Iris joined me. Her hand crept into mine. “I know. When Bruce and I moved out back to our new house and when I had the twins, I had to let go of being part of your family here—at least on such an intimate level. I had to watch Hanna do the work I used to. It wasn’t easy. But I have my own family and it’s already expanded to include Chase and Astrid. I may complain, but I’m happy, Camille. And you will be, too. You’ll still see Maggie, probably more than you anticipate. And you’ll still see your sisters.”
Dashing away the tears, I straightened my shoulders. “You’re right. I know you’re right. I just… I’m mourning the past and I’m not sure about what the future’s bringing, so the loss seems more vivid and real right now.”
“Excuse me.” Menolly peeked around the door.
I turned, dashing away my tears.
“I don’t mean to interrupt, but Vishana has to leave and wants to say good-bye.” She noticed my tear-stained cheeks. “Don’t tell me you’re getting all maudlin.”
I sniffed. “No more than you’ll be when you have to pack up and move over to Roman’s. Face it, we’re short-timers here.”
“Don’t remind me. Now come on, get out here and for the sake of the gods, smile. You don’t want Vishana to think you’re unhappy or she’s likely to try to help and that could mean a lot of trouble if she makes a move against Aeval.”
She had a point. Truth was, the dragons weren’t really afraid of anybody or anything. At least not when they were in force. And since I was married to a dragon, and I had the backing of Smoky’s people, they might take it into their heads to “rescue” me from moving out to Talamh Lonrach Oll by sweeping me off to the Dragon Reaches to live. With that thought, I wiped my face and plastered on a smile.
“On my way.”
Iris giggled. “Yeah, when the dragons say jump, we all jump.” She patted my arm. “Everything will be okay, Camille. You’ve faced far worse fates than being queen over a Barrow full of Fae.”
“Now you’re just being snarky,” I said, laughing as we followed Menolly back into the living room.
“It’s what I do best, dear. It’s what I do best.” And with that, the milkmaid-pretty sprite, whose golden hair cascaded down to her feet, swung around me and headed to the kitchen.
VISHANA WAS STANDING near the fireplace, gazing at the flames. Smoky gave me a quizzical look but I shook my head and hurried over to his mother’s side.
“I’m sorry I’ve been lax as a hostess tonight. We just arrived home from taking care of a rogue vroll whose appearance interrupted our dinner. I was feeling a little—” I stopped, suddenly uncertain where to go with the sentence. I wasn’t tired and I couldn’t say hungry because if that was the reason for my disappearance, I would have gone into the kitchen rather than the parlor. I usually didn’t feel at a loss for words, but tonight just felt off all the way around.
Vishana took pity on me. She held her hand up. “No need to apologize. We came unannounced into your house and disrupted your evening. Venus will be staying with Queen Aeval until you have need of him—she can protect him out at the Sovereign Fae Nation. But, Camille, beware.” She somberly held my gaze. “The moment you find the last spirit seal, the danger will be increased multifold. And not just from the direction of the Sub-Realms.”
I frowned, unsure of what she meant. “If you mean there are demons over here—”
“Not demons,” Vishana said. “Aeval, you should break the news.”
I realized that they had all had a chat together before they arrived. I didn’t particularly like being out of loop, but somehow, being in on it didn’t seem that appealing either.
Aeval stepped forward. “We didn’t want to mention this ahead of time, because you’ve been dealing with so much from Shadow Wing’s corner. But there are others who will not be happy to see you find the Keraastar Diamond and take possession of the Knights.”
“Who?” My shoulders stiffened. Just what we needed. Another enemy.
She cleared her throat and, with a glance at the Merlin, who nodded, continued. “When the Spirit Seal was originally formed and then broken, the Maharata scrolls were written almost as a backup plan, although so much of history from then is lost. But the Great Fae Lords never intended anyone outside of their circle to be the ones to control the Knights.”
“So…it would never have been either of you, even if I hadn’t come along?”
“No, Titania and I were their enemies. They would have died rather than let us touch the diamond. We were prisoners by the time they made it. But we were the lucky ones. They killed the other Fae queens and great lords who fought against them. No, as far as we know, they created the Keraastar Diamond as a backup plan—the plug to pull on the doomsday device, you might say. But, like the seals, the scrolls were lost in time. And they have been forgotten until recently. You remember when Yvarr woke last winter?”