Amy's Advantage (30 page)

“This one opens in the Third House of Ilyria. It’s the same
portal that Aurora went through with Connyn. It’s well guarded on the other
side and most will assume it’s been locked down since Connyn now has his mate
with him. That’s the general protocol for portals maintained specifically for
Royal use. When the Heir is in residence, no portal is left open within the
palace.”

“But it’s still guarded?”

“Of course.”

She stomped her feet again in an effort to keep the blood
moving. The wind had picked up and the cold was starting to make its way
through her layers of clothing. “So why are we standing here, waiting for a
portal that’s been closed down?”

“Because I know it’s not.”

“How? I thought only Royals and Mystics had that paranormal
juju going on.”

Jordyn turned to look at her, his eyebrows raised above the
shielding sunglasses. “Paranormal juju?”

“You know what I mean.”

He turned back to stare at the space in front of them.
“Mmm.”

Honestly. The man could be so frustratingly terse when he
chose. “So who knows that we’re coming on the other side?” She glanced around
the unpopulated wilderness stretched out around them. “Since nobody seems to
know we were going to be here on this side?”

“No one knows. On either side.”

“Won’t that be a little awkward when we just appear in a
room in front of everybody? Won’t they freak out or something?”

“The portal is stable. It always opens in the same place.
It’s a small, impenetrable locked room.”

She kicked the snow off a nearby rock. “We’re stepping into
a locked room? Isn’t that a bad thing if they don’t know we’re coming?”

“In Ilyria, there is a platoon of soldiers always on guard
on the other side of the room within each of the royal Houses. Each of these
platoons has at least one Keeper among the soldiers. A Keeper has the ability
to sense when someone has come through an other-world portal. The moment we
step through, they’ll know.”

The calm, casual way he spoke about it didn’t assure her
much. A slight, almost unnoticeable charge in the air buzzed across her exposed
skin.

Jordyn turned to face her, his face drawn into hard lines.
“When the portal opens, take my hand. Hold onto it while you go through. From
Ilyria, you can see through the portal to the other side, like you’re seeing
through a thin wall of water. But you can’t see anything when you’re entering
Ilyria from an other-world portal until you’re through.”

“I bet that just thrills you to death,” she murmured.

“So,” he continued as if she hadn’t spoken, “I’m going to go
through first and hold your hand as you come through. If I let go of your hand
that means there’s danger on the other side and you are not to come through
after me. Understand?”

“What kind of danger?”

“The kind that means someone was able to breach security so
far as to work their way into the heart of a Royal Heir’s household.”

“But if I don’t go through, what am I supposed to do?”

“You run.” Though his voice was low and calm, the force of
his words commanded authority as easily as an ancient emperor’s lifted hand
could signal immediate death. He took his sunglasses off and stuck them in the
pocket of his coat.

Tilting her face up with a knuckle under her chin, he said,
“You run as fast and as far as you can. You get down the mountain and to the
car and drive. The keys are in the ignition and there’s enough cash in the
suitcase in the trunk to keep you anonymous for a long while. Stay anonymous.”

Amy’s mouth went dry and her stomach plummeted to her feet.
“But Chloe is in Ilyria.”

“And she is safe.” Jordyn gently brushed her cheek with one
of his gloved fingers. “I will get you to Ilyria, Amy. Safely.”

Panic skittered under her heart. “But if you can’t find me—”

“I will always be able to find you.” He held her looking up
at him, his gray eyes boring into hers with the fierceness of his conviction.
“Trust me.”

Everything that had loosed itself to scream around inside of
her in the sudden panic of never seeing Chloe again settled back into place.
She nodded. “Okay.”

The warmth of his fingers bled through the cold black
leather of his glove as he cupped her face. His kiss, though gentle and brief,
seared across her senses. When he started to pull away, she pressed his hand to
her face and leaned into it.

A small, shimmering dot appeared in the air across the creek
and began to grow larger. She stiffened and Jordyn turned to watch as the dot
stretched into a circle the size of a dinner plate.

“It’s time,” he said, removing a gun from his jacket pocket
and hiding it behind a rock.

“What are you doing? We might need that.”

“Remember the portal rules you asked about? This is one of
them.” Taking her by the hand, he stepped toward the portal and she followed
automatically. “If an other-world weapon doesn’t disintegrate altogether, it
tends to melt into a traveler’s body in immeasurably painful ways.”

“Yikes,” she said. “Good to know. What about the dagger you
wear on your arm?” she asked, aware she was stalling.

“It comes from Ilyria and so can return with us.” Jordyn
turned to step through the portal, when suddenly she froze, knowing she
couldn’t go through. Not yet.

“Wait,” she said, tugging on his hand and bringing their
progress to a stop.

Jordyn had slipped into full-on soldier mode and when he
looked over his shoulder at her, his fierce expression startled her. She
stuttered around what a second ago she had so urgently needed to say.

“I…I just need t-to tell you one thing.” And then her throat
closed up.

“Well?” he asked, his tone sharp with impatience.

His frown deepened as she opened her mouth and no sound came
out. She closed it and swallowed. Tried again. “I just wanted to say…I mean I
have to….” Her words tangled on her tongue as he stared down at her.

“Amy, we don’t have time for this.” He started back toward
the portal, which had lengthened into a large, shimmering oval the size of
partially squashed hula-hoop.

“Damn it,” she said, angrily jerking her hand out of his.
“I’m trying to tell you that I love you and you’re not making it very easy.”

Jordyn stopped and turned around. “What?”

“I said you’re not making it easy. Frowning and snapping at
me. So, I love you. There. I’ve said it. Was that so hard to listen to?” She
waved at the portal. “Go on. I’m done now.”

The man looked as if she’d just hit him with a stun gun,
minus the full-body spasm. “Go on?”

“Yes. Through the portal.”

He ran a hand over his face and muttered something that
sounded very much like a curse. “You can’t just drop that out there like that.”

“I know the timing sucks, but it seemed like a now or never
thing. I know it doesn’t change anything and that neither of us knows what will
happen once we cross through that portal, so it’s okay.”

Pain shafted through his gaze and then was gone. “Amy, I—”

“No. Don’t. Just don’t. You will really piss me off if you
ruin the moment by saying something apologetic right now. I didn’t say it to
get a response from you, so don’t worry about it.”

“If not to get a response, why did you say it? And why now?”

“Because.” She crossed her arms over her chest—not easy with
the layers of clothing and padded coat—and narrowed her eyes at him, but her
defiance didn’t move him or soften his glare.

She sighed loudly and let her arms flop back to her sides.
“Because I never told Andrew when I had the chance and then I didn’t have the
chance.” She shrugged, but the nervous need to keep explaining spilled out more
words into the terrible void Jordyn’s expression had created between them.

“I thought I’d have all the time in the world to orchestrate
that grand revelation to Andrew. You know, birds singing, hearts falling from
the sky, maybe some wine and chocolate—and I didn’t.”

Pulling her shoulders back, she said, “I didn’t want to make
the same mistake with you. When you love someone, you should tell them, even if
it doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell to work out. Love shouldn’t be
denied just because sometimes life doesn’t cooperate.”

She angled her head toward the portal that had grown to the
size of a door and took a deep breath. “I’m getting kind of used to that. But
now I’ve told you and it’s over. Time to go.”

He hissed something uncomplimentary about three goddesses
and then took her hand. “Remember, if I drop your hand, you run.”

“Got it.”

He gripped her hand firmly and held her with his eyes for a
moment more before turning and stepping through the wavering oval suspended
over the creek. A lung-freezing panic hit her as she watched Jordyn disappear
into thin air, but then he tugged her hand and she jumped forward, eyes tightly
shut and breath held.

For just a moment, as she passed from one world to another,
the doorway seemed to stick to her skin right through her clothes as if she’d
stepped through a finely woven spiderweb that then pulled off like dried glue
to reform behind her. She stumbled into Jordyn’s back and turned to see the
wavering image of the frozen Colorado mountainside they’d just left shimmering
in sunlight behind her.

She blinked, her eyes adjusting from a bright winter day to
a dimly lit interior room. The walls of the small room were cut out of black
rock polished to a mirror shine and bowls set on pedestals were filled with a
light that spilled over the edge, keeping larger shadows at bay.

Stepping around Jordyn, she realized that they were not
alone in the room. Several well-muscled soldiers were fanned out around Connyn,
who fit right in with the whole let’s-scare-the-crap-out-of-newbies-to-Ilyria
presentation. All of the men looked frighteningly barbaric with their long hair
tied back and the black armbands around their right biceps. The image was
cemented by the severity of their attitude and the wicked-looking daggers each
one held.

“Welcome to Ilyria,” Connyn said.

“O…kay,” she said, staying a half step behind Jordyn.

A small smile cracked Connyn’s grim expression. “I know a
little girl who will be very happy to see you.”

At the mention of her daughter, everything inside of Amy
filled with a white-hot joy. “Is she here?”

Connyn nodded toward a steep stairway that led up to a small
landing behind him. “Aurora is playing with her in the garden.”

Amy started to rush past him when he stopped her with a hand
raised. “You will want an escort.” He looked at two soldiers on his right and
nodded. They dipped their heads in response and fell into place as Amy headed
toward the steps, one in front and one behind her.

She glanced back at Jordyn, who was speaking in low tones
with Connyn. He caught her eye and nodded almost imperceptibly before her view
was blocked by the massive chest of the soldier behind her.

Crowded together at top of the stairs, they stopped on the
shadowed, shallow landing and the soldier in front did something that made the
door slide silently back into the wall. Light flooded around her as they
stepped out of the darkened stairway.

Busy unzipping her coat, her head had been down when she
stepped out of the passage into the large, high-ceilinged room, but jerked up
at the sudden realization that she was being watched. Soldiers, mostly men,
though there were some women mixed into the ranks, filled the area in front of
her and the twin balconies that ran the length of the room on either side. The
numbers and obvious discipline were impressive, but those were not what had her
most appreciative that Connyn had insisted on an escort.

Every single one of them held an expression clearly
revealing they’d rather run her through and stick her on a spit rather than let
her pass.

Nervously sucking in a slow, deep breath, she stood very
still so as not to spook any of the very large, very scary individuals who
stood within striking distance of her. Catching the eye of the first soldier
she had exited with, she whispered, “Should I go back in and wait for Connyn or
Jordyn?”

Amusement glinted in his expression for a second. He shook
his head and said in a low voice, “No. The soldiers are here for you and your
daughter as well as the royal family.”

He turned back to the surrounding throng and lifted his
head, his voice ringing out against the rafters, “Another Mystic Daughter has
been returned to us.”

Their shout of triumph surprised Amy and she jumped
backward, solidly slamming into the guard who still stood behind her. Her
apology went unheard as his partner gave a loud command and the soldiers in
front of them separated to create a path leading to the outer door. He turned
toward her. “This way.”

The men and women still looked quite able to conquer a small
city as easily as eating a grape, but they no longer were looking at
her
as
if she were on the menu. She followed, resisting the urge to march in step with
the two escorts as they led her out past the rank and file. She couldn’t
repress the nervous giggle, though, when she caught herself waving her hand in
skittish greeting at the soldiers she passed in some farcical imitation of a
homecoming queen riding in the back of a papier-mâché covered truck for a
hometown parade before the big game.

She nearly bumped into the lead
soldier as he conducted her through the adjoining room when her eyes were drawn
upward to the domed ceiling soaring several stories above them, its embedded faceted
windows filtering a soft golden rose light into the large atrium. A child’s
laugh floated through the lustrous air and Amy caught her breath. Then she was
running, past the front soldier, up a stairway and toward a large arched
doorway that led to a lush garden beyond.

The guards on either side of the
arch didn’t even register in her brain until they stepped into her path and
kept her from entering. Her progress checked by their size, weapons and obvious
intent to remain a wall she’d not breach, Amy’s anger flared, but before she
could demand they move, the soldiers who’d escorted her out were beside her.
The one who’d issued the earlier command said, “Stand down. This is Chloe’s
mother.”