Chapter Five

Brook sat up with a jolt.

“Damn,” she breathed, running her hands through her hair. Without even having to look at the clock, she knew she’d overslept. She hopped from the bed and paused. This wasn’t her room.

The previous nights’ events came tumbling back to her. Kerren had insisted she spend the night, since he’d given her enough orgasms to make her incoherent. He’d even followed her into the shower and fingerbanged her until she was a shaking mess on the tile floor.

Not that she was complaining, not in the slightest.

Still, she had to get into her office today and put in a few hours of work before returning and taking Kerren out on the town. If they made it out of the room, that was.

It was tempting to just do to him what he’d done to her. She knew a few tricks that would keep him from walking for hours. She licked her lips, recalling the salty taste of him on her tongue.

“Good morning,” a voice called.

The light flipped on and Brook screamed, pulling the blanket over her naked body. Seated atop the dresser facing the bed was a strange small woman in a pink dress, staring at her.

Kerren ran in, having slept on the couch after tucking Brook into his bed. He looked around the room, eyes wild. “What’s going on?”

“Royal summons,” the stranger announced cheerfully.

Kerren stood between Brook and the woman. “You can’t summon me, Lorelei. The court has no say over my life as long as I’m in the human realm.”

The stranger, Lorelei, it seemed, sighed and leaned to the side to peer around Kerren at Brook.

“Ms. Brook Donovan, you are officially summoned to the court of King Artur and Queen Catriona. You are expected within the hour, and since it is upon short notice and you are human, we are waiving the formal codes…” Lorelei looked Brook over with a mischievous smirk. “You may wear whatever attire you have available.”

Brook sputtered and pulled the blanket tighter around her body. Stepping next to Kerren, she noted the tense line of his jaw. “I don’t understand. Did we do something wrong?”

A million possibilities flew through her mind. Was it illegal to have spent the night with a fae duke? Am I considered a human commoner? Surely this was just a misunderstanding.

“We didn’t have intercourse,” she blurted.

Lorelei’s brows lifted so high they disappeared beneath her blonde bangs. “That’s neither here nor there, Ms. Donovan.”

“But we, I mean—”

Kerren placed an arm around her and tilted her head towards him with his gentle hand, silencing her. “It wasn’t that, Brook. Even if we had… there are no rules against that. Not here, at least.” He glanced at Lorelei. “What is this concerning? Since when does the court call upon humans?”

“The matter in question has to be resolved before it becomes a concern, Your Grace. Regardless, you are not within any rights to keep us from following fae law,” she replied tartly. “Ms. Donovan will appear at court or we will bring her in.”

“Bring me in?” Brook asked defensively.

“Please understand, this is a high honor. Most humans will never see the glory of Prism’s Pure court, and you are being invited to meet the King and Queen. Is there a reason you’d want to turn that down?” Lorelei asked, tone noticeably more generous. “I assure you this isn’t something we take lightly. You will be treated with the utmost respect as a guest of the court.”

Brook looked up at Kerren, but he was glaring solidly at Lorelei. The chance to see his world sounded too good to be true, even if the circumstances were confusing.

“Is it safe?” she asked him.

“They can’t harm you. Even if you did something wrong—which you certainly haven’t—there are rules. It goes without saying, I will accompany you.”

Brook rubbed her temple, feeling overwhelmed. “No. Wait. I can’t do this. I have work. I’m already late, in fact. There’s no way they’re going to accept the excuse that… shit. Would I even be allowed to tell them I was summoned to a fae planet?”

She shook her head, answering herself. “No. Definitely not, even if they believed me they’d want to know what I did to be in trouble on another planet—”

“You aren’t in trouble,” Lorelei corrected. “There are simply questions.”

“Just ask me now, then.”

“That’s not how it works. I’m just a lowly messenger,” Lorelei explained.

“Bullshit,” Kerren muttered. “You’re Catriona’s personal page.”

Brook’s jaw dropped. Whatever they wanted her for, it seemed to be a big deal.

Lorelei hmphed and slid from the dresser where she’d perched. “Your employer will be handled, and you will incur no repercussions from missing a day of work.”

“Right,” Brook said sarcastically. She could just imagine Lorelei trying to talk to her piece of work boss.

Lorelei narrowed her eyes. “Anna Petersburg, senior accountant for Stonewolf Industrial Supply. Your boss has already been notified.”

“But…”

Kerren worked a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, Brook. If she says it’s handled, it has been. We have some pull here.”

“Why are you sorry?” she asked.

“Because we need to go. You can’t ignore a summons. Even I can’t think of a loophole to get you out of it. But I’ll be with you.”

Frustration bubbled beneath everything else. “Look. Yes, I want to see another world, but I don’t appreciate strangers interfering in my life,” she bristled, looking at Lorelei. “And I definitely didn’t like being ordered around by a royal family I have never even heard of before today!”

“I’m just the messenger,” Lorelei replied. “I’ll leave and let you make yourself presentable. If Sir shall accompany miss Donovan, then there’s no reason for me to hang around.”

“See yourself out,” Kerren advised her coldly.

Lorelei walked out of the bedroom and Kerren shut the door behind her.

“I don’t know what this is about, Brook, but I promise there’s a reasonable explanation. We’ll get to the bottom of it, and we’ll return here, and we’ll move on from it.”

“Can she really drag me to Prism? She’s so tiny,” Brook muttered sitting on the edge of the bed.

He sat next to her. “I don’t know how they’d handle it, to be completely honest. But if they say they can force you to go, it’s possible they would enlist human authorities.”

“The police?”

“They work together when necessary, I’d imagine.”

She ran a hand through her tangled red locks. “I guess I better shower again.”

“Really…” he whispered, waggling his brows.

“Nope. Hands off,” she said, clucking her tongue as she rose. “You are not going to make me late.” She went into the bathroom and called out, “If I’m going to meet a King and a Queen today, even if not by choice, I’m going to look good and I’m going to be on time.”

“Time doesn’t matter,” he said. “Prism doesn’t run on the same clock. I’m sure she just said ‘within the hour’ to sound formal. When we step through the portal, chances are it’ll be night.”

She peeked through the doorway. “Oh.”

“Besides, if I’m going to accompany you, we’ll need to stop by my home. I must change into something more befitting the occasion. The rules may bend for you, but I have to dress the part.”

“A suit isn’t good enough?”

“Not a human one.”

* * * *

Brook sniffed the ladle of water Kerren had handed to her. “I don’t understand.”

“You drink this, and it allows you to safely pass through the portal.”

“The portal itself isn’t safe?” she asked.

“The portal is just a portal. The reflecting pool combines with the portal.”

She drank the liquid, which was surprisingly sweet, and handed him the scoop. “It doesn’t sound like you know exactly how it works.”

“I don’t,” he admitted, filling the scoop again for himself. “But I’ve used it hundreds of times.”

“So, I won’t come out on the other side with two heads?”

He laughed and drank, closing his eyes and shivering as he swallowed. “I’ll never get used to that chill, though.”

“What chill? It tastes like fruity water.”

“Hmm. Maybe it’s different for you. To me, it’s like swallowing ice, and it runs through my veins.”

She arched a brow. That didn’t seem pleasant. She took a step towards the portal, heart pounding and skin tingling with anticipation. It looked like an arch, the fancy type used for outdoor weddings. Lush purple blossoms hung from a vine wrapping tightly around it, like a cross between a lily and an orchid. It was aurleis, a flower of Prism, Kerren had explained, one cultivated specifically by the royal bloodline.

“I can’t believe the Landsgate is literally a gateway,” she breathed. “The Landsgate Faerriot. I had no idea, and I know just about everything about this city.”

“Yeah,” he said, standing beside her and looking at the arch. “They keep the secret well. To anyone else looking at this roof, it’s just like any other. The gate cloaks itself and everything around it.”

“So, we’re practically invisible right now?”

He nodded.

“I’m nervous,” she admitted aloud. “And I still keep going back and forth between excited and a little pissed.”

He snorted. “Welcome to my life growing up.”

“Meaning?”

“Long story,” he muttered. Reaching out, he took her hand. “You may feel a bit… I believe the human term is ‘jet-lagged,’ once the trip is done.”

“Yay,” she said sarcastically under her breath.

She adjusted her grip on him, lacing their fingers and squeezing him tight. The one thing she was certain of was that he’d take care of her, though she wasn’t sure how she had such confidence in it. Sure, they’d just met, and yes it wasn’t like her to get naked on a first date—if what they had even counted as a date—but Kerren wasn’t like any guy she’d ever met.

And somehow, that was a little scarier than stepping through a gateway to another world.

Holding her breath, she walked forward, Kerren’s hand placed comfortingly on the small of her back. For a moment she seemed to fall, and her muscles tensed to catch herself and land. Then she was standing in the middle of an open field, green blades of wispy grass tickling her ankles.

She took a step forward, heels sinking into soft dirt. In the distance, she saw trees and colorful flowers. Further away were houses, as if they’d landed in a quaint countryside. It wasn’t night, as Kerren had predicted, but the sun was low on the pink horizon.

Turning back, she found that the arch was now plain wood and engraved with strange swirling symbols. After a minute, a man walked through it, squinting as if staring into the sun.

“Kerren?”

“Yes?”

Brook stared. Though the voice was the same, much had changed of his appearance. His skin was still the olive hue but now seemed to have an inner golden glow, accenting his aquiline nose and artist-carved perfect cheekbones and strong jaw. His brown eyes were now green and deep, as if peering through an emerald shifting facets in the sun.

His plain brown hair had transformed to be varying shades of earthy browns and forest greens and was longer, the ends curling around the collar of his shirt.

In a nutshell, he was magnificent.

“Ah. I forgot to mention. The reflecting pool adjusts us to fit in wherever we travel.” This is my true appearance.”

“Wow,” Brook whispered.

He nodded. “Shocking, I suppose? Does it… upset you?”

She arched a brow. “Upset me? To know that underneath the human playboy you’re still a magically sexy duke?”

One side of his mouth twitched into a crooked grin. “Oh. I just assumed a human woman wouldn’t find this side of me appealing.”

“You’re appealing to me all over again,” she admitted.

Grinning smugly, he pointed to a path to the left. “Let’s make our way, then.” He crooked his elbow and she took it. “Welcome to Prism, by the way.”

* * * *

Brook chewed her lip anxiously as she walked beside Kerren. Since she’d spent the night with him, she only had the same dress she’d worn the day before. It was one of her favorites, but it seemed a bold choice for the current occasion.

She hadn’t thought much of it before, but now she guessed that her clothing was like a beacon screaming ‘Hi! I’m a human!’

They passed a group of women who were chatting in the street. The women wore long flowing dresses of simple cuts, but there was something special about the fabric, as if it shifted colors. Teal became gold then soft petal pink.

Something she’d noticed was how often faces turned to them and after appraising Brook seemed to subtly acknowledge Kerren.

“Where are we, exactly?” she asked Kerren.

“My province,” he replied. “Weylan Barrows. Though, once I return to Earth, it will be absorbed into the kingdom. Or perhaps they’ll pass it to someone else.”

“When you say ‘yours’ you mean…”

“I mean that it is actually mine, yes. I inherited this land and my title from my mother.”

Trying not to trip from the thought of owning an entire province, Brook glanced to him. “Then why wouldn’t she get it back?”

“She doesn’t want it. My mother is sweet but flighty. The politics and responsibilities of caring for a people were never meant to be her lot in life.”

“Oh.”

“She’s traveling right now, anyhow. She has a direct lineage to the aspect of… I think the best way to describe it would be “flowering.” It gives her a talent for helping areas that struggle to sustain plant life.”

That probably explained his intimate knowledge of his own planet’s foliage. Brook tried to imagine Kerren’s mother, but it was difficult to not see her as a winged woman, touching things and making them grow. Granted, she hadn’t seen any wings on anyone so far. A few gently pointed ears and strange (to her) shades of skin and hair, but nothing like she’d expected.

She was thinking Tinkerbell and met nothing of the sort.

“I’ll change quickly, then we’ll head to the palace. It’s not far. We travel using a bridge… it’s similar to the portal, but it’s really just a connection hub.”

“Right,” she said, confused.

“Maybe it’s better if you don’t think about it too much,” he admitted. “I have to imagine that magic must be overwhelming to someone accustomed to science.”

Chuckling, she shook her head. “It’s not that. Or not that exactly. I’m still reeling from even being here. And honestly, I’m still wondering why you’d leave. Everything is gorgeous, and you’re right about it feeling lighter somehow. The air is just refreshing and uplifting. My brain is stressing, but my body has never felt better.”

“I’m glad you like it.” He pulled her to a stop at the beginning of a stone walkway and gestured to the massive ivy-covered mansion at the end. “Welcome to my home.”