Leaning down, he kisses me, lingering for a moment on my lips, tasting me, and he murmurs, “If only we could stay here. I love having you naked and in my bed. It’s fast becoming my all-time favorite thing.” Kissing me again, he pulls back, “Go, LJ, before my will power is gone. We need to leave out as soon as possible.”
I reach up to pat his cheek and he captures my wrist, eying the offending bracelet. “All right, I’m ready to get this off as much as you are. Give me about fifteen minutes and I’ll be ready to go.” Turning, I make to head into the attached bathroom and receive a smack on my bare rear, that puts a skip in my step, and a quirky smile on my face. Damn, if that doesn’t sting.
Not having a change of clothes here, I step into worn and somewhat dirty leathers after my quick shower and pull my unruly hair up into a messy bun. As soon as I can I’m going to wash it and get a fresh change of clothes, but all of that will have to wait. Stepping out of the bathroom, I see that the bed has been made and the room is vacant. Walking over to the balcony doors, I step out into the cool twilight. The sun is hidden behind the forest that surrounds the lake here. I take a moment to appreciate what’s left of the orangey-red sunset and the stars as they begin to pop out against the night sky. I like it here. The quiet serenity, but it’s time to go. Turning, I lock up and go downstairs.
“You ready to trace us to Glendale Loch?” I ask as I enter the open kitchen.
“Ready as I’ll ever be. Let me just turn off the light and we can go.” Daxell walks back over to me in the darkening light of the room. Looking down he smiles and twirls me into his arms. “You know what?”
I smirk, “What?”
“I was wrong.”
“This should be good,” I tease.
“You’re my type, princess. I was so wrong before, I had no idea what my type was until you came along. Are we good?” He’s brooding over our squabble from before. The deep V between his eyes gives him away.
Reaching up, I smooth the offending lines away as my fingertips lightly trace his forehead and then his trimmed scruff. “We’re good, Daxell. It was just a misunderstanding. We’re going to have those from time to time. Your hard-headed and so am I.” Standing up on my tiptoes, I pull his head down for a quick kiss, “Now, demon boy, we really need to get going before Poppy starts freaking out. She’s going to think we got stuck in The Underworld.”
Pulling me close he wraps his arms around me and kisses me on the forehead. “All right, where do you want to arrive at the castle?”
“First of all, it’s a Keep, not a castle. Secondly, we should arrive in the courtyard,” I say and wrap my arms around him.
“My apologies, princess. Let’s get you to your Keep.” His laugh is deep and teasing before he turns serious. “It’s time to go, we’ve been gone too long already.” Daxell’s trace is not as seamless as mine and takes just a bit longer in the void between realms, but he’s quickly getting the hang of it. As we step out of his trace, there’s a small congregation around Poppy, now in her larger faerie form. She is animatedly retelling our adventures in The Underworld when she notices us.
“What took you so long? I’ve been here for over twenty minutes. Your Da was about to trace to Luc’s fortress to confront him.” I can’t help the tiny smirk that tugs at my lips and it’s then that she sees that Daxell is in different clothing. Then she points her delicate accusing finger in our direction. “You two took a detour to The Mortal Realm. You did. Don’t deny it.” She accuses.
“We had a few things to work out, Poppy. That’s all.” Daxell replies, his voice deep and growling. Then he turns to my mother, “Do you mind?” He holds up my hand displaying the binding cuff on my wrist. “I hear that you have a way to remove this bracelet.”
Mama looks from me to Poppy, and demands, “Why didn’t you tell us that Lillie has been bound?”
Poppy looks chagrined at her lack of explanation and mutters, “I hadn’t gotten to that part yet?” She shrugs and wrinkles her pert little nose all the while looking utterly adorable until Auntie Jasmine bops her on the head.
Mama looks back at me, “Come here, baby girl, let’s get this horrible bracelet off of you and then we can talk. You too Daxell. We’ll go to the library. I think there is a wooden box in there that we can lock them away in until Dagda gets here. I’ve called for him and your grandparents and Neamhain. I think that everyone should be here before we go much further.” She motions us forward and gives me a quick hug before turning to Dax, she smiles at him and says, “Thank you, Daxell, for bringing her home.”
“I’m sorry.” Daxell looks regretfully at my mother and father.
“For what? You’re family now. I told you that we would be okay with the trade-off. Now let us all go inside. We have a lot to uncover about this Nyx. I hadn’t the faintest clue that she even existed.”
Da swoops in and gives me a huge bear hug, holding me tightly in his arms, his voice gruff, “I’m glad you’re home, Lillie. Now let’s get this binding cuff off of you. I’m not sure how you are dealing with their muting ability. When they were forced upon me I felt like the weight of all the realms was crushing down on me.”
As we enter the main hall of the Keep, I showed them all the bloodstone pendant and told everyone about
