Fordham’s face was conflicted, as if he’d finally come home and he wanted to be anywhere else, all at the same time. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” she breathed. “As if it were stuck in time.”

“It is. We haven’t any of the advancements of the outside world. Much is still run as it was a thousand years earlier.”

“Kinkadia must have been a huge shock.”

Fordham’s jaw tightened. She remembered the look on his face when she’d first taken him to the Square and how he’d devoured the meat pies as if he’d never tasted anything like it. He likely never had. Or when they’d gone to Carmine’s for a poetry reading. The light in his eyes. She hadn’t understood what it really meant to him until this moment.

“We should test the border,” he said instead.

Kerrigan faced the valley. Already, Tieran and Netta had vanished into the skies. If they were bound, she’d know in exactly what direction he was. But they weren’t, so she didn’t.

“Should we walk back through?”

“I’m sure you can. You’re half-Fae.”

She scowled at him. “Thanks for the reminder. I had no idea.”

She pushed forward, back through the oppressive border that held the House of Shadows within. When she looked over her shoulder, the little village had vanished. Just like that.

“Whoa,” she breathed as she stepped through. “That’s creepy.”

Fordham swallowed, not acknowledging her.

“What’s the worst that could happen?”

He glanced at her, the words painted on him in a way he rarely let her see. The worst was that he’d be stuck here all over again. The barrier would recognize him as a Fae of the House of Shadows, and he wouldn’t be allowed back out into the new world he was beginning to love.

“It’s going to let you through,” she told him.

“It is.”

She didn’t ask if he wanted her to go with him. He had to face this particular demon alone.

With a deep breath, he put one foot in front of the other and stepped back through the barrier. She thought he would disappear, as the village had done on the other side, but no, there he was. A prince in every aspect. Her heart lurched at the sight of him, the elation on his face. He’d passed the test that had been weighing on him. He could now come and go as he pleased. Whether that was because of his exile or some other new trick of the magic, it didn’t matter. He’d be going home with her to start dragon training.

He stepped back through, brushing imaginary lint off of his silk garments. All grace and power returned to his too-beautiful face. “Let’s go meet my father.”

5

The House of Shadows