He had no idea how Drustan would react. He wondered if he would know, merely by looking at him, that he was dark. The bond of twins betwixt them was strong. Aye, I used the stones, but the legends were wrong. There was no dark force in the in-between. I’m fine. ’Tis but that this century is a marvel and I’ve been exploring a wee. I’ll come home anon. ’Twas the lie he’d been telling his brother since the day he’d made the mistake of calling him, unable to resist hearing Drustan’s voice, so he could assure himself that he was alive and well in the twenty-first century.

Dageus, you can tell me anything, Drustan had said.

There’s naught to tell. ’Twas all a myth. Lie upon lie.

Then had begun the regular calls from Drustan, asking when he’d be home. He’d stopped picking up the phone months ago.

“So this is a reunion?”

“Of sorts.” If Drustan turned him away, he’d take Chloe to the museums. He’d find another way. He was fair certain his brother wouldn’t attack him. If he’d not come home, if he’d made Drustan hunt him, that might well have happened. But he hoped Drustan would understand his return for what it was: a request for aid.

She eyed him intently. He could feel her gaze, though he kept his profile to her.

“Did you and your brother have a falling out?” she said gently.

“Of sorts.” He released the brake and resumed their journey, giving her a chilly look so she’d drop it.

A few moments later, she slipped her wee hand into his.

He tensed, startled by the gesture. He was accustomed to women reaching for many parts of him, none of them his hand.

He glanced at her, but she was staring straight ahead. Yet her hand was in his.

He closed his fingers around hers before she might snatch it away. Her wee hand was nearly swallowed by his. It meant more to him than kisses. More even than bedplay. When women sought him for sex, it was for their pleasure.

But Chloe’s small hand had been given without taking.

Adam Black watched the automobile wind up the roads into the Keltar mountains. Though his queen had long ago passed an edict forbidding any Tuatha Dé Danaan to go within a thousand leagues of a Keltar, Adam had decided that since The Compact had been violated on the Keltar side, old edicts didn’t apply.