Invincible by Dawn Metcalf

Author:Dawn Metcalf
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2016-08-23T04:00:00+00:00

EIGHTEEN

“I DON’T BELIEVE IT,” Stef said as they crossed the meadow, slipping on the sliding horizon.

“A little late for that, don’t you think?” Dmitri said. Joy was amazed at how well the satyr was adjusting to the pocket world inside the Bailiwick, and his childish glee made her wonder if he believed any of it, or if he was high. He hopped through the long grass, marveling at the sensation. “It’s so like the Grove, but—not!” he said through a smile. “It’s like I’m at a theme park. Twixtland! Ha ha ha!” He ran through the flowers and kicked up his hooves. He stopped, sniffing. “But there’s no scent,” he said. “No air. No life.” He turned a full circle and looked back at them, bemused. “It’s like running through a painting. It’s not real.”

“No,” Ink agreed. “But it was as real as she could remember. As real as it gets after hundreds of years of confinement.” He still hadn’t forgiven the Folk for forgetting his Maker—his mother, the princess—or her royal family. Perhaps he’d never quite forgiven himself for forgetting, either. He’d had the memories, since the Amanya spell worked only on Folk and not homunculi, like the Scribes or golems, but he hadn’t been fully sentient until recently. Inq had waited aeons for her brother to gain the necessary independent thought that would allow him to share half the burden of protecting their creator and hunting down the traitor in secret, which was one of the prime reasons she’d tried forcing him to interact with humans, to learn something about living from mortals who had to live a lifetime in a breath. Joy suspected it was the reason Inq had cooked up the whole lehman excuse to cover up Ink’s “mistake” back at the Carousel. With Joy having to play the part of Ink’s lover, he couldn’t help but learn what it was like to have feelings. It was a short skip to learning the meaning of loyalty, passion, betrayal and love.

Ink had learned a lot, knowing Joy. She just wished he hadn’t learned quite so much all at once. And there were some things she wished he hadn’t learned at all.

“And this is just what’s in-between,” Joy said, crossing the grassland while keeping her eyes on the door. “The Bailiwick itself is actually a fold in the world, a pocket universe placed outside the Twixt in order to keep it safe from interference.” She glanced at her brother. “Human interference. They were so afraid of being enslaved by their True Names, the King and Queen decided that it would be safest to escape this world with most of their people.” She pointed ahead and slightly up to where the breach hung in the air. “This is where they placed the door in order to take the Folk out of harm’s way and wait until it was safe to return.”

“But the Council never sent word,” Ink said. “The courier betrayed them.”

“Aniseed wanted revenge on the humans but

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.