“Why?”
She shook her head. “Why what?”
“Why are we parting?”
“What else would we do?”
Donnacha pointed at the portal behind her. “I’m coming with you.”
“No, you aren’t. Why would you do that?” She appeared confused, an expression he’d never seen before on her face. “You should go back with your people.”
“My place is with you.” He stepped forward and lifted a hand to touch her cheek. “I don’t know why you crossed the entire Otherworld to get me back, but I do know I don’t want to lose that. And you’re running, so I’m going to follow you wherever you go.”
“I’m not running.”
“Yes, you are.” He smoothed his thumb over the high peaks of her cheekbones. “But that’s okay. I know you’re afraid. I am, too. We’ll figure this out together. Now tell me, where are you running off to?”
Elva swallowed hard. “The Raven Kingdom.”
That place was one of the most dangerous in all of the Otherworld. He’d only heard horror stories coming out of that kingdom, and it wasn’t the good kind of horror stories. He swallowed hard in return. “Why are we going there?”
“My sister lives there. I wanted to talk to her, considering I almost just died.”
“You didn’t almost die.”
“But I could have. And that put everything in a little more perspective. I lost her a long time ago and I never tried to find her.” Elva shook her head in his grasp. “I don’t tell anyone that. I don’t know why I’m telling you.”
“Because you trust me. What happened to her?”
“We let her be a changeling. Threw her away to the humans, and she wanted me to find her. I didn’t. I didn’t even try. Instead, I married the Seelie King, ruined my life, and then when she found me years later, I didn’t try to keep her with me then either. I’ve been trying to make up for that ever since.”
He knew a thing or two about families who were difficult. His own didn’t really want him around, thus how he ended up cursed because he was wandering through the woods outside the mines when he shouldn’t have been.
Donnacha nodded. “Okay, let’s go talk with her then.”
She stared down into his eyes, confusion clouding her own. “That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“Just…let’s go see your sister? No hesitation, no additional thoughts, nothing else to say?”
“Elva, she’s your sister. I don’t know the woman, so what else could I possibly add to this conversation? I don’t know how to change her mind, and I’m certainly not going to tell you the right way to deal with her. I have no doubt if you want to fix this, you will. But we should probably go now or your portal is going to collapse on itself.”
Elva slowly nodded. “Yes, let’s go then.”
“You look like you have more to say.”
“I don’t know what I want to say to you. You’re a confusing man, Donnacha.”
He shrugged. “You wouldn’t be the first person to say it. Now, come on, let’s go to the Raven Kingdom, of all places. Are the soldiers going to attack us immediately?”
“Of course not. We might not get along, but she’s still my sister. I have permission to create portals whenever I want.”
She made her way toward the portal, and he followed on her heels. He reached out his hand for her to take. She slid her fingers into his the moment before she tugged him into the magic.
A popping sound echoed in his ears as they traveled through the Otherworld at a speed he couldn’t even fathom. They stepped from the portal seconds later into the center of a great hall where construction was in full blast.
Donnacha tried to keep his jaw shut as he looked up. Banshee’s hovered in the air above them, white gowns floating as if they were underwater as they repaired the stained glass on the ceiling. A dullahan in front of them tossed his head to a dearg-due who stood on a ladder. The vampire woman held the head up high enough for him to look into the rafters where he then shouted, “All good!”
The marble floor beneath their feet was cracked, and he had a few ideas on how to fix that easier than the sluggish dark shadows that slithered over the floor.
Why was the Raven Kingdom filled with such strange creatures? It was uncomfortable to be around them, even though he knew they were technically his brethren, faeries as well.
Elva didn’t even flinch or look at the creatures. She stomped toward a woman who stood with bird-like creatures surrounding her. The woman was the mirror image of Elva, strangely enough. But where Elva was light, the other woman was dark. Black hair, pale skin, and eyes exactly the same as Elva.
The sister pointed up at something in the ceiling, unaware that her sister was advancing. One of the bird creatures pointed at Elva the moment before she grabbed her sister’s shoulder.
Donnacha winced. Was she going to hit her? Probably not the best way to greet siblings, although he shouldn’t intervene.
Instead of striking her, however, Elva tugged the sister into her arms and didn’t let go even when the other woman struggled.
Donnacha watched the strange greeting with a smile on his face. She was pretty, this sister. Not in the same way as Elva, who seemed to burn with the fires of the sun. But in the mysterious way the moon gazed down at the earth. Untouchable, glowing with a silver light.
Someone grunted beside him. “I figured they’d get over their own issues eventually.”
Donnacha looked beside him and tried not to gape at what was clearly the Raven King. The man was impossibly tall. His dark hair was tied back from his face with a leather thong, dark feathers laced between the strands. It was his eyes that were terrifying, however. One dark human eye, the other a yellow raven eye surrounded by downy feathers.
The Raven King looked back at him. “I’m Bran.”
“The man who Elva
