Chapter 30

Within an hour,our group as well as a few dozen soldiers had boarded dragons and were venturing further north. We asked Graham if he was familiar with the town we were traveling to, and he said he was. Apparently, it was only a few hours' walk from Dinora, the place he'd grown up. His expression told me that I should not expect a tour of the area, or even ask any follow-up questions.

As we flew, we talked. Primarily about that meeting we'd just witnessed. We all had different takes on it.

"She's unreasonable," Graham said. "If she had read the books, if she had done any work to understand the spirituality of our world, she would know everything that Véa and Jeremy just said."

"She wouldn't have known all the facts," Ezra said. "Even they acknowledged that the entire story wasn't recorded in history."

"Aye, but she had an unrealistic expectation of who they were, which she wouldn't have had if she understood our religion," Graham insisted. "Yes, there are some who treat our gods very similarly to the way people treat your gods on Earth. But the people who read the books, who actually learn about it, know that the gods were never actual gods. We call them that, because they're creators, but they were never all-powerful. They never claimed to be. They can't do anything about the fact that people have misconstrued their stories and made them out to be omniscient and omnipresent. They were flesh and blood people, just like us, in impossible situations, just as we all are, trying to find a way to survive through it."

"Maybe," I said. "But as someone who comes from a really fucked up family, I understand being angry at your parents. Even if they were just people. Even if they did what they thought was best. When their actions fuck you up, you're allowed to be angry."

"You're also allowed to have some compassion," Rain said. "You have reasons to hate your parents in ways that I don't, but as much as my mom's mental illness screwed up my life, I can still recognize that she didn't choose it. She was just a person in a fucked up situation, and she did the best with what she had."

"Which I do believe is a better comparison than your situation, Warren," Ezra said. "Your parents were complicit in abuse. That's not the same as what Rain's mother did, nor what the par animarum did."

"I agree," I said. "But I can also understand why they feel the way they do. Feelings are valid, one hundred percent of the time."

That much, we all agreed on.

I may have had a slightly different understanding about all this than the others. While Graham had been religious, the Fae religion was more spiritual than structured.

Catholic, born and raised, I prayed to a God who never answered. I begged that man to help me, to save me, more times than I could count. Of course, he never did. Then I met him in the flesh, and he was nothing like I'd imagined him to be.

Although I had worked through most of my religious trauma, there was anger attached to that. There was no denying that Laila and Jeremy's situation was entirely different from Lux's. Even though they failed, often, they tried in a way he never did. They helped when they could, while he couldn't give two fucks less about the harm done in his name. They stepped up to protect and help the people they created.

But, in Caeda's eyes, they hadn't. She didn't know what we did. This was the first time she'd met them. She didn't see what was happening behind the scenes. All the effort they were putting into the Fae Realm, all the ways they had already helped, only to give the credit to Iliantha.

Which made me respect them all the more. They weren't doing it for recognition. They were doing it because it was right. Because it was their obligation.

Caeda didn't see that yet. Maybe she would, someday, if the anger ever left her.

All that to say, and as usual, I saw both sides.

We landed after an hour or two. It was still early, before noon, according to the clock on my watch. Our foursome was instructed to stay at the landing spot with the soldiers, Luci, and Naomi.

We hadn't even seen the castle. Apparently, that was the objective. We were still far enough from the air an tagadh base. If we flew much closer, we'd raise their hackles.

They told us to sit in the woods, so we sat in the woods. It was more of a meadow, really, a clearing between pines. The air was cooler here, crisper, but somehow still damp. It must have been from the ocean. I hadn't been able to see it on our flight, but I knew it was near by the smell in the air.

Of all the places I'd traveled on Earth, Greenland wasn't one of them. Respectively, that's where we were. Since the dimensions were all the same planet, separated only by vibrational frequencies, much of the land masses were the same. This place was the Arctic Circle.

Kind of boring compared to Bora-Bora, but still a fascinating place to visit. Especially since, from photos I'd seen, the ocean was magnificent.

"Does that upset you?" Ezra asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

I assumed he was talking to me at first, but when I looked up, his eyes were on Naomi.

Leaning against the dragon behind her for support, she shrugged. "I'm half Angel, half Demon. Neither of those races have been kind to the Fae. For all they know, I'm a Trojan horse. Maybe I've hidden my true intentions from my allies, like Iliantha and Caeda, and the moment I'm granted entry to their castle, I'll blow the place to bits." She tugged her blanket in closer. "I get it. Just like I hope white people get it when I'm hesitant around them back home."

"It doesn't bother you that Laila gets to go in, though?" I asked.

"She's not just Angel," Naomi said. "Fae know Fae. The same reason that Connor can go in there, even though he's part wolf. Even though some people don't like it, they still acknowledge that they are cut from the same cloth."

"I'm not sure why they didn't bring me," Rain said, softly stroking her fingertip down a raven's head that sat in her lap. "Laila said something about how I was going to be a powerhouse in this. I figured they'd want me there to work out the plans."

"Right now, they gotta make introductions," Naomi said. "And she's gotta break the news about the gods to an Elf, who either doesn't believe that we exist, or hates us with a burning passion. Might get fiery in there. They probably left you out for your safety."

"Same reason I'm still out here," Luci said, exhaling deeply. "I'm thinking we can use some sort of barrier spell to prevent them from teleporting out. Remember what I was showing you before we came here?"

"The one you said that would protect us from an atom bomb?" Rain asked. "Oh yeah. I remember it. And I remember not being able to nail it."

"It is difficult." Grumbling beneath his breath, Luci lowered himself to the soil and stared up at the sky. "We'll need at least a day to prepare. It should be easier, with all of our power combined. Especially with Caeda and Ailas. The primary sources will be all of you with a paired soul, but they've got a great deal of power inside them. Not as much as us, and not as much as the par animarum. But a great deal of power all the same. I think it will be easier to accomplish."

"Easier and easy are not the same thing," Rain said. "I think we'll need more than a day."

"And a place to practice it, somewhere they won't feel it," Luci spoke under his breath, rubbing a hand down his jaw. "Perhaps we can lapse back to Iliantha's for a day. Work there, and then return. But leave the army sanctioned. That way, we don't have to make the venture again."

"QueenRaniamight already have an idea," Graham said. "I've heard good things. Better than I've heard about Caeda,"

"Primary group," Laila called from somewhere in the woods. "Naomi, Luci, Rain, Warren, Ezra, Graham, you're with me."

Which would be fine, if I had any idea where she was.

"Soldiers, you're with me," Amara called. She was the first one I saw. That purple hair was hard to miss. Edging out of the trees, just off to my right, Laila and the others approached.

"Where are we going?" Naomi asked, holding out her hand for Ezra to help her to her feet. He did.

"To meet the queen," Jeremy said. "And to work out a definitive plan."

Standing, I outstretched a hand for Rain. She took it. Graham stood behind her, and we started that way.

"We do have a plan, though?" I asked.

"The start of one," Laila said. "And you're a big part of it."