I’ve got there now. I don’t even know how long it will take us as a group.”
“We can shift and fly others over there,” Mr. Rothchild suggested. “If you’re healed, I think it best we head out.”
“I-I—” I stuttered.
“We don’t know the condition the man might be in after that sort of magic,” Geiger reminded me. “It’s also why we packed provisions.”
“Yeah, right,” I whispered.
“This guy really scared you that bad?” Mrs. Rothchild worried.
I nodded. “I know I’m new to all of this, but I’ve never felt magic like that. It was… Yeah, let’s just go.” I glanced at Darby, but he shook his head.
“Don’t even ask me to stay behind.”
“And seeing how upset you are, I won’t even get pissed you didn’t call me,” Lucca grumbled.
So clearly, Darby had? I didn’t have enough room in my brain at the moment to figure it all out and simply walked out of the room to lead the whole group to the portal.
And it was a group. Geiger, one of the other partners whose name I forgot, Claudia, Zack, Ray, Katrina Calloway, Dean White, Dr. Craftsman, Mr. and Mrs. Rothchild, Mel, Mr. and Mrs. Vogel, Hudson, Lucca, Darby, and a mother fucking partridge in a pear tree.
Honestly, there could have been one, I was so damned distracted.
“Which way?” Zack asked after we were all through. “Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve been here.”
I pointed off in the direction. “That way. Far.”
“So you did return and not leave me completely alone,” a deep voice said from behind me.
I gave a good and proper yelp before jumping away, rubbing my hand over my chest as I locked gazes with those light green eyes. “You scared me.”
He slowly raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow. “Clearly.”
“No, I meant earlier,” I defended. “I didn’t know…” Again, there was no decent lead-in to what I was about to tell him. “I’m Tamsin Vale.”
That eyebrow stayed up. “Yes, I know.”
I blinked at him, unable to get my mouth to work.
“How could you possibly know that?” Geiger asked him, gasping as he moved closer and could see the fairy. “Prince Neldor.”
“Oh, Lord Geiger, wonderful,” Prince Neldor greeted him, smiling brightly in a way that was almost blinding. “Good, now I might be able to get some answers from someone that has full use of their brain and—”
“Hey, you have no idea what she’s been going through,” Mel snapped, looking annoyed when Mr. Rothchild put a hand on her shoulder, but backed down.
“You know who Tamsin is?” Geiger asked again.
Neldor’s eyebrows scrunched. “Yes, of course, even years later, I recognize her. My brain wasn’t melted, Geiger. I have to say, I’m rather disappointed she doesn’t seem to know me. What have you been teaching her?”
“Teaching her?” Geiger asked, both of us sharing looks. “I was called in when she was found last year, as were the instructions of the trust. I’ve guided her as I should as an attorney, but I assure you that Tamsin Vale is quite capable to—”
“Yes, clearly,” he drawled, giving me a dismissive look, mostly over what I was wearing.
“Hey, I pulled you out of this magic so maybe—” I started to say, but he completely ignored me and focused on Geiger.
“I’m missing several pieces here, and I feel as I will not like the answers. You can fill me in on the history later, but let’s start with questions I have now and why I was the only one awakened.”
“You owe Tamsin some answers, including why you know who she is,” Hudson bit out. “Do not disrespect her again. She saved your ass.”
Prince Neldor glanced at him then, ready to dismiss him, but then noticed his parents. “I apologize for not acknowledging you sooner, King Xavier, Queen Sasha. I’m out of sorts, though I’m surprised you are here.”
“Melody Rothchild is dear friends with Tamsin,” Mrs. Vogel answered. “As is our family. We’ve been helping to protect her since she came into our world last year as an unknown, and she has tried to stay undeclared so no one would found out she was the last fairy and do… Horrible things to her as they would want and have said if a fairy was found.”
That finally got a reaction out of him and I was scared again. He got angry so fast, it was actually terrifying, Zack and Ray feeling it as they moved in front of me protectively.
“She was to be in your care, Lord Geiger. I never would have thought you would have failed