Instead, he let the power of it burn into his fingers, and then he thought of his hotel and Kyle and safety—
Suddenly Travers shot straight upward in the air. Zoe clung to him, her arms wrapped around his neck as if she were afraid he would drop her.
He held her with one arm. The other was pointed upward—the one that had touched the wheel—and his hand was lost in a large, white light.
Then his hand became a fist, and he pounded through solid ground, but felt no pain.
He burst upward, like a man on top of a geyser, and then fell to the ground, Zoe landing on him, knocking the wind out of him.
They were lying in the middle of Fremont Street, right smack in the middle of the no-driving area, under all the neon lights. The Four Queens was only a few yards away, and their logo blurred so that Travers thought he saw three Fates instead.
Zoe stood before he did, and she helped him up. A few people passed by, giving them sideways looks, but not stopping for any reason. They probably thought Zoe and Travers were drunk.
He wasn’t drunk, but he was tired.
The hole in the ground closed, and the concrete reassembled as if it hadn’t split. Zoe helped Travers stumble to the sidewalk. His eyes took a moment to adjust to the neon lights, and then he leaned against a support column that held up one of the many signs.
“You saved me,” Zoe said.
“I couldn’t let you be down there alone,” Travers said.
“But you shouldn’t have left Kyle.” She was running her hands on his face. “What happened to you?”
He touched his upswept eyebrows. “Gaylord.”
“Gaylord?”
And then Travers realized that she didn’t know any of it—how Gaylord had come for him, how Travers had found her. Or even why he had come.
“I left Kyle,” Travers said, “because you needed me.”
“It was okay,” she said. “I know that he’s more important to you. I was going down there for all of us. The Faeries want to destroy the world—”
“And you can’t stop them, not all alone,” Travers said.
“I had to try.” Zoe was trembling.
Travers wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. Then he kissed her. And kissed her, and kissed her one more time.
Finally, he pulled away. He smoothed the hair off her face, touched her cheeks, and said, “You were the world they were going to destroy, and I couldn’t let them. I love you, Zoe. I can’t imagine life without you.”
“But Kyle—”
“Has already told me what an idiot I am for not taking advantage of the situation.”
“Situation?” Zoe asked.
“He thinks you like me.”
“Oh,” she said with a very soft smile. “He’s right. I do.”
Forty-five
Travers and Zoe caught a cab back to the hotel, and all the way there, Zoe went back and forth between elation—Travers had come for her! She had survived Faerie!—and despair. She hadn’t stopped the Faeries. She hadn’t stolen the wheel. She hadn’t changed anything.
She couldn’t even save the Fates.
Travers hadn’t taken his arm from around her shoulder. They pressed close together, and she didn’t mind. She even fantasized that her prophecy might be true—that what he said back on Fremont Street wasn’t in the heat of the moment, that it was actually true, that he loved her. That he was her soulmate, and she had found him near Faerie.
She hadn’t lost herself inside Faerie because of Travers. Because somehow he figured how to use the wheel to augment his magic, somehow he knew it would protect them from the Faeries, and it would get them free.
The cab let them off in front of the hotel. The sun was coming up, sending a golden light over the mountains and into the valley. The city was almost beautiful, and Zoe wished she could hold onto this moment.
Travers took her hand and led her into the hotel.
“Where’re we going?” she asked.
“If Kyle’s awake, he’s worried,” Travers said.
“May we see the Fates first?” Zoe asked. She wanted to get that meeting out of the way, to let them know that she failed. “I can go alone if you want.”
Travers gave her a warm smile. His face was his own again—no flying Faerie eyebrows, no strange, pointed ears. She had forgotten, just in those few hours, how good-looking he really was.
“I’m sticking with you from now on,” he said, and as they got in the elevator, he put his arm around her waist. She slid her arm around him.
None of the men she’d known, or any of the people she’d known, had ever made her feel like this. She had been willing to give up everything, not so she could be with him, but so he could remain happy.
She had never been willing to do that for anyone before.
The elevator doors opened and she walked with Travers to the Fates’ room. He knocked.
“You’re sure they’re there?” Zoe whispered.
“I hope so,” he said. “My sister Megan should be with Kyle by now.”
At that moment, the door to the suite opened. Clotho was wearing a pink negligée of the Doris Day variety, lots of flowing nylon and feathers.
“You’re back!” Clotho said, with a smile. She stepped away from the door. “They’re back!”
She called this last to the other Fates, who appeared in the doorways of their rooms like refuges from a 1960s bedroom farce. Lachesis wore a green negligée that matched Clotho’s, and Atropos wore a white one. All three women had piled their long hair on top of their heads.
Zoe stepped inside, followed by Travers. He pulled the door closed.
“You’re safe,” Lachesis said.
“We were worried,” Atropos said.
“But not that worried,” Clotho said.
“We did have faith in you,” Lachesis said.
Zoe held up her hand. She couldn’t listen to this anymore. “I didn’t get it.”
“Get what, darling?” Atropos asked as she stepped into the suite’s main room.
“The spinning wheel,” Zoe said. “I didn’t get it.”
“It’s the heart of Faerie,” Travers said. “Removing it might be impossible.”
“Nothing’s impossible,” Clotho said, but Lachesis smiled.
“Did you hear what he said?” she asked. “It’s the heart.”
Atropos tapped her chin with one polished fingernail. “Interesting.”
They didn’t seem upset at all. But Zoe was. She was trembling.
“Don’t you understand?” she said. “I didn’t get it, and the Faeries plan to use it to change the power structure in the whole world. Gaylord said—”
“Where is Gaylord?” Clotho asked.
“I left him at the Mirage,” Travers said.
“The Mirage?” Lachesis asked. “Why?”
Travers shook his head. “It’s a long story.”
Which Zoe heard only a part of on the cab ride back. She had been thinking too hard to concentrate.
“We know about the power structure,” Atropos said to Zoe. “We know all about the possible changes. That’s why we sent you in.”
“But I didn’t get it,” Zoe said. “I left it down there.”
Clotho shrugged. “Ah, well.”
She didn’t seem upset at all.
“You need it,” Zoe said. “You said you need it. Gaylord said the world needs it. We could lose everything—”
“Calm down,” Lachesis said. “You should be happy.”
“What?” Zoe looked at all three of them. They were still smiling. Travers stood beside her. At least he was as confused as she was. “Why should I be happy?”
“Didn’t your prophecy come true?” Atropos asked.
Zoe flushed. “Yes, but—”
“No buts,” Clotho said. “People should be both happy and grateful when they find true love.”
Travers slipped his arm around Zoe again. She leaned into him. She couldn’t help it.
“But the wheel—”<
br />
“Forget the wheel,” Lachesis said. “You were just to find it. If you couldn’t get it out, we had a back-up plan.”
“You did?” Travers asked.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Zoe said.
“It’s not that important,” Atropos said.
“If the fate of the world rests on it, it is,” Travers said.
“The fate of your world is decided,” Clotho said. “You’re going to live happily ever after, right?”
Travers frowned. “If Zoe’ll have me.”
“Then we’ve done our duty,” Lachesis said.
Atropos grinned. “Even without magic.”
“But the wheel,” Zoe said.
“We’ve already put out feelers,” Clotho said. “We’re going to get Robin Hood to get the wheel.”
“The Robin Hood?” Travers asked.
“Why do people ask that question?” Lachesis said.
“Yes, the Robin Hood.” Zoe sighed. She knew him. He had been to a few Vegas conferences over the decades. “Are you sure he’s right for the job?”
“Can’t think of anyone better,” Atropos said. “Now, go on with your lives and let us worry about the future.”
“What about you?” Travers asked, with typical concern. “Who’ll take care of you?”
Clotho’s smile was mysterious. “Why, darling, if you don’t mind funding the hotel room, we can take care of the rest.”
Lachesis tapped the Cubs baseball cap. “After all, we are protected.”
“Go get some sleep,” Atropos said. “When you get up, you can tell us all about your adventure. But for now, we think you two lovebirds should be alone.”
The three Fates ushered Zoe and Travers out of the hotel room. Zoe had never left a conversation with the three of them so fast. The next thing she knew, she was in the hallway with the door closed.
Travers was staring at the door. “Did that seem odd to you?”
“Yes,” Zoe said. “Which frightens me. We are talking about the Fates, here. Odd for them is truly strange.”
He ran a finger along her chin. “You never answered me,” he said softly. “Will you have me?”
“Is that a marriage offer?” she asked.
He smiled. “Yes.”
“Travers, marriage among our people, it’s for life.”
“That’s how I was raised, too.”
“Life means thousands of years,” Zoe said.
“I doubt that’ll be long enough,” Travers said. Then he blinked. “You don’t have hesitations, do you? I know you didn’t want children—”
“How can anyone fail to love Kyle?” Zoe asked. “He’s perfect.”
Travers bit his lower lip. He was studying her, and she realized she had never told him her reasons for going into Faerie, her reasons for protecting this place.
Even when they popped back onto Fremont Street, she hadn’t told him that she loved him.
She slipped her arms around his neck. “You’re perfect, too,” she said. “Amazing and strong and brilliant. Do you think you can put up with the chaos that is my life?”
“Looks like that’s mine, too,” he said, bending down to kiss her.
But she put a finger on his lips, stopping him. “One more thing before I say anything else.”
She could feel his muscles tense. “Yes?” he asked.
“I have to tell you how I feel, not how the Fates think I should feel.”
His muscles got even tenser. Apparently he had noticed, too, that she hadn’t said she loved him.
“You’re the most spectacular person I’ve ever met,” she said, “and I love you. I’ll love you forever if you let me.”
“Let you?” he whispered. “I’d never dream of stopping you.”
And then he kissed her, and the kiss was just as amazing as the first kiss. Even more amazing, really, and she had thought that first one was pretty outrageous.
The kiss became another kiss, and then another, and as the kisses continued, she realized that even though he was younger, and they had differences, and they had to make a lot of adjustments to have a life together, they would be able to.
Together, they would be able to do anything.
About the Author
Called “The Reigning Queen of Paranormal Romance” by Best Reviews, bestselling writer Kristine Grayson has made a name for herself publishing light, slightly off-skew romance novels about Greek Gods, fairy tale characters, and the modern world. Her novel, Utterly Charming, which Sourcebooks reissued in October of 2011, won the 2001 Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award. Her most recent novel, Wickedly Charming, appeared in May of 2011 from Sourcebooks. Charming Blue, her next novel from Sourcebooks, will appear in September 2012. For more information on her work, go to www.kristinegrayson.com.
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