A selfish part of me didn’t want to let him go because I didn’t know when I’d see him again. But he’d been through hell the last month, and he needed to try to get back to some kind of normal life.

“You need to be with your family. I’ll talk to you again soon.” I grabbed his hand before he could stand. “And you better call me. Don’t make me come looking for you.”

His eyes warmed. “I’m putting you in my speed dial, I promise.”

Eldeorin stood over me. “Now, Cousin, let’s get you ready to travel. I could have the two of us there in seconds, but I have a feeling neither you nor your warrior would be happy with that.” He laid his hands on either side of my face and they glowed like mine did when I did healings. Heat suffused my face, quickly spreading throughout my body. “This will keep you comfortable for the journey. I won’t need to be in physical contact with you the entire time, but I will stay close.”

“All packed,” Jordan called.

Nikolas scooped me off the couch, and I protested that I could walk even though my limbs felt like warm jelly from Eldeorin’s blast of power. He ignored my objection and carried me outside to the waiting SUVs that were guarded by two more warriors. They turned around when we drew near, and I was surprised to see Seamus and Niall. I expected harsh words from the twins after the way I’d left them, but they wore their usual boyish smiles. I gave Nikolas a questioning look and he smiled.

“They volunteered to come. I think they found Westhorne too tame after you left.”

“Never a dull moment, lass,” Niall quipped, walking toward us.

Seamus grinned. “What’s this I hear about you giving a beatdown to some gulak demons?”

Cold exploded in my chest, and I stiffened in Nikolas’s arms. “Vampires,” I choked out. I had no idea how I knew it, but there were eight vampires coming at us fast. “Eight.”

Nikolas tensed and Seamus and Niall drew their swords. Behind us I heard our weapons bag hit the ground and the soft whine of metal as more swords were drawn. I found myself suddenly passed from Nikolas’s arms to Eldeorin’s. “Get her out of here,” Nikolas ordered before he spun away to take the sword offered to him by Jordan.

“No!” My cry was lost on the wind as the city disappeared into a black void I had experienced once before. Seconds later, Eldeorin stood in front of a large white mansion with a fountain in the middle of the well-lit driveway. I struggled in his arms, but I was as weak as a kitten. “Take me back. We can’t leave them there alone.”

“Calm yourself, Cousin,” he soothed as he walked toward the mansion. “You cannot help your friends in your condition. It would only endanger them if you were there because they would try to protect you.”

“Then leave me here and go back and help them, please.”

He stopped at a set of double doors. “Your safety is my only concern. Do not fret. Your friends can handle a few vampires.”

The doors opened and a short person in a white uniform ushered us inside. Eldeorin strode across the marble foyer and up a wide flight of stairs. At the end of the hallway, he opened the door to a large bedroom and set me down on the high four-poster bed.

Terrified for Nikolas and my friends, I slid off the bed, but my legs crumpled underneath me. Eldeorin caught me and lifted me back into the bed. The cold in my chest had been replaced with squeezing pain that made me gasp for breath. “I have to go back. Please take me back.”

Eldeorin laid a hand on my forehead and muttered something in a language I did not understand. My mind filled with a warm fog that beckoned me and made me want to close my eyes. “No,” I sobbed, fighting as the fog closed in around me.

“Sleep, little Cousin,” Eldeorin said softly before blackness descended and I heard no more.

* * *

I awoke slowly to the cries of gulls and the roar of waves against the shore. A light breeze tickled my face and carried a slight ocean tang along with the sweet scent of roses. My eyes opened to a sunny room decorated in delicate shades of blue and white, and I looked around in confusion. Where am I?

A curtain fluttered and I stared at the open balcony doors past the foot of the queen-sized bed I lay in. I had no memory of how I’d gotten to this place. The last time I’d woken up in a strange room, I’d discovered I was in Seelie, but I didn’t think they had oceans in Faerie. I rubbed my temples, trying to focus and remember what had brought me here and, more importantly, where I had come from. My mind refused to penetrate my foggy memories, and I sank back against the soft pillow. Why can’t I remember? My eyes travelled around the unfamiliar room. I must be dreaming. That’s it. Time to wake up now.

I pushed the covers off me and stared at the long white nightgown I wore. Now I knew I must be dreaming because I’d never wear something like this. I slid out of bed and had to grab the mattress to steady myself when a wave of dizziness hit me.

“Sara, you’re awake!” Someone caught me from behind and turned me to envelope me in a warm hug.

“Nate? What are you doing here?” I pulled back to look around the room again. “Where are we?”

His brow furrowed. “What do you remember?”

“I. . .” I tried to focus on my memories, but it was like a thick curtain hid them from me. “I don’t remember anything.”

The bedroom door opened and a beautiful girl with long red curls entered carrying a tray. A smile lit her face when she saw me. “Welcome back, Sister!”