The Faerie Path (22 page)

Faerie began to dissolve around her, but at the very last moment, she reached back and grabbed hold of Edric’s hand.

“What were you waiting for?” she called to him. “A formal invitation?”

She gave a tug, and he stumbled after her.

A second later she found herself in that same dark office, but this time there was a warm hand in hers.
She turned and looked at Edric. He was standing beside her, wide eyed and gasping for breath.

…
With her true love by her side, Honest hand in true love given.

She smiled at him. “You know what this means, don’t you?”

“What?”

“It means you love me. And there’s no getting out of it.”

He grinned. “As if I’d want to!”

She opened her free hand. The black amber stones glittered darkly in her palm. “Oberon gave me two jewels,” she mused. “Do you think he knew all along that I’d want you to come with me?”

“Maybe,” Edric said. “But I’m glad he did. Drake took back the stone that he gave me when he sent me here to find you.”

“Well, this is a replacement,” Tania said, smiling. “And this time it’s given with love.”

Smiling, Edric took the jewel.

“Shall we go?” she asked. She led him to the door, turning the latch and pulling the door open. Together they stepped out into the courtyard. She closed the door behind them and took a deep breath of the cool dawning air.

Holding his hand tightly in hers, she looked out across the open end of the courtyard to a wide expanse of tarmac bordered with lawns and trees. It ended in a high red-brick wall with black wrought-iron gates. Houses and trees lay beyond, shadowy
against a grainy blue-gray sky. It was all achingly familiar to her—or at least, to the part of her that was Anita Palmer. She was back in twenty-first-century London.

She looked at Edric. “Are you scared?”

“A little,” he said. “That’s quite a task you’ve set us, finding the Queen of Faerie after five hundred years.”

“We’ll find her,” Tania promised. “Trust me, Edric. I know she’s still alive.”

Hand in hand, they headed toward the gates, and as they walked, the first rays of the rising sun lit up the sky at their backs and sent their shadows dancing down the pathway ahead of them.

Cover art © 2007 by Ali Smith

Cover design by R. Hult