Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 144404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Trent stood, the first of us to realize Lily had joined us. Lily was almost fifty, but she looked far younger given how witches age. There were streaks of gray in her brown hair that seemed incongruous with her unlined face.
Frelsi’s chief witch had been joined by two others, but they seemed to be staying with Dean.
“I’ve got him stable, but I’m worried I don’t understand what happened,” she said. “I’ll be honest, some of Myrddin’s magic is a mystery to me. This doesn’t feel like an Earth plane spell. There’s a lot of brimstone surrounding him right now.”
“I don’t smell it,” Trent admitted.
“Neither do I.” Donovan’s senses were almost as good as Trent’s.
“I can.” Fenrir’s arm tightened around Evan’s waist. “I can smell hints of brimstone and soot. Like a fire that’s still smoldering.”
No one could touch my son’s senses.
“Yes, that’s a good description,” Lily replied. “I take it there were three witches who attacked.”
Lee nodded. “It was the new Profane. Is he awake? Can he talk?”
Lily shook her head. “No. I gave him a sleeping potion. He’s very weak, and I don’t understand why. He did regain consciousness and told me his chest ached and burned.”
“That was where it hit him,” Rhys explained. “We exited the Hidden Ones’ domain and started for the Jeep. The Profane were waiting for us. I felt myself slow down.”
“Is that what it was?” Lee asked. “You didn’t react.”
Rhys shook his head. “There was something tossed my way, and then it was like my body was heavy. I could move but it was hard to. Dean didn’t seem affected by it at all. Neither did Lee.”
“Likely it was meant specifically for you,” Lily said. “Despite being twins, the two of you are unique creatures. What works on Rhys won’t necessarily work on Lee, and vice versa. In order to take out your brother, they had to slow you down. I believe they didn’t anticipate Dean being there or they didn’t think he would react the way he did.”
“They might have been told to leave him out of it,” the queen offered. “When Myrddin came to us in the café, he seemed intrigued by the idea of having a son. He wants to keep his while taking mine.”
“Lee is extremely hard to kill.” Donovan had spent a lot of time out on the porch talking to his partner in the last hour, but now he seemed focused on the problem at hand. “He could be bound by silver chains. Too much silver to the heart would work. He daywalks far better than I do. I require Devinshea’s magic to allow me to daywalk, but it comes naturally to Lee, so a focused UV ray wouldn’t hurt him.”
“It bugs him, but he doesn’t admit it,” Rhys replied.
Lee frowned his brother’s way, sending him a what-the-hell look.
Rhys shrugged. “We have to talk about it. Dean’s in trouble. Very bright sunlight bothers you. I told you some of Papa’s or my energy could fix that, but you refuse.”
“Because your energy is sex magic,” Lee shot back.
“You don’t have any problem with sex on any level,” Evan snarked. “All of the planes know this.”
“He’s my brother,” Lee pointed out. “I’m not going to let him put a hand on me and give me some weird orgasm. That’s…ick. It’s fine. I can handle it. Also, I can sit outside Mom and the Dads’ place and soak it up since they don’t scrimp on the sex rituals.”
Such a weird family. “So we have to put sunlight back on the board. If a hyper-focused ball of sunlight hit someone, what could it potentially do to him?”
“Well, it could absolutely kill a vampire. It would likely cause him to burst into flames. For a human I would say it could cook him from the inside.” Lily shuddered at the thought. “That’s what could be happening inside Dean. His magic would try to counter the effect, but I don’t know if it can win. I don’t know what the spell was so it’s hard for me to counter it.”
“Do you remember any of the words?” I’d come to care for Dean. I’d promised him I’d look out for him. He had a whole life on another plane, but he’d come here to try to save mine.
I rather thought he was getting close to Lee, and it would kill Lee to lose him. Lee might be free with his body, but not his heart, and Dean was working his way in there.
Lee closed his eyes as though trying to concentrate. “Something Latin. Latin something.” His eyes opened. “I’m sorry. I was freaked out at the time. Something was wrong with Rhys, and then Dean was shouting and what looked like a damn fireball was coming my way.”
“What color was it?” Lily asked.
“I don’t know. It was fiery,” Lee replied, an almost helpless tone to his voice.