’s hand trembled, and she slid it against the Fae’s cooler one. “How do you choose where to go?”
“Some worlds are easier to reach. The same ones are often good jumping-off points for other places,” Mercy said. She paused. “I should tell you that a couple of Fae don’t like me, and one of them, the ex-king, has been known to bring Cyst soldiers through dimensions to attack me.”
Promise blinked. “You’re saying that this might be dangerous?”
“Probably not. I mean, the king stepped down, and who knows where he is right now. Niall was a butthead, but he’s a better jumper than I am, to be honest. I don’t think we’ll find trouble, but if we do, I thought I should warn you.”
The temptation to move through dimensions was too much to resist. Promise held on tighter. “Let’s do this.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ivar stalked out of an uncomfortable meeting with Zane Kyllwood, his ears ringing and his gut aching. Kyllwood was less than pleased that the Seven had recruited his brother, and he’d wanted to make sure Ivar knew he’d be eviscerated if anything happened to Logan.