years old and he’d never met his soul’s mate. He’d had companions over the years, but not one who matched his soul. Including me. “All right. As far as I could see, she didn’t have any supernatural power. She seemed to be holding her own with a sword, though. I would bet she’s been well trained.”
“Marcus can handle her.” Dev stood over the first soldier and frowned.
“I’m happy you didn’t kill each other. I’m afraid that’s what I kind of thought when I realized the two of you were gone.”
Dev held a hand over the cocoon he’d wrapped his prisoner in and it started to retreat. “I don’t hate Marcus. I simply don’t get along with him the way Daniel and Zoey do. There are many people who think their world would be better had Marcus formed the third tip to our triangle.”
If I’d been drinking something, I would have coughed it all up. “That’s ridiculous. Marcus…Marcus wouldn’t take care of the king the way you do.”
“Yes, I believe that’s the point.” Dev’s shoulders slumped as he stared down at the soldier he’d caught. “He’s dead. I’m going to suspect the other one is as well. It looks like a spell of some kind. I wouldn’t want to be in this man’s army.”
Sure enough, the second soldier was dead, too. He had some kind of symbol branded on his cheek that likely had also been spelled to ensure that the soldiers couldn’t be taken captive.
“So this Summer chick is our only lead.” I better hope Marcus could find her.
Dev had gone pale. “Did you say Summer? Her name was Summer?”
“Yes. That’s what she told me.” I groaned. Sometimes it takes me a while to put shit together. “Summer is almost here. Gray was talking about this chick, not the season. That’s really shitty. Prophecy is already hard as it is. Who thought it would be awesome to give a girl a name that could be confused with a season?”
Dev seemed to come back to life. “Daniel. Daniel gave her that name. Oh, goddess, I can’t let her get away.”
He turned and ran into the forest.
I sighed and started to follow. It looked like it was going to be a long day.
Chapter Six
Summer
I ran through the forest, my footing sure on the dirt and loam. I knew these woods like the back of my hand. Of all the planes I’d visited, this was the one I’d spent the most time on. Mostly because there were no centralized authorities here, no one native to the plane that I had to hide from. At one point it had been used as a refuge for Fae fleeing a plane called Tír na nÓg. Tír na nÓg was where the original Fae from the Earth plane had settled when it became obvious the humans would take over that plane. There had been a battle for the throne and once the Finns had won back their rightful crowns, the Fae had left this place. So there were structures here, and no one who might put in a call to a warlord who wanted to take me as his bride.
I could see the lake in the distance. It was roughly half a day’s walk once I got around the lake. I could camp out, but it would be better if I made it to our deserted village before nightfall.
I took a long breath and hoped Kelsey had made it out of the fight.
The ground seemed to shake around me and I cursed because I knew what was happening. Well, I didn’t know exactly what it was, but I did know the episodes were getting worse. I knew when the ground began to shake beneath my feet that reality would warp and the planes would mesh. One minute I was standing in the forest on the Refugee plane and the next I could see the grand white marbled columns of the palace in Tír na nÓg. It wasn’t always Tír na nÓg. Sometimes I found myself momentarily on the Vampire plane or knee-deep in the snow of the plane where the great wolf packs ruled. There were times when I didn’t even know what plane I found myself morphing on to. I only knew that something was wrong and it was getting worse.
Some people blamed me.
Perhaps that was why I always felt the deep need to pull off my charm and use my magic to fix whatever was happening. Something inside me whispered that I could correct the