As Aimee wound through the room, nearly floating on her jewel-covered feet to a divan before one of the gaping fireplaces, the others each nodded in reverence to her. She was not only a Storyteller, then, but a leader of some sort. Or at least someone respected.
Tolek and I took one of the plush seats opposite Aimee’s. Over her shoulder, someone pulled sheer maroon curtains across the doorway. An illusion of privacy, though we were far from alone.
I pretended we were, though. “What legends have you heard of the place my sister and I visited?”
“I do not know much of that place,” she said, still swirling that glass of wine, “but I know of the place to which it connects.”
“Connects?” I asked.
“The plane you were on is not quite what you think. It is a bridge. A bend between two very real realms.”
“Where does it lead?” I asked. “And how did we end up there?”
Aimee smiled at that, and when she spoke, her voice was the mystical but authoritative tone of a Storyteller. “So many questions from the minds who know so little.”
“Answer them, then,” Tolek snapped, not taking kindly to the insult.
I placed my hand on his knee, dragging my thumb in soothing circles. Though, truthfully, I’d been about to say the same thing.
“Relax, connoisseur of cards, I mean no offense.”
Tolek only said, voice icy, “Explain.”
Aimee reclined against the rolled back of the divan, turning her eyes to the fire. “Those who roam this continent—this planet—are aware our magic benefits other worlds. There is the Spirit Realm, the one we are most comfortable discussing. But beyond that there are many, many more. They are all locked away by the precision of that very magic.”
“Our magic doesn’t work that way. We can’t walk between worlds,” I hedged.
Aimee turned those dark eyes on me. “Warriors know but a drop of what the earth commands. Your pact with the magic binds you to the land, feeds it to your souls, but you do not retain the ability of manipulation that is required to open those doors. Warriors are no Realmspinners.”
“Who is?” I asked. Then, my blood chilled, and I dropped my voice. “Can the fae?”
But Aimee shook her head, and the reassurance steadied my pulse. “The pointy-eared near-immortals cannot either.”
“Then who?”
“It does not matter who,” Aimee said, “but what and why.” When we were silent, she sat up, long bare legs curling beneath her. “What do the realms hold, and why were two young warrior sisters able to travel to a bridge between them?”
What did the realms hold? The concept of them existing was nothing unusual. Aimee was right; we’d always known other realms subsisted. That the magic of the mountains was so potent in our land because it seeped into all worlds in existence, providing for them, as well.
But if each realm varied…
“Are the bridges unique to the realms they lead to?”
Aimee said, “It is believed so, but that is where legends diverge.”
“Assuming that’s true, though, a bridge would likely reflect either end of its scope?” I’d practically seen our world imprintedon that murky gray sky when Jezebel and I had been there. The mountains and Kakias’s power spearing toward them and…
“Does thefel strella mythosmean anything to you?” I asked, heart thundering. That’s what had been at the other end of that plane. The constellations falling and winged creatures. Aimee’s answering smile was indulgent. “It’s true then? How the pegasus and khrysaor came to be?”
“I’d heard claims that the beasts roamed our lands once again,” she muttered, almost reluctantly, a stark contrast from that smile a moment ago.
“They do. I—” I bit my lip, loathe to give up this information, but I forced the words out. “My horse is one of them.”
That was enough to win over her curiosity. “You saw that on the plane?”
“I saw beasts flying through the sky and constellations crashing to earth.”
Aimee evaluated me. Tolek remained silent at my side, allowing me to lead the conversation and reveal what I found necessary, though he doubtlessly tracked every movement Aimee made.
