Chapter 1

• Liri lay there with her eyes closed, taking a moment to recall where she was. At Home or Nova’s? She had put in an appearance at home in Solrelm so her mother didn’t harass Aunt Ama too much. Of course, that had been a mistake because, as always, she had words with her mother. It was unheard of for a female from her realm to reach eighty celebrations and not has chosen a partner. She knew she was lucky with the privilege of being connected to the royal family and allowed more freedom to choose than others, but she still hated it. She had tried, again, to explain to her mother that she just felt there was a reason she hadn’t committed to anyone yet. Her mother did not see it that way, and Liri knew she never would.
• Rolling to her back, she stretched and then groaned. This was not her comfortable bed in Solrelm. The next time she saw Queen Alona, they needed to discuss getting a more comfortable mattress for the upstairs bedroom at Nova’s. This one felt like it was from the turn of the century and poked into her each time she moved.
• Why was her brain so foggy today? What time was it? She flung her arm toward the side of the bed to reach for her phone and check it. There was no table. Opening her eyes, she turned to look. This was not the bedroom at Nova’s or her own in Solrelm. Bolting upright, she immediately regretted it when a pain sliced through her head. She was in a small dingy room on a narrow cot. It smelled musty and stale. A lamp in the corner barely emitted enough light to look around, but it was lit enough to see that she was nowhere she recognized. Where the hell was she?
• Her heart raced as she remembered how she’d gotten here. She’d gone back to Nova’s. No one had been there. Bas and Nova were in Alterealm meeting with the royals about—something. She couldn’t keep the drama straight anymore with all the evil plots, subplots, and other plots. Sedric wasn’t there either. He’d gone with a guard from Alterealm to meet other mixed breeds at the safe houses—or somewhere. Being left on her own without anyone looking over her shoulder gave her the opportunity to go exploring. She nodded, grasped the sides of her head, and pushed against her temples, hoping to ease the throbbing in her skull. Yes, she went out into the dirty, noisy city to look in the shops. It was wonderful, she loved it. Walking among the humans who didn’t bow to her or give her expectant looks because she was eighty and still without an other, and offspring.
• They would have fits if her cousins knew she went out without accompaniment. She loved them, but their constant worry that harm would befall her was a little tiring. They didn’t know it, but she could also see souls like they could. She may not be as practiced at it as they were, but in her defense, she had been in one realm with the same souled people for eight decades. She could even see the dark ones, so she was perfectly safe walking around with freedom she had never had before. Liri had never told anyone she could see because it would have been brushed off like any other thing in her life that wasn’t aimed toward procreation. All she wanted to do was be a watcher, but that would never happen. She envied her cousins that they were allowed to contribute to their realm’s purpose while she spent her every day avoiding her parents and protocol.
• She rubbed the side of her head, trying to recall how she’d ended up—she looked around—it looked like she was in a cave with a bed and a door. That couldn’t be right.
• Sound on the other side of the door had her jump off the narrow bed. She didn’t care how or even where here was. She was not staying to find out. Shoving up her sleeve, she flipped open the porter Princess Crissy had given her. She took a deep breath and braced for the feeling of her insides cramping and objecting as they did when she landed in the Alterealm acclimation chamber. Blowing it out, she pushed the button.
• Nothing happened.
• She glared at the face of the porter. Just her luck to get one that was broken. With a sigh, she closed it and then pushed to open the cover on her link bracelet. Even home was better than some creepy cave. She tapped the face of it.
• Again nothing happened.
• Turning in a circle, she looked all around. Now what?
• There were voices outside the door. Stepping quietly, she went over beside it so she would hear and hopefully figure out where she was and what in the name of the gods was going on.
• “You did what?” Definitely a male voice, and he wasn’t happy.
• “I didn’t have a choice. They were following her.” Another male.
• “You should have called someone or…”
• “There was no time. I scanned her when she walked by, well, because she’s gorgeous, and I wanted to know what she was—”
• Liri scowled at the door. What she was? Whoever he was, he’d bought himself small favor by thinking she was gorgeous, so for that, she’d leave some of his face intact.
• “She’s from Solrelm. One hundred percent pure.”
• “You kidnapped a female from another realm?”
• “Boss, the ones tailing her were from Solrelm too, and they sure as hell weren’t her friends.”
• Her breath caught in her throat. She was being followed by others from home? She’d kept checking, and she hadn’t seen them. If Bastian and Tor have someone following her—
• “They hid every time she paused.”
• Her heart beat hard—the lawless had been following her, and she hadn’t seen them.
• “Okay. I get it, but using the phaser on her? Not the right call, Spencer. Now we have a kidnapped resident from another realm and will have to wait two days before we can send her back.”
• She had to stay here for two days? What was a phaser? She glanced down and confirmed that her body seemed intact, and except for her head, nothing hurt. She looked around the room. It was dank and dark, and the last guest had probably been some sort of rodent. Staying here wasn’t happening.
• “I didn’t know that.”
• Her kidnapper sounded remorseful. Great, she’d been abducted by a moron.
• “Obviously. Go get one of the women so we can talk to her.”
• “Sorry, Bohdi.”
• “Yeah.”
• Liri was done listening, done visiting this not-so-charming getaway destination. She grabbed the door handle, squeaked, and jumped back when it turned in her hand. Her back hit the wall as a man stepped in, darkened the doorway, and stood there with his hands on his hips, looking at her. He took up the entire opening and looked like he was leaning his head down because he was too tall to stand in it. He blocked all light from whatever was outside the door. His arms were bigger than the Alterealm men and covered in tattoos all the way down to his wrists. He had a trimmed beard and was wearing a black ball cap backward. Giants had snatched her up. Bastian would be annoyed, and Trendan—he would lecture her continuously for the next millennium.